innovation

Young and bold, 6 Diploma students – Yana Azia Muhammad Adib, Kho Zhi Yuen @ Summer, Saveetha Ganesan, Fong Suo Xuan, Ooi Shu He and Ng Pei Jia represented APU as the youngest participants in the Famelab Malaysia 2017 KL Heat, that was organized by the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) recently. Famelab, being one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world, took place at Petrosains, KLCC this year, and saw participation from 56 Science, Technology & Mathematics (STEM) professionals and researchers.  

At the competition, participants were required to deliver a 3-minute presentation on a scientific, technological or mathematical concept to the panel of judges, who then asked questions and provided feedback to the participants. Despite being the youngest participants, APU students demonstrated their utmost confidence and won compliments from the judges. Kho Zhi Yuen @ Summer from Diploma in Information & Communications Technology (ICT) with a specialism in Software Engineering stood out among all participants. Her bubbly and confident personality wow-ed the judges, in which they selected her to be one of the Top 10 finalists of the competition. She was also the youngest finalist among all! 

The students were mentored by Ms. Vinothini and Ms. Aida from the Faculty of Computing, Engineering & Technology (FCET), in which they also organized the APU Avant Garde 2016 in a similar format. Coming up next, Summer will represent APU to compete in the National Famelab, that will take place on 6 May 2017. 

Below are some newspaper clippings that featured the event:

Congratulations and good job to all students who participated; good luck to Summer, let’s wish the best for her upcoming challenges at the National Famelab 2017!

We are pleased to share that a 3-minute Avant-Garde research competition took place for the first time at APU recently.  Modelled upon the ‘3 Minute Thesis’ competition format which traditionally involves research students pitching their research to a panel of experts, the competition brief required students to formulate and present innovative, yet viable ideas to a panel of judges strictly within three minutes and using no more than a single slide. A total of 22 students competed at the final round, in which they pitched their ideas to the panel of judges comprising Dr. Lai Nai Shyan, Aida Zamnah Binti Zainal Abidin and Geetha A. Rubasundram who were from the Faculty of Computing, Engineering & Technology (FCET) and Faculty of Business & Management (FBM) respectively.

The competition attracted students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and this was reflected in the novel and interesting ideas presented.  That said, three in particular stood out in terms of freshness, technical viability and market appeal.  Third place was awarded to Sofea Wong, whose idea, The Wonderlust App, made effecgive use of augmented reality to address problems encountered by travellers.  The judges awarded the runner up spot to Jaedon Tan Yung for his presentation of WOKO, an all in one educational Event Management app.  The outstanding idea and overall presentation, however belonged to Arvin Rahman, who wowed the judges with his social running app, Run Along. 

Overall the competition afforded students the opportunity to not only exercise their creative juices but also gain valuable feedback as to how to pitch an idea effectively within strict parameters.  Much appreciation is given to all those who attended, especially the judges, as well as to the organizing committee, led by Vinothini Kasinathan for organising the competition.