IT WAS a night of nights for the ICT industry at the 10th annual MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific Information & Communications Technology Alliance Awards 2009 (MSC Malaysia APICTA), held at the Putra World Trade Centre recently.

Dapat Vista Sdn Bhd was the big winner of the night, walking away with two nods — Best of e-Inclusion and e-Community and the biggest award of the night — the Prime Minister’s “Best of the Best“ award, given to the best out of all category winners.

The company won for their Rakancop SMS e-community (Friends of the Police) product which enables members of the public to SMS the police to report crimes, make enquiries on summonses, and even notify the police on traffic-congested areas.

This year’s awards were themed Stimulating Creativity & Excellence in ICT and there were plenty of jokes (both good and bad) abound from the night’s hosts, Sharizan Borhan and Cheryl Samad.

Past winners and industry stalwarts were on hand to present the awards, many lamenting the absence of a stunning beauty to accompany them on stage — not the case for Staffordshire University pro chancellor Dr Parmjit Singh who had young actress Diana Danielle for company.

The pairing also made for some of the more memorable banter of the night, with Diana (innocently?) responding, “I know it’s not really ICT but I plan to penetrate that market when I graduate,” to the good professor’s questions about her future plans.

Dr Parmjit’s reply: “That’s good, we need more people like you in the industry”, and the follow-up quip by Sharizan, “To distract or inspire?”, drew appreciative laughter from the audience.

Entertainment for the night was an uneven affair. The show opened with a performance by the original cast of P. Ramlee — The Musical. Aizat was next, performing his top downloaded song Kau Aku. Magic act Quick Change was the highlight of the evening, leaving the audience mesmerised by their split second outfit changes (“I want to do that! Just shake, and tada!” shrieked Cheryl). The closing act featured Chinese aerial acrobats scaling upwards to retrieve the award of the night but more impressive stunts were hindered by space constraints.

But of course, the night was all about recognising achievements in ICT.

A record 383 entries were submitted this year, vetted by 51 judges and culminating in the selection of 19 winners.

As the recipient of the Prime Minister’s “Best of the Best” Award, Dapat Vista representatives will attend a week-long entrepreneur development programme at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) sponsored by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).

The 18 others, who walked away that night as winners in their respective categories, will be sponsored to represent Malaysia at the International APICTA awards which will be held in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Asia Pacific Digital Innovation Summit from Dec 14 to 17.

In addition, two students from the winning team of the Best of Secondary Student Project (which this year went to Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah for their Robotic Angklong Player) will be given scholarships to undertake ICT-related courses at the Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (UCTI)

“Over the years, the MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards has been instrumental in giving recognition to world-class home grown ICT companies, and many of its alumni have gone on to greater heights in the regional and global stage,” said MDeC chief executive officer, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

“My congratulations to all the award winners; they exemplify the sort of talent and potential that Malaysia has to offer to the world, and an inspiration for the rest of us.”

Notable mentions include Shock3d! Sdn Bhd, who walked away with the Best of Media and Entertainment award for their animated adventure/fantasy film, Alamaya, Garden of Beautiful Creatures — a nod to Malaysia’s growing content creation industry perhaps?

And Polarizone Technologies Sdn Bhd took home Best of Research & Development for their Jam Proof Wireless Link — a timely project considering the growing concerns over security.

From the student categories, the TRAX project by the Multimedia University (Cyberjaya) team was interesting. TRAX provides way-finding for the blind by utilising Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and mobile technology (see sidebar for full list of winners).

All in all, if this year’s batch of winners is any indication, the future of ICT in Malaysia looks bright.
Call for consolidation

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili was present at the MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards and forwarded Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s regrets for not being able to make it for the occasion.

In his speech, Ongkili stated that there are now over 2,000 MSC-status companies generating close to RM18 billion in annual revenue and it is estimated that the national ICT initiative contributes more than RM100 billion to the Malaysian economy.

The country is also experiencing a greater demand and creation of knowledge-based, ICT-related jobs in tandem with the growth of the industry in the country – growth that is forecast at a respectable 7 per cent this year despite the economic climate.

He added that the challenge now facing Malaysian ICT companies and entrepreneurs is to build upon the foundation built since the launch of MSC Malaysia more than 13 years ago and the successes achieved since.

Ongkili also noted that it was “high time” for consolidation in the industry. “There are almost no ICT companies in Malaysia that have over 500+ employees unless they are foreign-based. Previously when you ask “Why can’t we?”, the answer was that there was not enough talent or skill. I believe this is not the case as tonight clearly shows and instead, greater collaboration is needed.”

About APICTA

Begun in 1999, the objective of the MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (MSC Malaysia APICTA) is to provide recognition to outstanding achievements of individuals, students, entrepreneurs, SMEs and organisations with operations in Malaysia who have contributed to the development of the MSC Malaysia initiatives or in building applications and services for the benefit of Malaysia. It recognises creativity, innovation and excellence in Malaysian ICT.

This annual Awards programme also provides an opportunity and an ideal environment for individuals and companies to gain local, regional and international exposure through on-going promotional activities, and through participation at the international Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA).

Winners of the MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards will represent Malaysia at the annual international APICTA Awards. This year, it will be hosted in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Asia Pacific Digital Innovation Summit from Dec 14 to 17.

For more information, head to www.mscapicta.com.my.

 

MSC Malaysia APICTA awards 2009 winners

Prime Minister's "Best of the Best" Award — presented to the best of the category winners.
• Winner: Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd
• Product: Rakancop SMS e-community (Friends of the Police)

Best of e-Learning — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions for the delivery of e-Learning.
• Winner: MySaas Sdn Bhd
• Product: MySaas No Ordinary Learning

Best of e-Government & Services — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions that support electronic government initiatives and service delivery to the community.
• Winner: MAMPU
• Product: mySMS 15888 Government Gateway — A Step Towards Mobile Government

Best of Security — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions for security systems applications.
• Winner: GHL Systems Berhad
• Product: NetMATRIX Terminal Line Encryption

Best of Industrial Applications — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing solutions that support the industrial sector, including manufacturing processes.
• Winner: ICADAM Technologies Sdn Bhd
• Product: AI Tool Design CAD/CAM solution

Best of E-Logistics — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions that support the logistics sector.
• Winner: Pos Malaysia Berhad
• Product: Pos Integrated Track and Trace Information System (PITTIS)

Best of Communications Applications — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing outstanding communications technologies or for developing ICT solutions that make creative use of communications technologies.
• Winner: University Malaysia Sarawak
• Product: Application of AR Network in E-Counselling Services System

Best of Financial Applications — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions that support the financial sector and various financial-related business processes in an enterprise.
• Winner: eBworx Berhad
• Product: Digital Credit Management System

Best of e-Health — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions for the health / healthcare sector.
• Merit Award: Genseq Sdn Bhd
• Product: Health Drive

Best of Media and Entertainment — presented to the most innovative nomination in the field of creative content development for media/entertainment/infotainment.
• Winner: Shock3d! Sdn Bhd
• Product: Alamaya, Garden of Beautiful Creatures

Best of Tourism and Hospitality — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions for support of the tourism and hospitality industry.
• Winner: Creative Advances Technology Sdn Bhd
• Product: Standard Online Tourism Architecture (SOTA)

Best of Applications and Infrastructure Tools — presented to the most innovative nomination for the development of applications and infrastructure tools.
• Winner: Arkibiz MSC Sdn Bhd
• Product: Saffron

Best of Research & Development — presented o the most outstanding ICT R&D project.
• Winner: Polarizone Technologies Sdn. Bhd
• Product: Jam Proof Wireless Link

Best of e-Inclusion and e-Community — presented to the most innovative nomination for developing ICT solutions that support communities and bridge the digital divide.
• Winner: Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd
• Product: Rakancop SMS e-community (Friends of the Police)

Best of Start-up Companies — presented to the most entrepreneurial ICT company.
• Winner: Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
• Product: P1 W1MAX

Best of Tertiary Student Project - Software / Hardware — presented to the most innovative ICT software and or hardware project from students of Institutions of Higher Learning.
• Winner: Multimedia University (Cyberjaya)
• Product: TRAX

Best of Tertiary Student Project — Creative Multimedia - presented to the most innovative creative multimedia project from students of Institutions of Higher Learning.
• Winner: Limkokwing University of Creative Technology
• Product: Smog Busters

Best of Secondary Student Project — presented to the most innovative ICT project (e.g. web-based, creative multimedia, etc.) from secondary school students.
• Winner: Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah
• Product: Robotic Angklong Player

Best of Primary Student Project — presented to the most innovative ICT project (e.g. web-based, creative multimedia, etc.) from primary school students.
• Winner: Sekolah Kebangsaan King Edward VII (1)
• Product: Come Rain or Shine