THE Brunei ICT Awards (BICTA) is now inviting groups and individuals who can create and develop the most innovative, intuitive, interactive and creative designs in information communication technology to compete for a chance to win attractive cash prizes. Winners could also qualify for a nomination to join the prestigious Asia Pacific Info Communication Technology Awards (APICTA) which will be held in Melbourne, Australia in December 2009.

BICTA, a component of APICTA, shares the vision of widening the influence of the ICT industry in Asia. The main objective of BICTA is to stimulate innovation and creativity in the local ICT industry amongst individuals, SMEs and education institutions as well as to be the benchmark for local companies to compete amongst each other for a chance to participate in the annually held APICTA competition.

The Brunei competition has been open for registration since June 13 and will be receiving applications until July 24, a BICTA press release stated. The competition is seen as a platform where people can showcase their ICT creations as they compete with other ICT inventors throughout the country.

For the BICTA competition, prizes are awarded to first place, second place and third place winners in each of five categories, namely the Secondary Student Project, Tertiary Student Project, e-Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Startup and General.

The cash prize for each category ranges from B$5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for
third place except for the “Secondary student project” category where the cash prizes are $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. The first place winners will be nominated for APICTA and will also receive free air tickets and accommodation (per diem).

BICTA was first held in 2004 under the flagship of the Ministry of Communications. In 2008, Brunei sent three participants to Jakarta, Indonesia to compete in APICTA under the Secondary Student Project, Supply Chain Management and Startup categories.

The BICTA working committee consists of various stakeholders namely Ministry Of Communications, Ministry of Education, Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd (BSP), iCentre, Infocom Federation Brunei (IFB), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) and the panel of judges are made up of the academic members, government officials and private sector representatives.

The judging session for this year’s competition will take place from August 3-7. The BICTA ceremony is scheduled to take place on August 12 at The Empire Hotel and Country Club. Registration forms can be downloaded from http://www.aiti.gov.bn/bicta.html and completed forms should be submitted to AITI at Block B14 Simpang 32-5, Kg Anggerek Desa, Jalan Berakas BB3713 or by email to: bicta@aiti.gov.bn. For further information, contact AITI at 2323232 ext 1178.

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