BRUNEI-MUARA

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Teleconsult Sdn Bhd came out on top at yesterday’s Brunei Information Communication Technology Awards (Bicta), winning the prestigious Patron’s Award with their entry “InDepth Stereo”, a software programme that produces 3D surround sound at a fraction of the cost of Dolby or THX systems.

His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, presented the Patron’s Award trophy to Hj Julian Johari Hj Abdul Ghafar and Lord John Shazell of Teleconsult Sdn Bhd in a ceremony at The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday.

The Patron’s Award is given to the best submission from three categories at Bicta, and has the opportunity to receive a $50,000 grant from the Brunei government to further develop their product to make it commercially viable.

Teleconsult Sdn Bhd also won first place in the ICT Industry category, beating out seven other contestants to win $10,000 in prize money.

Their winning entry was designed to support low-budget multimedia, movie and music productions by inserting 3D surround sound even if the audience only uses a standard 2.1 stereo system.

The software programme creates a virtual environment that precisely simulates a real sound environment.

The winner of the Tertiary Schools category and $7,000 in prize money was Universiti Brunei Darussalam with their entry of a Rubik’s Cube Solving Robot. Hj Isyrah Fahmi Hj Osman, a third-year student in Computer Science, created the programme as part of his second-year university project.

Chung Hwa Middle School (CHMS), BSB prevailed in the Secondary School category with their SPN21 Student Performance, Grading and Reporting System – a database application that manages students’ details and performance to generate reports required by the Ministry of Education.

The school also took home a $3,000 prize which was presented to Year 10 student Lim Jia Xin who developed the application. CHMS also won the Green ICT award for the submission.

The winners of each category will go on to represent Brunei at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (Apicta) in Kuala Lumpur this October where they will compete with contestants from 16 countries.

Other awards handed out were the Made In Brunei Award to Sultan Saiful Rijal Technical College for their Kampong Ayer Interactive Kiosk, and the Islamic ICT Award to Institut Teknologi Brunei for ‘eSmal Salam’, a database of Muslim baby names.

After the presentation of the Bicta awards, His Royal Highness toured the exhibition to look at the winning products.

Minister of Communications Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar said the ICT industry is a potential driver of economic growth and positive social change, and Brunei must recognise the need to encourage creativity and innovation in this field.

The minister further said that more incentives must be provided to encourage industry development, such as the $50,000 grant given to the Brunei winner of Apicta provided for the first time this year.

Pehin Dato Hj Abdullah added that there needed to be a review of intellectual property rights to protect the creativity and innovations of ICT industry players, and that “centres of excellence” should be established to focus on ICT research.

“With these centres, the exchange of information and collaboration with experts from other countries will be further facilitated,” he remarked.

The Bicta awards were first introduced in 2004 by various government and semi-government agencies to encourage innovation and creativity among individuals, educational institutions, and small to medium enterprises.

Held annually, the Bicta awards are to benchmark the development of local ICT products and solutions and to create partnerships across the Asia-Pacific ICT industry.

The Brunei Times

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