By Mas Aliza Abu
Pictures by Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 13 December 2019 – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) through the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FKAB) hosting a Sustainability Challenge 2019: Innovation and Invention Competition, yesterday.

Deputy Minister of Primary Industries, Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin in his officiating speech, said that other than palm oil plants – the most widely studied plants as commodity crops, students and researchers could further explore bamboo and kenaf plants that can be considered as a new source that can benefit many.

He said, the event which consist of innovation competition, and intellectual discussions are important and are able to assist the Ministry in attaining new ideas, planning, and executing effective future programs.

Meanwhile, according to the Chairman of the committee, who also the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation of UKM, Prof Dato’ Ir Dr Abdul Wahab Mohammad, a total of 26 teams participated the competition including from UKM itself, UPSI, UPM, USM, IIUM, UTeM and UMK.

“We also received one participation from oversea – Feng Chia University, Taiwan and federal statutory agency – Malaysian Cocoa Board,” he said.

Sustainability Challenge 2019 is the third series of innovation and invention competition initiated by the UKM-YSD Chair for Sustainable Development. This competition aims to explore and develop innovative ideas and invention on the sustainability of commodity crops industry among students.

Among other objectives are to provide a platform for initiatives on commodity crops sustainability practices towards circular economy reflecting on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and also to initiate some plans on how industry can benefit the communities.

This competition is jointly organised by Research Centre for Sustainable Process Technology (CESPRO), Academic Research on Palm Oil Sustainability (ARPOS), MPOB-UKM, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Chemical Engineering Student Club and Green Waste Selangor.

The Sustainability Challenge 2019 is open to participants from Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia which covers the areas of interest from agriculture and biological sciences to economics and social studies.

This competition has been won by PALMTAB-I from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) as the first place who also won The Best Poster Award, followed by Green Ninja by International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as second place and SIStainable from UKM as the third winner, while group Sym Eco Park from Feng Chia University, Taiwan won the best video award.

All the winners have received cash prize awards in the amount of 10,000.00 together with medals and certificates.