The MYHackathon 2020 Graduation Day was officiated by Dato Sri Dr Adham Baba, Minister of Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI), at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Center (MITEC) to celebrate the participants.
An initiative of the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) under MOSTI and executed by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, a total of 18 solutions were developed for the problem statement identified at all levels of the government.
Various digital solutions by the winners have been gradually deployed starting this year to address the new norm in public services.
During his speech, Adham says, “The public service, either at the state or federal level, in the country has undergone various drastic changes, especially last year which includes the administration approach from ‘conventional government’ to ‘e- government’, and now in the phase of ‘digital government’.
“We must learn and strengthen our digital skills to support digital transformation, and work for hand in hand with the Government to improve the service delivery system for the business community and the public.”
Adham also presented special awards to outstanding start-up participants for the following categories: Best Social Impact Award: Ruzaimi bin Mohamed @ Mahmood from Ozel Sdn. Bhd; and Best Commercialization Project Award to Chai Kok Chin from NEUON AI.
Ozel Sdn Bhd won the MYHackathon Johor Bahru and was supported by the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative, the Johor Association of the Deaf, and the Johor Education Department. An initiative in creating an interactive book on basic Islamic learning for the community of deaf people aged three to six years.
Meanwhile, NEUON AI from MyHackathon Kuching supported by the Sarawak Public Works Department has also produced a pilot project which is a digital-friendly pothole road tracking system solution for road maintenance. The project has a high commercialisation rate and successfully penetrated the global market recently with six MOUs signed at Expo Dubai 2020.
CEO of Cradle Rafiza Ghazali says “Cradle has been entrusted with the important role of restoring the economic resilience of start-ups to contribute to the development of the country, with an allocation of RM20 million next year.
“Cradle will host MYHackathon 2022. Through this programme, Cradle will build and channel high-potential start-ups into the national ecosystem, strengthening public partnerships and supporting the overall national STI agenda.”
On a side note, according to Adham, the “MyHackathon competition has been organized since October last year and a total of 1853 entries have been received from all over the country.
“Out of the total entries received, only 435 groups were shortlisted and given the opportunity to present to the jurors in the semi-finals, and out of that number, only 123 groups were selected to the finals and judged by qualified jurors. Finally, the best 18 were named winners.”
Each successful group received RM250,000. Furthermore, to ensure that their efforts do not stop, Cradle plays a role in monitoring and ensuring that the pilot projects developed are implemented within one year by the grant recipients.
