Multimedia University and Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre the Lead Secretariat of the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox are collaborating to spur innovation among students and educators to develop technology for the education sector.
The High-Tech Education Sandbox is aimed to bring collaborators together with the single aim of transforming the current education methods with digital solutions.
Prof. Mazliham of MMU said “The education sector was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the face-to-face teaching and learning sessions had to be stopped, forcing us to find alternative ways to conduct the class.’ He added that the innovative process, which MMU used to find an acceptable solution, is what the partnership is about.
According to Mazliham, the collaboration will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship among students and student entrepreneurs that can maximize technology’s potential to transform the way of teaching and learning in the country and enhance students’ interest in learning, improve collaboration among students and teachers, increase teachers’ productivity and prepare students for the digital future.
The collaboration is to develop the first High-tech Education Sandbox that can boost the usage of local technology in the education sector through collaboration with NTIS, where local solution providers will be given the opportunity to test and validate their solutions via the Sandbox. This is in line with the National Policy on Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTIN) 2021-2030 which aims to intensify local technology development and application efforts to transform the country from being technology users to technology developers.
Dzuleira Abu Bakar CEO of TPM commented “NTIS provides a platform to allow the use of advanced technologies in key sectors such as education that can bring about meaningful social and economic impact, especially given the repercussions of the pandemic. At the same time, we provide an opportunity for local innovations’ commercialisation to be fast-tracked through funding, regulatory facilitation, and a live environment where these innovations can be stress-tested before going to the market.”
Through the NTIS, four National Sandbox test sites have been established across the country namely the Agriculture Sandbox in FELDA Mempaga, Pahang; Robotics and Automation Sandbox in Iskandar Drone and Robotics Zone; Sandbox Logistics for urban delivery drones in Cyberjaya and Area 57 is the first one-stop centre for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV and UAS) innovation at Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil.
With the setting up of the Sandbox, innovators are invited to make use of the university’s ready facilities as test beds to accelerate the commercialisation of their ideas. The education sandbox will be focusing on solutions that can contribute to improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning pedagogies in hybrid-mode as well as preparing a competent and productive workforce with strong leadership and critical thinking hands-on technological skill.
