University Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang branch campus successfully organised the 4th International Malaysia-Indonesia-Thailand Symposium on Innovation and Creativity (iMIT SIC 2021) from 13 June to 24 August 2021.
iMIT SIC 2021 was mainly aimed to provide an avenue for local and international academics, researchers, and students to highlight their innovative and creative ideas or products from multidisciplinary fields related to Social Science, Business Administration, Engineering, and Science & Technology fields within the theme “Embracing Innovation and Creativity in Industrial Revolutions.”.
The symposium involved the participation of 3 strategic partners from Malaysia (Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang branch, Universiti Teknologi MARA Perlis branch, Universiti Teknologi MARA Johor branch, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak branch), Indonesia (Universitas Islam Riau, Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Tanjungpura) and Thailand (Princess Naradhiwas University, Yala Rajabhat University, Phuket Rajabhat University). To adapt to the new norm conditioned by the pandemic, the event was conducted virtually for the first time after it was first held in 2017.
The event started with a welcoming speech by UiTM Pahang Branch’s Deputy Director for Research & Industrial Linkages, Assoc. Prof. Dr Wan Mohd Nazri Wan Abdul Rahman, followed by keynote speeches from the representatives of Malaysia (Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr Noor Azurai Ahmad @ Salleh of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia), Thailand (Col. Asst. prof. Sarawut Jindarat of Phramongkutlao College of Medicine Bangkok) and Indonesia (Dr Evizal Abdul Kadir of Universitas Islam Riau).
Over the three months’ course of the event, 315 participants from Southeast Asia took part in this event which offered 41 Gold, 90 Silver and 18 Bronze awards for Category A (Students) and 34 Gold, 84 Silver and 48 Bronze awards for Category B (Professionals).
This event also included a product pitching session where a selected six (6) best products were presented according to the two main categories- students and professionals. Apart from the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards, the 4th iMIT SIC also introduced two special awards: ‘the most liked video’ and ‘best of the best’ awards.
“It has been an honour to host iMIT SIC virtually this year after it was postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic. We had the first one at UiTM Perlis branch campus way in 2017 and then Riau in 2018. And I still remember myself leading our UiTM Pahang delegation for the last iMIT SIC in 2019 to Princess of Naradhiwas University, Narathiwat, Thailand. My hearty gratitude to everyone for making this event a great success. Indonesia, we will surely be there for the upcoming iMIT SIC”, said the UiTM Pahang’s Rector, Professor Ts. Dr Mohd Ilham Adenen before officiating the closing ceremony of iMIT SIC 2021.
The iMIT SIC 2021 was in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 4, No. 9 and No. 17, which emphasises the quality of education, promoting resilience and sustainability in industry, innovation and infrastructure and intensifying international cooperation and networking for holistic development.