On the 10th of August 2021, the Faculty of Pharmacy Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) organized an award-giving ceremony for the Virtual Pharmacy Invention, Innovation and Design (Pharm-IIDEx) 2021.
This is the second consecutive year the event is held virtually, and the ceremony was officiated by the Dean of the faculty, Associate Prof. Dr Shariza Sahudin, in the presence of honourable judges, participants, and guests. Through this annual event, the Faculty of Pharmacy continues to nurture creative and innovative thinking among the research communities by promoting healthy competition and safeguarding intellectual property (IP) rights.
Following this year’s Pharm-IIDEx theme, “Inspiring Innovation and Discovery”, researchers presented their inventions, innovations, and design in areas related to health and well-being. These areas included pharmacy, health sciences, medicine, cosmetics, nutraceutics, agrotechnology, and biotechnology, while for junior researchers from the secondary and primary schools, the categories included technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Pharm-IIDEx 2021 received good participation from local and international institutions, including from the University of Sriwijaya, Universitas Duta Bangsa and Politeknik Indonusa Surakarta, Indonesia.
A total of 76 teams participated in the four categories contested: Inventor I, Inventor II, Young Inventor and Junior Inventor categories. Each category targets different sets of participants where Inventor I is open to academician and postgraduate students while Inventor II is for non-academician from all higher education institutions or agencies. The Young Inventor category is available to undergraduate students, and the Junior Inventor category is open for primary and secondary schools’ students.
Pharm-IIDEx 2021 is also delighted to celebrate the growing potential of creativity and innovation among our young generations. We received a total of 8 entries from the primary and secondary schools around Malaysia.
Compared to last year, the increased number of participants shows that the spirit of research and discovery remains strong, and ideas, inventions, and innovations continue to thrive despite challenging times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Faculty of Pharmacy UiTM congratulated all winners and participants of the Virtual Pharm-IIDEx 2021 and wished to thank all parties involved in making the event a success.