Five students of the Faculty of Nursing (FKp) of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) ) have won a bronze medal in the 2021 Bangkok International Intellectual Property Innovation Competition, Invention, Innovation and Technology Exposition (IPITEx) for their breast screening product.
The five FKp UNAIR students are Nurul Khosnul Qotimah, Ismatulloh Jihan Alim, Rio Arya Puta M., Sarah Rani Sutedjo, and Bellinda Anisa. The team was supervised by Yulis Setiya Dewi, lecturer at the Faculty of Nursing UNAIR.
“Banapeel is used as a product to make it easier for women to screen for breast cancer through BSE (Breast Self Examination) and also as a means of dealing with breast pain in menstruating and breastfeeding women,” she explained. Breast Self Examination is an initial screening for breast cancer that can be done independently.
The Faculty of Nursing student from Class of 2017, Nurul, explained that making Banapeel products began with the problem of banana peel waste accumulated in Nurul’s home, which was eventually allowed to rot. After seeing this problem, Nurul then proposed an idea to make a product from processed banana peels.
IPITEx is an international innovation competition organized by The National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT). The competition was attended by 20 countries, including Canada, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Lebanon, Yemen and Russia.
The IPITEx competition started with an abstract selection. After being announced for passing the abstract selection, the team made a video presentation of the product.
“Apart from making videos, the qualifying teams are also required to make posters, full papers, product photos, and product logos,” she added.
The division of tasks among members is carried out equally and based on their abilities. Some are in charge of creating content and editing, translating, drafting and writing, and preparing the necessities.
“Our preparations were very short, so everyone worked together and relied on teamwork greatly to win the bronze medal, ” she concluded.