UTHM, 16 October 2008 - The Research Management and Innovation Centre (RMIC) at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Batu Pahat, successfully hosted the Research and Innovation Festival, R&I Fest ’08, from the 14-16 November 2008. This annual event is being held for the second year running, as a continuous effort by RMIC to establish a culture of research and innovation amongst the academic community at UTHM. Additionally, the occasion is held in conjunction with seminars and talks on commercialization so as to encourage and coordinate efforts of staff and students towards commercialization of their research outputs.

A number of activities were scheduled so as to enable researchers to benefit from the prospect of commercializing their products.  Besides the main research and innovation exhibition and competition, there was a competition for creative and innovative ideas, a seminar on  ‘Sustainable Research Towards Successful Commercialization’, as well as talks by Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) and Cradle Fund. Sdn. Bhd. Regarding the available grants being offered for developing and commercializing of research and innovation products or ideas

Entries for the main Research and Innovation competition were a total of 79, based on initial filtering at faculty and centre level. The entries were categorized according to Applied Research (34), Fundamental Research (22) and Product Research (23).  A panel of both internal and external judges utilizing a comprehensive judging system, in line with national and international judging criteria, were key to the successful evaluation of the research and innovation outputs.

The Creativity and Innovation competition for student innovative ideas and products was  also eagerly competed, with a total of 90 final entries competing for prestigious UTHM R&I awards.  A total of 52 student ideas and 38 innovative products were presented for judging before a panel of judges comprising of senior lecturers at the university.

The Official Closing and Awards Ceremony was graced by Yang Berhormat Datuk Ir. Haji Idris bin Haji Haron, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. The invention titled ‘Air Distribution System Simulator (TPU3) : A Visual Approach (PPU), the invention of Tn. Hj. Mohd Salleh bin Tahar, Khairul Fahmi bin Ali and Zuhanis bin Zainal Abidin form the Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Special Award.  In all. a toal of  27 gold awards, 47 silver awards and 42 bronze awards were presented to the various winners according to their respective categories.

In line with the current need for establishing an ecosystem suitable for developing leading edge research, the Research Management and Innovation Centre at UTHM launched the Directory of Expertise, the Research Management System (RMS) and also the establishment of the Student Innovation and Creativity Club (STIC).

Congratulations to the R&I Fest ’08 participants, especially the award winners and also those who were not successful, but did pursue high quality research and innovation work.  A big thank you to the various people who helped make the R&I Fest ’08 a successful one. It is without doubt that the sincere efforts of all those who have contributed towards the success of R&I Fest ’08 will be a source of inspiration and conviction for continued efforts towards research and innovation success both locally and globally.