Media & Events

150 take part in apps competition

24 Nov 2014, New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: Highlighting teachers in the rural areas, who carried out fundraising to uplift their school facilities, won Izuddin Helmi Adnan the grand prize at the Define, Design, Develop (D3) — Edition 2.0 application development competition yesterday.

“My brother, a teacher in Kota Marudu, Sabah, had approached me to look for companies to sponsor their activities.

“It came to me that with an app that can be downloaded by smartphone users, schools in the rural areas can receive donations directly from the public,” he told the News Straits Times.

Speaking at the end of the workshop and prize-giving ceremony at TM Convention Centre here yesterday, Izuddin said the app, if commercialised, would feature a list of schools in the rural areas and the kind of problems that they faced.

“For example, some rural schools in Sabah and Sarawak, need bridges to connect them to villages. Through the app, people can donate and see the projects through.”

The 26-year-old designer and his three team members, who won the grand prize under the Connected Community category, took home RM20,000 and a RM10,000 bursary.

The grand prize under the e-Government category was won by Afif Tarmizi Salehuddin, 31, and his team. They created an application to ease the renewal of passports.

“Our app will help users perform the necessary steps in a one-stop process, thus making the whole process easier.”

Team leader Syed Muaz Syed Abdullah, 31, who came up with the idea, said the app was the solution to long queues and long waiting time.

“With this app, users can renew their passports through their device and pick up their renewed passports.”

The team took home RM20,000 in cash and a RM10,000 bursary.

The 24-hour workshop organised by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was held in collaboration with Media Prima Digital. The event kicked off on Saturday.

Students, application developers, designers, entrepreneurs and industry movers developed digital applications to provide innovative solutions and to bring a new dimension to the local media content industry.

A total of 150 participants, aged between 19 and 52, completed their challenge within 24 hours and pitched their ideas for the commercialisation of their apps.

The competition had three categories — e-Government, Connected Community, and Media and Entertainment.

The grand prize under the Media and Entertainment category was won by IdeaMate, which received an all-expense-paid trip to Sydney and a RM10,000 bursary; second prize went to team AppRunners which took home RM5,000 and a RM10,000 bursary, while the third prize went to team KK Ng, which won RM1,000 and a RM10,000 bursary.

Under the e-government category, team ichange.my won the second prize, taking home RM5,000 and a RM10,000 bursary. Third prize winner, team DHD, took home RM1,000 and a RM10,000 bursary.

The second prize under the Connected Community went to team DeafNote, which took home RM5,000 and a RM10,000 bursary; while the third prize winner, PocketLabs, won RM1,000 and a RM10,000 bursary.

The prizes were presented by Media Prima Digital chief executive officer Datuk Zainul Ariffin Mohamed Isa, MCMC chairman Datuk Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi and Telekom Malaysia chairman Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie.

(From left) Media Prima Digital chief executive officer Datuk Zainul Ariffin Mohamed Isa, Telekom Malaysia chairman Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie and MCMC chief officer of industry development Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus at the press conference of the Define, Design, Develop (D3) — Edition 2.0 application development competition’s prize-giving ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. 

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