Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre takes learning to a new dimension

Technology keeps changing, accelerating with new provisions that shorten the time we take to do things. Today we can actually print a book within a few minutes and we can immediately capture a video in 3D format. For those wanting to build interesting ways to connect with their target audiences these technologies open the door for unlimited creativity.

Every year something new hits the market and starts a consumer frenzy.

So while industries grapple with the means to beat the competition with new gimmicks and advertising, they need skills to manage the new technology and create the content they seek. 

The Limkokwing University has created new partnerships with high end digital technology providers through a new initiative called the Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre.

Bringing industry into university

Already embedded within the University is INDUSITY – a revolutionary concept that merges the best of the University with the best of the Industry to bring innovative knowledge, skills and application to Limkokwing students right into the campus.

MDIC too works along this creative pathway by working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education with the mission to raise the standards and quality of the nation’s education system, which is to produce high calibre human capital to move industry up the value chain.

From middle income to high income

The Centre’s thrust responds to the Prime Minister’s transformation programme, which places high priority on education as the vehicle to move from middle-income to high income status by 2020.

Minister of Higher Education Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, in launching the Centre recently, envisioned MDIC as an excellent “infrastructure” to push the migration of skilled talents into the industry.

The Higher Education Minister being ‘crooned’ by the Limkokwing International Choir lead singer, Siti Hasreena Rosli soon after the official launch of the centre. Others in the picture include Tan Sri Lim and senior University officials.

“I believe that a world-class digital infrastructure like this is fundamental and part of the ecosystem to support an innovation-led economy, which has become the aspiration of Malaysia today. Its strong focus on innovation will definitely take education to a new level as it provides the vehicle designed to connect the high end of digital technology to creativity and content creation.”

Taking creativity to new levels

The creation of MDIC is in direct response to the Prime Minister’s call for norm-breaking efforts to engineer human capital that is wired to the future. For over 20 years, the University has played a pivotal role in promoting creativity and innovation as the engine of progress for the country, a role it continues with breakthrough ideas much like the digital innovation centre. 

Dato’ Seri Khaled, a strong advocate of creativity and innovation, believes quality human capital is the way to make the government’s transformation policy a success.

“In today’s world, this has to be done by intensifying the nation’s knowledge and innovation capability. In today’s world, knowledge and innovation have become the keys to progress and growth. Knowledge increasingly defines the line between wealth and poverty and between human fulfillment and poverty. A country which is able to mobilise and spread knowledge can rise rapidly to new levels of development, help its citizens to prosper and more importantly, education is considered as the most important component in the dissemination of innovation.’

Designing the future

MDIC is timely considering Malaysia’s efforts to propel creativity and innovation in every sphere of its development process, particularly in the local digital industry. It caters for those with a passion to acquire the best in digital technology and who want to be future-ready to handle new industry challenges taking place with every tick of the clock. 

The innovation Centre offers internationally-recognised digital-friendly programmes:

• Digital Imaging
• Interactive & Multimedia Design
• Animation & Multimedia Design
• Digital e-Games
• Design Innovation
• Visual Communication
• Web Design & Technology
• Creative Multimedia
• Sonic Design
• Digital Film & Television
• Digital Communication

Stimulating environment

The Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre houses state-of-the-art training facilities including:

• High tech computer incubation rooms
• Training and lecture theatres
• 3D LED screen
• Exhibition and conference
• Corporate boardroom
• Reception lounge and business facilities
• Olympic-size swimming pool.

“This University is possibly the world’s largest digital content training facility. For this reason, this campus has become a talent hub for some of the brightest brains in the world. Here, high tech accelerators are created to generate high end products and services that are second to none in the country.”

Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing,
Founder President of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology
In his address at the launch of MDIC at the Cyberjaya campus, 18 July 2011

Discover MDIC

The Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre is one such accelerator to nurture the most imaginative and creative minds for creative industries, where essential test-beds are built to create new innovations for wealth-generation.

MUST Pushes for Advancement in Biotechnology

MALAYSIA University of Science and Technology (MUST) is set to continue its efforts to anchor the development of human capital in biotechnology through innovative courses and ongoing research initiatives...

Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST) is set to continue its efforts to anchor the development of human capital in biotechnology through innovative courses and ongoing research initiatives. The courses offered by MUST focused on three main areas – science and technology, entrepreneurship and innovation – related to the field of biotechnology. Specifically, MUST offers very comprehensive undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in the various fields of biotechnology which include agrobiotechnology, industrial biotechnology, nutraceutical and food biotechnology, as well as health and pharma biotechnology. Through its research projects, some of the notable inroads achieved by MUST’s biotechnology faculty include structure-function relationship of protein, enzyme and bioactive molecules from natural resources, nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology, as well as pharmaceutical technology (design of drug delivery systems). Its success is backed by more than RM7 million research grants which it has received over the past eight years from various sources. From the amount, between 2004 and 2008, the faculty received RM2.5 million in research grants from Intensification of Research in Priority Areas (IRPA), SAGA (Akademi Sains Malaysia), and the Science Fund. "With the Biosafety Act in place, research and commercialisation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) will be streamlined with an objective to promote modern biotechnology, and at the same time protect human and animal health, and the biodiversity," said MUST associate professor Dr Joseph Selvaraj Samy. Commenting on the field’s future prospect, Joseph said: "As in any other business investment there are also risks in investing in biotechnology, but with adequate legalities in place and a sound Comprehensive Product Development Plan (CPDP) the necessary mitigation measures can be taken." He also emphasised on the need to build talented human capital. "MUST have designed its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes to develop graduates with a strong foundation in the principles of modern biotechnology and exposure to contemporary thinking in a variety of specific fields," he said.

Funding Boost for Printable Solar cells Project

1 August 2011

Professors Leone Spiccia, Udo Bach and Yi-Bing Cheng

A new form of low-cost solar cell that can be printed onto plastic and metal is a step closer to production after the State and Federal Governments announced a boost in funding for the ongoing research project.

Martin Ferguson, Federal Minister for Resources and Energy and his Victorian counterpart, Michael O’Brien jointly announced the additional $3.4 million in funding to assist in the development of the printing technology.

Professor Yi-Bing Cheng and Professor Udo Bach, from Monash University’s Faculty of Engineering, together with Professor Leone Spiccia from the Faculty of Science are part of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) in partnership with the University of Melbourne, the CSIRO and industry partners.

The technologies developed by VICOSC utilise titanium oxide and light-sensitive ink, which are printed directly onto polymers or metal. The lightweight nature of the cells mean they could be used for a number of applications beyond roofing, including mobile solar sources.

Mr Ferguson said the funding would help move the project from the research to the development phase.

“Using low-cost and readily available organic materials to print solar cells through established industrial processes where we already have a competitive advantage offers the potential for solar cells to be manufactured at low-cost in Australia.

“Australia is a leader in solar energy research and projects such as this will help Australia remain at the forefront of this rapidly growing industry,” said Mr Ferguson.

Professor Cheng welcomed the additional funding and said it highlighted the importance of the research.

“The main barrier to the uptake of solar technology to date has been cost. Conventional solar cells use silicon as a base and that’s quite expensive.

“The technology we’re developing can be printed on plastics or metal and this will reduce the manufacturing costs. Potentially, this development has the ability to significantly increase the uptake of solar technology in Australia.”

Professor Cheng said the innovative research was a good example of the future of Australia’s employment strengths.

“As we move to a low-carbon economy, many of our green jobs are going to come from research and technology innovation. We’re really pleased that the government is recognising this and supporting this trend.”

Protecting Our Water Supply

11 August 2011

From left: Professor Tam Sridhar, Dean of Engineering, Associate Professor Jayantha Kodikara, Paul Freeman, Sydney Water, and Dr Rod Thomas, Monash Faculty of Engineering

Australia is leading a $16 million international research project into why and when buried water pipes burst.

The project, launched Thursday 11 August at the Monash Club, is the largest international research collaboration led by Australia on water pipes and has world-wide significance as buried pipes provide around 70 per cent of the world’s urban water supply.

Leading the international research team is Monash University researcher, Associate Professor Jayantha Kodikara.  Monash University and partners at University of Technology Sydney and University of Newcastle will develop cost effective advanced condition assessment and failure prediction models that can evaluate pipes before they burst.

The five-year project, funded by seven Australian water authorities, the US Water Research Foundation, and UK Water Industry Research Ltd (UKWIR), will produce advanced techniques and technologies to accurately predict the remaining life of buried pipes and protect against pipe bursts.

Sydney Water, the largest urban water utility in Australia, will contribute $5.5 million to the project.

Paul Freeman, Sydney Water’s General Manager Asset Management, and Chair of the project’s management team said burst water pipes can cut water supplies to residents and businesses, affect safety and transport, and cause financial loss.

"The project's groundbreaking research and development will assist the water industry to save drinking water and customers’ money," Mr Freeman said.

"This is great news for Australian cities as the length of the buried pipes of the seven Australian water utilities alone would go around the world more than one and a half times.

“Sydney Water will contribute a world leading real life pipe test bed in Sydney to research condition assessment and failure prediction.

“We have been able to engage effectively with industry and research partners, and for the first time in a large water pipe collaboration there is overseas investment and knowledge,” said Mr Freeman.

Professor Edwina Cornish, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Monash University, said the University's leadership of the project reflected its ability to attract the best international research team.

The project has received Australian funding from Sydney Water Corporation, Hunter Water Corporation, South East Water, Melbourne Water, Water Corporation (WA), South Australia Water and City West Water.

Monash has collaboratively worked together with the universities, and other international and national partners to develop a research program that is worlds best in this field. CSIRO will join the research team in its next phase, and the USEPA, National Research Council (Canada) and Water Environment Research Foundation will provide know-how to the project.

TAYLOR'S Holds Web Design Workshop For Indonesian Students

Forty students from two secondary schools in Pontianak, Indonesia had an engaging time exploring about Web design at a workshop themed “Sell it to the World” led by Taylor’s School of Computing (SOCIT) Lecturer Mr. Lili Budiman. 

Mr. Budiman observes the participants

Held at SMA St. Paulus Pontianak, the four-hour workshop exposed participants from SMA St. Paulus and SMA Santo Emanuel to the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to create an effective and attractive Web page. They were guided to think creatively and innovatively to develop a “Hip, Funky and Cool” Web design.

Through interactions with Mr. Budiman and hands-on activities, participants learned about planning and developing Web pages using markup languages like HTML, Javascript and CSS. In addition, they also got to familiarise themselves with several software used to design sophisticated Websites, namely Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Powerpoint.

The highlight of the workshop for the students was creating an actual website to market a product of their choice. This assignment was divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 – Create a storyboard to detail the overall organisation of the websit
• Phase 2 – Develop a prototype using Microsoft Powerpoint
• Phase 3 – Implement the website by using Microsoft FrontPage

The participants were motivated to come up with the best ideas and designs as three awards were given out for Best Storyboard and Best Implementation, respectively.

Mr. Budiman said he enjoyed facilitating the workshop as the students were eager to learn.

“For many of them, it was their very first time to create a website, but they were fast learners and asked a lot of questions!

According to SOCIT Dean Ms. Banumathy Devi, this workshop was tailor-made to ensure students gain the right fundamentals, are able to apply what they have learned and have a fun time.
“The Internet has become such an important tool in the 21st century and it has become a vital part of everyday life - providing everything from news to shopping to music to videos - and is likely to become even more important in the years to come. Having the ability to design a Webpage that catches people’s attention is certainly a valuable skill,” she added.

How Manage Its IT System

KUCHING – Staff from Politeknik Kuching Sarawak recently visited Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus to learn how the university provides IT support to staff and students as well as the management of its information technology assets.

The group of 12 visitors was led by Shamsuria Binti Mohd Ariffin, Deputy Director (Academic Support) of the polytechnic.

They were welcomed on arrival and briefed on the university’s IT structure and policies by Caroline Hon, Director of Administration, and Jonathan Ng, Manager of Information Technology Services Department (ITS).

“We are very impressed with the efficient structure that has been implemented at Swinburne Sarawak with regards to ITS. A total of 12 ITS staff is able to provide quality service to the whole of Swinburne Sarawak due to proper implementation of ICT policies,” said Layam Anak Engkasan, who heads the ICT Unit at the polytechnic in Matang.

Swinburne Sarawak currently has a staff of about 250 including part-time lecturers and about 3,000 students. In addition to the support services its ITS provides to staff, access to the internet and a wide range of software, such as the Blackboard learning system, that supports a wide range of courses are also made available to students.

Layam said the visit was also an opportunity to exchange knowledge on the latest ICT technologies and to build closer cooperation between the two institutions.

“We have a lot to learn (from Swinburne Sarawak) with regards to setting up a proper helpdesk or service desk to ensure that the second-line ICT personnel have more free time to attend to requests or problems.

“We also learned of some new technologies that have not been introduced in the local polytechnics as yet, such as the use of FM-200 in your data centre and BlackBoard course management system,” she said.

Layam said that some of the hardware and software at the university may be available in some government institutions of higher learning but it is also imperative that these resources be well-managed with the help of policies that define and determine how an ICT unit operates: proper procurement specifications, customer support, response-time policies, acceptable usage policies and so forth.

She said that Swinburne Sarawak was chosen for the study tour as “we wanted to visit a private institution of higher learning in order to broaden our horizons as we have mostly been communicating and exchanging knowledge only with other government institutions of higher learning”.

The delegation also stopped by at the university’s 700-capacity library to look at its self-checkout system where students and staff may borrow books without involving library staff. Biotechnology labs and the IT data centre were the other places visited.

TARC students score big in IT contests

UNKU Abdul Rahman College (TARC), being a premier institution of higher learning with more than four decades of excellence is committed to provide active, collaborative, creative, integrative and evaluative aspects of education.

In line with this, TARC School of Arts and Science (SAS) has the privilege of hosting the next Cisco Malaysia Networking Skills Competition, NetRiders Malaysia 2011 after having bagged five wins, as champion, first runner-up, fifth and seventh positions as well as the Best Cisco Academy 2010 Award last year.The top two winners went on to represent Malaysia in the Asia-Pacific NetRiders Challenge 2010.The event will be held on April 2 at the Cyber Centre in KL Main Campus with student participation from IPTA, IPTS and Polytechnics nation-wide.This annual competition aims to showcase the students' talents in the networking field and serves as a platform for instructors to measure their students' competency level.On top of this grand hosting by TARC, a first year student of the Advanced Diploma in Science cum BS Degree (Computer Science and Computer Mathematics), Lim Wei Hsiang, obtained a Distinction Award inthe eGENTING Programming Competition 2010.These continuous wins of SAS students bear testimony to the fact that TARC provides an all-encompassing and evolving educational process of teaching, learning and knowledge.SAS offers various market-driven programmes such as Chemistry and Biology, Sport and Exercise Science, Information Systems Engineering, Business Information Systems, Computer Science, Microelectronics, Internet Technology and Interactive Software Technology and Food Science.The unique advantage of SAS students is that they are able to obtain an American degree from Campbell University without having to go overseas.The University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, USA to award the BS Degree conducted at TAR College.Until last year, this dual qualification has benefited more than 12,371 graduates.These efforts bring TARC to an upper echelon of education as it continuously enters into collaborations and partnerships with organisations and institutions to provide students with the latest industry-based technical know