Page 7 - Berita Sunway - Issue 71

Features

Talent building with real-world solutions Educating entrepreneurs
of the future
ne of the annual events organised by Sunway
iLabs is the Make It Challenge - a collaborative n August, Sunway iLabs and Sunway
Ochallenge for university students in Malaysia University’s School of Science and
to build solutions and tackle problem statements based The 2020 challenge ITechnology began the first intake of its
on the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development focused on the newly launched Start-up Foundry, a free
Goals (SDGs). themes: elective university course that allows second-
year students and above from different schools
In September, more than 300 students from to build their business ideas while earning
30 universities nationwide participated in the 2020 EDUCATION academic credits.
challenge, which was held virtually due to the pandemic. TECHNOLOGY
The 2020 challenge focused on the themes of education Without lecturers and examinations, the
technology, digital health and food agriculture Start-up Foundry students gain four credit
technology – three of the six verticals under Sunway hours while learning from seasoned industry
City’s ‘Living Lab’ initiative. practitioners and undergoing a hands-on
structural venture-building programme that
“One of our ex-students, Satgrushnn Maikel, who had includes Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship
benefitted from the Make It Challenge programme Workshops from the University of California,
previously, came up with a solution for the problem Berkeley, in the US.
of people who abused the use of meeting rooms. After
his pitch during the challenge, a senior management DIGITAL Not only do Start-up Foundry students
member from Sunway Lagoon approached him to HEALTH develop entrepreneurial mindsets, but they are
come up with a similar solution for the Sunway Lagoon also connected to the resources of the Sunway
Wildlife Park,” said van Leeuwen. Group as they are able to utilise Sunway City
78 bpm as a ‘Living Lab’ testbed for market validation
At the Sunway Lagoon Wildlife Park, upkeeping for their solutions.
the animals often involves manual labour, with the
zookeeper managing their daily feedings and medical Start-up Foundry culminates in Demo
vaccination. Together with Sunway iLabs, Satgrushnn Day - where students pitch their final idea to
Maikel created an automated zoo management system a panel of investors, with the best students
enabling zookeepers to remotely manage the animals’ having the chance to participate in the Sunway
feeding and monitor their health status. FOOD iLabs Super Accelerator Programme to scale up
AGRICULTURE their businesses with a seed funding of between
The IT software programme transforms manual to real- TECHNOLOGY RM50,000 to RM100,000.
time electronic data collection, saving up to 75% in
manpower costs and improving operations turnaround “Students learn by doing. This methodology
time by up to 50%. will help students manoeuvre through the
constant challenge of getting people
“It’s the first zoo management system in Malaysia to understand the value of their product or
that efficiently changes a manual-driven process to a services, and to avoid the early pitfalls of a
data-driven one. It will be officially launched soon,” company,” said van Leeuwen.
said van Leeuwen.

Funding innovation Funding support comes in three stages – ‘prototyping’, which offers a
matching grant of up to RM50,000 per project, or up to 50% of the total
n a move to incentivise innovation and leverage talent project value; ‘integration’, with a matching grant of up to RM100,000
from Sunway University, Sunway iLabs launched the Sunway per project or up to 50% of the total project value; as well as ‘scale’,
IInnovation Matching Fund (IMF) in July. A collaborative which includes a seed grant of up to RM250,000 per project, or up to
platform between Sunway University and Sunway Group’s business 50% of the total fund required for the project.
units, the IMF aims to develop unique solutions that addresses the
current challenges faced by the Group’s subsidiaries. “We work with the business units to get problem statements, get
the students to develop the proof of concept and Sunway Group sets
Under the IMF programme, projects will receive funding support, aside funding to innovate in a structured way. If Sunway Malls wants
solution development by Sunway University, as well as project to work with RM100,000 for a prototype, RM50,000 will be matched
management by Sunway iLabs and Sunway Group IT. by Sunway Group,” said van Leeuwen, adding that the zoo management
system is one of the projects to be co-funded by the IMF.
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