Coral Reef VR wins Special Award, Bronze at IPITex 2023

A final-year project by two students from Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (UniKL MIIT), ‘Pulau Bidong – Coral Reef Virtual Preservation’ reached new heights with its outstanding recognition at Bangkok’s prestigious innovation exhibition.

Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Multimedia Technology (Hons.) in Interactive Multimedia Design, Syazwani Abd Rahman and Mohd Ajaz Abdul Rani were awarded a Special Award of Excellence and a Bronze Prize at the Bangkok International Intellectual Property, Invention, Innovation, and Technology Exposition (IPITEx) 2023.

Expressing the award as the high point for both of them, Syazwani, 24, disclosed that they began the research project in July, last year.

“We were overjoyed with the results. Our project was acknowledged by President IBS Global, Miss Edyta Wolcyzk of Poland and we received the Special Award of Excellence, and a Bronze Prize from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT),” she told.

The comprehensive study, under the expert guidance of UniKL MIIT lecturer, Masyarah Zulhaida Masmuzidin, has a dual objective of imparting knowledge to individuals on the critical aspect of coral preservation and simultaneously creating heightened awareness among the general public about this crucial environmental issue.

This international competition marked the first time the students brought their innovative project to the global stage, having already earned a Gold Medal and Best Award at the 2022 International Final Year Project (FYP) Competition and Exhibition (I-CPEX).

“The next step will be to focus on other local and international competitions. A commercialisation plan for the project is also in the works,” she said.

The IPITEx event, held in conjunction with Thailand Inventors’ Day from February 2nd to 6th, was designed to promote collaboration between national and international inventors.