His Royal Highness Crown Prince Pengiran Muda Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, Deputy Sultan, yesterday consented to grace the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2005 at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas.

HRH was greeted upon arrival by Pehin Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Abd Aziz Pehin Dato Paduka Hj Awg Umar, Minister of Education; Pehin Dato Paduka Awg Hj Suyoi Hj Osman, Deputy Minister of Education and Dato Paduka Hj Hamdillah HJ Abd Wahab, Managing Director of BLNG Sdn Bhd.

The event, held for the very first time, began with the recital of Al-Fatihah followed by a welcoming speech from Dr Hj Kassim Hj Daud, Acting ITB Director, in his capacity as the Chairman of the event. Amongst all, he highlighted on the objectives of the award which have been planned since 2003.

He said that besides encouraging invention and innovation in the Sultanate, the award is introduced to award and recognise invention and creative talent as well as to develop the process of making technology products in the Sultanate.

The award has attracted about 20 participants and the most encouraging thing is that majority of the participants comprising citizens and permanent residents of Brunei Darussalam.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director BLNG Snd Bhd (partner of the project) noted that in the field of education, it is their responsibility to work together with the government to support the nation's aspiration in achieving excellence in education and learning in the Sultanate.

He added that the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITB enables Brunei LNG trainees to undergo Mechanical Engineering courses and achieve international recognition. Apart from that, it also aims to plan cooperation for other initiative in the near future and provide opportunities for both parties to benefit respective facilities, skills and experiences.

The cooperation field under the MoU includes a partner and main sponsor of the Crown Prince CIPTA Award that was launched yesterday. Dato Paduka Hj Hamdillah highlighted that the award acts as a cornerstone and as an encouragement to produce the culture of desire to invent something new and the creativity attitude to expand in the community particularly amongst school students, young scientists, technologists, engineers as well as young entrepreneurs.

Divided into two categories namely Category 1 for Product, Process or Creative/Innovative Technology and Category 2 for Innovative and Creative Modification to existing Product, Process and Technology, the award will be held once every two years. The next award will take place in February 2007.

Prior to the presentation of "Road to CIPTA 2005" video clip, HRH opened the Crown Prince CIPTA Award 2005, followed by judges' comments.

At the end of the event, HRH consented to present prizes and awards to the winners. In Category 1, the award went to Awg Mat Japar Hj Awg Karim with his "Portable Informer" invention while in Category 2, the winner was Mr Keeran Janin with his "Vinyl Audio Processor" invention. Both winners achieved 80.25%.

The panel of judges for the competition were Dr Y.S. Wong, from National University of Singapore, Dr Martin Blundell, Dr Pg Hj Nor Jaidi Pg Tuah and Dr William Drake from UBD, Awg Masatejo Hj Sokiaw from BLNG Sdn Bhd, Professor Momoh Jimoh E Salami from Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Dr Hj Faqir Gul from ITB and Awg Saiful Anuar A Rahim from SEAMEO VOCTECH.

The points are based on 50% of excellence/originality, 30% for marketing potential, 10% for project report and 10% for presentation. In order to win the CIPTA Award, the competing product, process or technology must achieve a total mark of 85%.

The judges commented that even though the competition was being held for the first time, overall the level of competing project is satisfactory with several projects possessing quality and originality that can be proud of.

They were also satisfied with the participants' capabilities to produce their invention by using several engineering methods to bring about an efficient product, process or technology that can be used. - Borneo Bulletin