Samsung Nurtures Ideas That Could Improve Lives With Solve For Tomorrow Competition
September 18, 2015 | National News
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – September 15, 2015 – What if you could adapt a wheelchair into a device that mobilises disabled people in ways that they could never have dreamed possible or create a simple solution that could fight dengue? With Solve For Tomorrow, it feels like we are on the verge of discovering possible solutions to these social issues and more.
Ideas can be powerful and inspire real change in the communities we live in. This is the underlying message behind Samsung’s motivation to introduce Solve For Tomorrow here, a competition that challenges university students to conceptualise solutions that touch on topical issues and real challenges that Malaysians are facing today.
Ideas can result in immediate solutions or long-term achievements, as showcased by 20 student groups at the finale to the Solve For Tomorrow competition, rightfully themed as a Learning Festival at the White Box @ Publika. The competition requires student teams to outline a cause or problem, develop a solution and submit a working prototype.
This was then further whittled down to the penultimate Top 10 finalists who presented their ideas along with working prototypes to Mr Ken Ding, Head of Product Innovation, South East Asia & Oceania, Samsung Electronics; Prof. Madya Dr Arham Abdullah, Director, Industry Relations at the Ministry of Education; Encik Rushdi Abdul Rahim, Senior Vice President, MiGHT (Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology) and Mr Tan Eng Hoo, Founder & Vice President, MyTRIZ and Encik Mohd Yazid bin Sairi, Assistant Director, Industry Relations, at the Ministry of Higher Education. Each team had five minutes to pitch their ideas and show off their working prototypes, in addition to a five-minute Q&A session with the judges. What is apparent is that Solve For Tomorrow by Samsung offers a platform for students to experience a technopreneur’s journey and get their prototypes market ready. No idea is too big or too small; the merit lies in the capacity for change that each idea brings to the panel of judges.
“With Solve For Tomorrow, Malaysian students can take an active stance in making a positive change for all through using their ideas and creativity with technology. We want to support the Government’s focus on a holistic approach to education, through the emphasis of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics,” said Mr Lee Sang Hoon, President of Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
“Continued focus and investment in science & technology is what Malaysia needs if we hope to have sustainable growth beyond 2020 and stay ahead of our economic competitors. In this respect, we see the parallel between Samsung Solve For Tomorrow and the Government’s Science to Action (S2A) Programme to transform the economy in areas that touch the lives of the nation,” said Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, Chief Executive Officer, MiGHT (Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology) in his keynote address.
As part of the day’s activities, a Learning Forum entitled ‘Innovation in Education’ was also held, with a panel of key opinion leaders and experts in innovation and technology including Dr Amani Salim, lecturer at International Islamic University Malaysia specialising in nanotechnology, and Dato’ IR Hong Lee Pee, President of AAET (ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology) who weighed in on whether key stakeholders were doing enough to encourage students to embrace innovation and the spirit of technopreneurship to take them through life.
To further reinforce the power of transformative ideas, the Top Three Prize winners received the opportunity to embark on a Learning Trip to South Korea. The winners will spend time with key minds at the Samsung headquarters, who will share their expertise, insights and learning into what makes Samsung a company that inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The top three winning teams also received a RM60,000 seed grant (shared across the three teams) to improve and advance their prototypes, an internship at Samsung Malaysia and Samsung devices.
This first Solve For Tomorrow competition garnered 108 submissions across five Demo Days at selected university hubs, covering different zones. The competition is open to public and private university students nationwide. Solve For Tomorrow is part of the Samsung Global Corporate Citizenship initiative in the core area of Education that employs creative technology for the betterment of local communities.
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