In this episode, presenters of The Gadget Show, Amy Williams and Jason Bradbury, visit Professor Adrian Cheok at the Imagineering Lab in London and try out some of his whacky devices for the senses.
Watch the full episode on Channel 5: https://www.my5.tv/the-gadget-show/season-23/episode-8
The 2nd International Conference on Creative Media, Design & Technology (REKA2016) will be held at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, MALAYSIA on 26 & 27 Sept 2016. Professor Adrian David Cheok has been invited to be the keynote speaker for this conference.
In REKA2016, researchers will gather to overview the current issues in the field of Creative Media, Design and Technology, to discuss and analyze the best practices of the implementation of strategies, programmes and methods in this fields, and to exchange opinions on the impact of Creative Media, Design and Technology on education and creative industries.
Imagineering Institute is searching for the next Malaysian J-Pop sensations. If you’re a female between 17-25, able to sing and dance, fluent in Malay and English language and a Malaysian citizen we want you.
Submit your photo (Head and Full body) with a clear video recording of you singing (NO longer than 3 minutes) to iqmal@imagineeringinstitute.org.
• by Nicola Ranson (Communications Officer)
Five student teams with innovative business proposals took home £3,000 prizes at theCitySpark Grand Finals this week. City’s student innovation competition aims to inspire and support the next generation of entrepreneurial talent. Ten teams of students were selected to pitch their ideas to a panel of esteemed business experts for the chance to win funding to further their project. The event also allowed the teams to network and get feedback on their business idea.
The panel of judges included Samuel Lehane, Head of Parnerships at Virgin StartUp;Darren Shirlaw, Co–founder of Shirlaws; Adam Cooke, Delivery Consultant at Visa Europe Collab; Michael-George Hemus, Founder of Plumen and Caroline Wiertz, Associate Dean of Entrpreneurship at Cass.
Head of entrepreneurship at City, Alex Elkins said the event was a “great showcase” of the very best entrepreneurial talent at City.
The level at which our student and graduate entrepreneurs are performing is truly compelling and an inspiration for us all. City entrepreneurs don’t just identify problems, they seek out to solve them using innovation, creativity and gumption. The quality of entries this year was incredible, providing an unenviable task for the judges to pick the winners. CitySpark is merely the start of the entrepreneurial journey and I hope to see all our finalists pursuing their business ventures, achieving amazing things and becoming our very own innovators of the future.
Archtor is a customisable, mechanical gaming keyboard. The keyboard, powered by Archtor software, allows the user to change the display of the keys. This is controlled through an LCD RGB Backlit screen embedded in each keycap. It functions as a versatile keyboard which can be used in any language, any layout and with any software or game.
Miodrag Vidakovic (PhD in Sensors and Instrumentation, Optical Sensors) said: “The idea came from discussion with a friend about the limitations of existing keyboards. Both of us experienced the same issue.”
Winning a CitySpark competition gives you financial support, but importantly it also gives you the chance to spread the word about your idea and share it with others. It also provides the opportunity to get feedback on your idea which is crucial at this stage.
Eat Safe is a restaurant directory app that allows people with dietary restrictions find new places to eat out that are safe for their diets. Consumer can select which restrictions they have, look for local restaurants on the system and see the menu items that are safe for them to eat. This provides restaurants with a means of effectively complying with the legal requirement to store allergy information while tapping into a large underserved market.
Matt Bland (MSc Marketing Strategy and Innovation) said he came up with the idea after his girlfriend developed a soy allergy. “She’s a real foodie and it made going out incredibly difficult. Both my sisters also have a wheat allergy and I’d seen how difficult it was for them to find place to eat out. So I tried to think of something which could help them and thus Eat Safe was born.”
Matt said winning gave him confidence in the Eat Safe concept:
I met a lot of people at the event who will be a great help in the next steps. Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to learn how to develop a business concept into a viable idea.
Matt says they will use the funds to start the app development process. They hope to exhibit this at the Free-From food festival in May.
Twipes are hygienic, water-dispersible wet wipes designed to fit into existing toilet roll holders. The wipes are alcohol and paraben free, meaning that continual use doesn’t dry out skin or doesn’t cause irritation. Twipes also dissolve in water within three hours making them an environmentally-friendly alternative to existing wet wipes currently on the market.
Alborz Bozorgi (Cultural and Creative Industries) said: “Toilet paper has been the same for over 100 years. It’s due for an upgrade and Twipes is exactly that, it’s an upgrade to toilet paper. Twipes are anti-bacterial, don’t cause blockages and feel great on your skin.”
The team said they were “over the moon” to have been named a winner.
It’s an incredible feeling. It’s not so much about the money, but the external validation we received from the judges and the attendees. Seeing how excited other people were about our idea just made us even more excited.
The team will put the funding towards researching and designing their product. Their website will go live in April and from there will begin to take pre-orders.
BookBall is an online booking platform that connects players with sports facilities in London. BookBall will allow customers to go online, search for local facilities and book them in a matter of clicks. Simultaneously the platform provides the sports facility a simple and intuitive way to manage their bookings. The idea was borne out of frustration with the existing time-consuming process involved in booking a tennis court or football pitch.
Stefan Metaxas (Business Studies) said: “I couldn’t believe that there were so many great facilities, but there wasn’t one website or service on which I could book them. It just seemed more inconvenient than it should be.”
CitySpark has helped the team to develop their idea, Stefan said. “CitySpark is a great competition that has helped us so much already since winning the Christmas Marketplace, so we really look forward to their continuing help in the future. To be honest, the best part was just hearing positive feedback from people about the idea, it’s made us that much more excited to get this business up and running.”
The BookBall team are now working on a beta version of the platform. They will use the £3000 prize fund on programming so that they can showcase the idea to potential business clients.
Binta’s Kitchen aim to create healthy, versatile and convenient food products, incorporating authentic African flavours. Their flagship product is a traditional Tomato & Red pepper sauce. The team aim to help busy, health-conscious people to enjoy nutritious meals that are easy to prepare.
Wanna impress investors and funders in less than 60 seconds? Wanna have it for almost free?
Yeah, that’s right. Pitchtitan is looking for startups (preferably past ideation stage) to come to their studio in TTDI, Kuala Lumpur, and shoot some epic pitch videos! You can check out some of their samples here. <www.pitchtitan.com/startups>
What’s the catch? How come it can be free? This kind of video not cheap you know?
Smart lah you, and glad that you recognise the quality. Well, if they ask you to pay RM2500 up front for the video, sure you’ll complain, bitch and talk behind their back. So here’s the deal: they produce the pitch video for you, and when you get funded, then only you pay them lar. Win-Win, no?
If you’re really serious, fill in the form and book a slot with Pithtitan at the hidden link below. Limited slots only.
http://pitchtitan.com/want-pitch-video/
Starting April, The Hangout Malaysia would like to invite any startup companies that are interested for a pitch interview session at our office in Mall of Medini, Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
Come down to our office for a session and we will tell you a little more about The Hangout, get to know you better, and see if your idea fit for us.
You can always reach out to us if you have any questions before the interview. Kindly contact Iqmal at iqmal@imagineeringinstitute.org to setupthe meeting.
We look forward to meeting you!
