Windfall For APICTA Winners

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Five participants of the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2012 were awarded grants by the Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), Borneo Bulletin reported.

The grants were presented at yesterday’s appreciation dinner held for committees and volunteers of APICTA Awards 2012 at the Tarindak Restaurant in Jerudong Polo Club.

Present as the guest of honour was Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Abdullah bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, Minister of Communications, who presented mock cheques to the grant recipients.

The cheques were handed to four APICTA merit award winners in their respective categories, namely, ZimacSilicon Technologies Sdn Bhd, John Harith Sdn Bhd, MeSixty Sdn Bhd, and Media Hikmah, who received an AITI grant of BND$25,000 each.

An AITI grant of BND$50,000 was presented to Chung Hwa Middle School, which won the APICTA Awards 2012 in the Secondary Student Project category, with its product, ‘Brunei Treasure’.

The main objectives of the AITI grant are to further research and development in the field of ICT and to facilitate the development of more innovative and competitive local ICT-related products and services.

According to Hj Yahkup bin Hj Menudin, AITI’s Chief Executive in his welcoming remarks, “We hope that these grants will be able to assist the recipients to improve and enhance their winning products and services so they are able to compete in both local and international markets.

“This year marks a major achievement for Brunei Darussalam, not only for being the inaugural host of APICTA Awards 2012, but also for bagging five awards from various levels of participation, including students and start-up businesses,” he added.

Also present was Dato Paduka Hj Awg Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Digadong Seri Lela Data Seri Utama Hj Awg Md Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications.

Wong Chun Lynn, one of the group members from Chung Hwa Middle School, said, “This has been a great opportunity for us, and we are happy as well as excited to receive the grant and winning the students’ category. We did not expect to win in the students’ category as there was a great deal of competition from overseas partic i pants”.

The Bulletin also spoke to Tay Eue Kam, General Manager of ZimacSilicon Technologies. She expressed her happiness and felt proud to win an award for the country.

She added that its I-Clid (Intelligence Clearance Identification) system will continue to grow.