Maxis IoT Challenge produces solution prototypes for agriculture, smart cities

• The Challenge is a partnership with MDEC
• Winners receive cash prizes totaling US$7,185, mentoring support

FOLLOWING roadshows and months of hard work from innovative and creative talent across Malaysia, 20 finalists pitched their solution prototypes to a panel of industry judges at the Maxis IoT Challenge Pitch Day on Aug 20.

The top three winners who will receive cash prizes of US$3,593, US$2,395, and US$1,198 (RM15,000, RM10,000 and RM5,000) respectively, are Momoku, Vectolabs Technologies and DiTack. They will also receive mentoring support.

Present at the event in Kuala Lumpur was Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Sim Tze Tzin, who was accompanied by Maxis chief executive officer Gokhan Ogut.

“As a nation, we need to realise the huge potential of IoT technology towards our aspirations of positioning Malaysia as a premier regional IoT development hub. The use of technologies like IoT is especially critical for the agriculture sector, namely the agro-food and industrial commodity sub sectors, which continue to be vital to the country.

“We are fortunate that in this era of the Internet and with the immense power of technologies like IoT, we have the opportunity to transform and modernise agriculture into a high-income and sustainable sector.

“I am pleased see Maxis taking the initiative to create awareness and open up opportunities for greater IoT adoption for all Malaysian businesses, and for taking important steps in championing Industry 4.0 initiatives in the country,” said Sim.

“The Maxis IoT Challenge Pitch Day was a celebration of creativity and innovation, and today marks the culmination of all the hard work that has been put in by all the participants. For us, it was exciting to see the Challenge unlocking potential on two fronts – of the participants as well as the technology.

“At Maxis, we remain committed to accelerating the benefits of IoT adoption through such initiatives and solid partnerships. Congratulations to all the finalists who have made it this far, and to the winners of this Challenge whose innovative ideas today could spark waves of positive change and impact entire communities in Malaysia in the future,” said Ogut.

The day-long event comprised a panel session entitled ‘Impacting Industries with IoT, in which Sim participated, as well as two tech talk sessions on smart cities and innovation through IoT.

There was also a showcase of IoT solutions by the Challenge finalists, Maxis and solutions partners, featuring use cases around Smart Cities, Manufacturing and Agriculture.

The Maxis IoT Challenge is a partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to promote the ecosystem development of IoT solutions among companies to spur the Malaysian digital economy.

During Pitch Day, the 20 finalists who were shortlisted in July will be given five minutes each to pitch their ideas and prototypes to a panel of industry judges from Maxis, MDEC, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Microsoft, Cisco Systems and IJM Corporation Bhd.

The winners of the Maxis IoT Challenge:

Grand prize – Momoku

Category: Smart Agriculture - Yield impact with precision agriculture

Description: Smart agriculture solution to monitor and enable the most optimised environments for mushroom crop growth.

Prize: RM15,000 & six months complimentary membership with Co-labs co-working space

First runner up – Vectolabs Technologies

Category: Smart Cities - Traffic monitoring & management

Description: Smart road user detection to detect even cyclists and motorcyclists for safer roads, and links to smart street lights to enable greater road safety when users are present.

Prize: RM10,000 & three months complimentary membership with Co-labs co-working space

Second runner up – DiTack

Category: Smart Agriculture - Yield impact with precision agriculture

Description: Smart agriculture solution to detect and repel growth of pest (weed) that is a threat for paddy farming

Prize: RM5,000 & three months complimentary membership with Co-labs co-working space

Best showcase booth – ξION

Category: Smart Manufacturing - Conditioning monitoring and predictive maintenance

Description: Smart manufacturing solution to detect machine downtime and enable predictive maintenance

Prize: Limited edition powerbanks