MMU, NTIS ink agreement for education tech sandbox

• To strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship among students
• Four sandbox test sites have been established in country

Multimedia University (MMU) has sealed an agreement with Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), the lead secretariat of the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) to pave the way for the high-tech education sandbox.

In a statement, MMU said the collaboration agreement (CA) was inked at the launch of the Research Innovation Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship Showcase (RICES) 2021.

President of MMU Mazliham Mohd Su’ud said the move was not only in line with the university’s goal of helping transform society through innovation, but fits the current national and global situations very well.

“The education sector was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the face-to- face teaching and learning sessions had to be stopped, forcing us to find alternative ways to conduct the class.

“That innovative process, which we used to find an acceptable solution, is what this partnership is about. We want innovation and continuous improvement to become natural for Malaysia,” he said.

MMU said the collaboration will strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship among students and student entrepreneurs that can maximise technology’s potential to transform the way of teaching and learning in the country.

It is also expected to enhance students’ interest in learning, improve collaboration among students and teachers, increase teachers’ productivity and prepare students for the digital future, MMU said.

The collaboration between NTIS and MMU is to develop the first high-tech education sandbox that is aimed at boosting the usage of local technology in the education sector through collaboration with NTIS.

Dzuleira Abu Bakar, group CEO of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) said, “NTIS provides a platform to allow the use of advanced technologies in key sectors such as education that can bring about meaningful social and economic impact, especially given the repercussions of the pandemic.

At the same time we provide an opportunity for local innovations’ commercialisation to be fast-tracked through funding, regulatory facilitation and a live environment where these innovations can be stress tested before going to the market.”

She said through the NTIS, four National Sandbox test sites have been established across the country namely: the agriculture sandbox in FELDA Mempaga, Pahang; robotics and automation sandbox in Iskandar drone and robotics zone; sandbox logistics for urban delivery drones in Cyberjaya; and Area 57 is the first one-stop centre for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV and UAS) innovation at Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil.

“With this launch, we invite innovators to make use of the university’s ready facilities as test beds to accelerate the commercialisation of their innovative ideas to impact," said Dzuleira.

“For this sandbox, we will be focusing on the solutions that can contribute to improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning pedagogies in hybrid-mode as well as preparing a highly competent and productive workforce with strong leadership and critical thinking hands-on technological skills.”