Brunei Darussalam Bags Four APICTA 2022 Awards

Brunei Darussalam’s representatives to the 21^st Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2022 have done the country proud by achieving two (2) winning awards and two (2) merit awards in four (4) categories of the prestigious international ICT competition held recently in Islamabad, Republic of Pakistan. The recipients of the awards are:

Present at the Brunei International Airport to welcome home the winners and delegation was Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha, Minister of Transport and Infocommunications and Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar, Minister of Health.

Also present were Dato Seri Paduka Awang Haji Matsatejo bin Sokiaw, Deputy Minister (Energy) at the Prime Minister’s Office as Chairman of the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI); Awang Haji Mohammad Nazri bin Haji Mohammad Yusof, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) and Co-Chairman I of BICTA Steering Committee; Awang Haji Maswadi bin Haji Mohsin, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health (MOH); Awang Haji Hairul Mohd Daud Haji Abdul Karim, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Infocommunications), MTIC; Awang Haji Mohd Salihin bin Haji Aspar, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary (Transport), MTIC; Awang Haji Shamsol bin Haji Omar, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA); Dr. Hajah Anie Haryani binti Haji Abdul Rahman, Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary (Policy and Management), Ministry of Health;  and senior officers from MTIC, MORA, MOH, AITI as well as members of InfoCom Federation Brunei (IFB).

The arrival of the delegation was blessed with the recital of Doa Kesyukuran led by Haji Mohamad Aduka bin Haji Abdul, Imam of Brunei International Airport.  

Ministry of Health was the recipient of the BICTA 2022 Royal Patron Award and winner of the ICT Industry category. Their product, BruHealth, is an app that eases contact tracing and provides a closed-loop epidemic response system with comprehensive infectious disease monitoring from the data collected by all the daily health code assessment of the individual for when a confirmed case is being reported.

BruHealth has demonstrated innovative characteristics, such as its design, implementation, and performance, which allowed impacted communities to maintain their quality of life during and after the pandemic. Its rapid adoption by society at large was a highlight of the product, supporting the notion of Whole-of-Nation response to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The judges were particularly impressed by the visionary framework and functions of the system which has no precedence or similar product to benchmark.

Meanwhile Rumine Corporation with their product Techsim, was a BICTA 2022 ICT Industry’s participant and was also a recipient of the ASEAN ICT Awards (AICTA) 2021 Gold Award in the Digital Content Category. Techsim is a virtual training simulation servicing and maintenance of air-conditioning units, that serves as a tool to increase the efficiency of practicing assembly and maintenance processes. It is an innovative solution that integrate Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) into the industry's processes.

SUAMPRIPAHS was the second runner-up of the School Category in BICTA 2022. Their product, Sign Speak app, enables two-way communication between two people with hearing disability and the community. The app uses American Sign Language and Brunei Sign Language.

A total of 165 teams from sixteen (16) member economies and 210 entry nominations competed in the 25 categories of APICTA Awards 2022 which was held from 7^th to 11^th December 2022. Brunei Darussalam was represented by four (4) teams comprising winners, runners-up and participants of the BICTA 2022. Ministry of Health and Rumine Corporation competed in person, whereas Sekolah Menengah Berakas with their products ‘MidoriSAWI’ and SUAMPRIPAHS took part virtually from Brunei Darussalam.

Throughout the competition period, the APICTA participants underwent intensive judging sessions with a panel of judges comprising international ICT industry experts, members of the academia and government representatives. They also experienced the local culture and networked with fellow ICT industry players.

APICTA Awards has given the winners international recognition and further legitimises their products on a global platform. It is hoped that the winners will take advantage of their international achievement and use it to further enhance their reputation and productivity.

Brunei Darussalam’s participation in the APICTA Awards is a continuous initiative by MTIC, AITI and IFB to stimulate innovation and creativity in ICT. It is also aimed to develop the nation’s ICT sector by encouraging individuals, students and businesses to compete at the international level.