BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE deadline for applications to the Crown Prince Creative, Innovative Products and Technological Advancement (CIPTA) Awards 2015 is under consideration due to overwhelming public interest.

Associate Professor Dr Hjh Zohrah Hj Sulaiman, Acting Vice Chancellor of Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) said that the application deadline would most likely be extended, although nothing has been confirmed yet.

The ITB Acting Vice Chancellor said that although they were unsure of the total number of applications for CIPTA 2015 to date, they were expecting over 100 applications - similar to last year’s number.

The addition of a new “ASEAN category” to next year’s CIPTA competition was announced earlier this year, which meant that CIPTA Awards 2015 will also be witnessing participation from ASEAN countries, other than Brunei.

“It is hoped that the competition will be richer and stiffer, following introduction of the ASEAN category this time around,” Dr Hjh Zohrah said.

She said that local products showcased in previous CIPTA competitions fell short of meeting the criteria of being “novel, authentic creations” which is required to win the Crown Prince’s trophy. “We have international judges and local judges who are experts at innovation, and to whom innovation is a daily thing. When we judge products at CIPTA, we look at them and benchmark them – if the judges have seen it before elsewhere internationally, the products don’t meet the criteria,” Dr Hjh Zohrah explained. “We cannot just give out the (Crown Prince’s trophy) just for the sake of giving it, as it will set a precedent for future CIPTA competitions,” she further said.

One way of impressing the judges would be if a patent had been filed by the applicant for the product they entered into CIPTA.

“If it has gone for patent filing already, it means you’re nearly there. In such cases, we will be very protective of these inventions and will not showcase the whole thing, for fear of visitors coming in and copying the inventions,” she explained. To date, the CIPTA Awards have resulted in seven patent filings and one Local Enterprise Application and Products (LEAP) grant scheme being awarded by BEBD.

The Brunei Times