BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

STUDENTS are urged to express their creativity as this can help them fulfil their potentials as inventors and entrepreneurs to assist in the development of Brunei.

Co-Head Secretariat of CIPTA (Crown Prince Innovative Products and Technological Advancement) 2015 Hjh Siti Eddyilahwati Hj Suhaili said this during the “Recognising Intellectual Property in Invention and Protecting It” talk yesterday at Institut Teknologi Brunei’s (ITB) Pearl Building.

The ITB lecturer told _The Brunei Times _that Brunei was in need of local inventors and entrepreneurs.

“Students nowadays are more into hands-on practical learning. We want them to be exposed to the culture of inventions,” she said.

Hjh Siti Eddyilahwati said that yesterday’s talk was a step in preparing the students to become inventors by teaching them the required knowledge.

“The youth should express their creativity, not just on paper and pen, but through inventions and designs of products because they could get well-known with their unique creations,” she said.

She highlighted that students have become visual and practical learners which was why she encouraged students to take part in the biennial CIPTA competition in 2017 to prove their skills and innovative minds.

“Throughout my 10 years of being a lecturer here, I have seen a lot of engineering, business and computing students who can exceed their potentials to become future successful international inventors and entrepreneurs,” she said.

Yesterday’s talk was presented by Assistant Registrar of Registry of Patents & Industrial Designs under the Intellectual Property Office Brunei Darussalam Bakhtiar Hafeez Bandial.

Bakhtiar Hafeez said Bruneians have a lot of values in terms of creativity.

“They can become very successful inventors, they just need that push and guidance to become one,” he said.

“Being an entrepreneur or an inventor is not easy, but people should try because they will receive guidance and assistance from Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) and others to become successful,” he said.

The talk was held as part of ITB’s innovation month, organised to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the competition.

The Brunei Times