SERDANG, August 4 - A number of 57 winners garnered 69 gold in the Design, Research and Innovation Exhibition (PRPI 2008) held at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Arts and Cultural Center last July 31.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tengku Aizan Hamid succeeded in garnering three gold followed by two gold medals each for ten researchers and one gold respectively for 45 other researchers.
A special award was given to Assoc. Prof. Datin Dr. Siti Nor Akmar Abdullah (INPEX Award), Dr. Tinia Idaty Mohd Ghazi (IENA Award) and Prof. Dr. Muzafar Shah Habibullah (INNOVA award) on their achievements in previous awards.
All PRPI winners received their awards from Higher Education Minister, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khalid Nordin who was present to close the event.
Research outputs of UPM researchers were put to exhibit from 29 until 31 July at 349 booths according to their respective fields.
UPM Vice Chancellor, Prof. Datuk Dr. Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah announced that 24% received gold, 53% silver, and 23% won bronze through the 349 research outcomes from three research categories consisting of action research, fundamental research, and innovative research at the PRPI 2008.
In the same ceremony, Office of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) received the MS ISO9001:2000 certification on the scope of Research Management and University Commercialization.
Khaled said the exhibition dignifies design outputs, research and innovation and supports Ministry of Higher Education’s efforts in realizing the Strategic Plan, which is “Empowering Research and Innovation.”
“UPM’s efforts act as an eye opener to the society in realizing the importance of design, research and innovation towards human development,” he said.
He said four UPM researches will perforate the international market including countries like Indonesia, Iran, Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Singapore and should be exemplified by other institutes of higher education in Malaysia.
Khaled also congratulated UPM as its Bioscience Institute was chosen as one of the 8 MoHE Center of Excellence (CoT) under the Living Science Cluster.
“However, UPM denizens should work harder in dignifying UPM globally,” he said.
PRPI 2008 Chairperson, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irmawti Ramli said the exhibition held this year highlights research outcomes and new findings with commercialization potentials.
“Each entry in the exhibition will need to fulfill the criteria whether its research technology has received intellectual property protection status or whether it has been published in citation index journals.
Themed “Inculcating High Impact Research” this year, Dr, Irmawati said the PRPI has been held since 1997 to boost UPM’s research findings and development (R&D).
By: Media Unit, Corporate Communication Divison
