UMP Triz Innovation Exposition 2.0

Pekan, 13 May- It was an unforgettable day for all Soft Skills II students as they had the chance to participate in UMP TRIZ Innovation Exposition 2.0 for the year 2018 at the Astaka Hall, UMP Gambang Campus. After 13 weeks of thorough, grueling and detailed discussions during academic lectures in the classroom, only 95 groups were selected from 181 groups (570 students) from a total of 1089 students enrolled in Soft Skills II course for this semester. 

Even though that was only the second time such an exposition conducted by the Soft Skills Department, this UMP Triz Innovation Exposition 2.0 for 2018 is by far the biggest event with the involvement of all enthusiastic Soft Skills Department lecturers: Captain Imaduddin Abidin, as the Coordinator for Soft Skills II, along with Dr. Rohana Hamzah, Dr. Fatmawati Latada, Dr. Wan Suraya Wan Nik, Jamilah Bebe Mohammad and Haslinda Hashim.  The presence and support of the Dean of Centre for Modern Language and Human Sciences (CMLHS), Associate Professor Dr. Muhammad Nubli Wahab, and Dr. Anita Abdul Rani, as the Head of Program of Soft Skills Department, had made the TRIZ Community team far greater. 

According to Dr. Rohana, the objective of this program is to allow students to be creative and critical by coming up with an original and authentic invention integrated with Inventive Principles (IP) and Engineering Contradictions (EC) parameters which they have acquired during lectures.

“Throughout the process of preparation, the participants consulted their respective instructors for guidance and supervision.  With a limited set budget, these students had to produce a proposal with a prototype as well as submit a video on the process or steps of the invention,” she said.

TRIZ, a Russian acronym which actually stands for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, was created by Genrich Altshuller in 1946, to systematize processes and procedures related to innovation and creativity in the solution of problems.   It consists of a theory, operating process/ procedures and a range of tools created with the objective of capturing the creative process in the technical and technological contexts, codifying it and making it repeatable and applicable.  In short, it is a proper theory of invention or inventive problem-solving.  With the motto of: BETTER, CHEAPER & FASTER, this exposition hopes to widen the knowledge of problem solving skills among students at university level which will definitely be useful for them when they become engineers in the future.

The external judges for the day were MyTRIZ Vice President & Inno Planet Consultant, Tan Eng Hoo. He was the founder and vice president of the Malaysia TRIZ Innovation Association (or MyTRIZ).  He was also attached to the Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) as a senior manager overseeing the Talent Development for ICT Industry. Others Dr. Mohd Roshidi Hassan, A senior lecturer at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) with the Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering.  He was the Founding Member of Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC), a collaboration between UPM & Airbus Group, Rolls Royce, CTRM & MIGHT; and Dr. Zulhasni Abdul Rahim: National TRIZ expert for the Malaysian Government, working as a senior lecturer and researcher at the Malaysia-Japan Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. With 16 years of working experiences with industries (mainly Automotive & Electronics), he was also the founder of the startup TRIZ based company called TRIZ Centre of Excellent.

For the final round, 15 groups were chosen and after their final presentation, the TRIZ experts had chosen the top 10 winning innovations with gold winners are Auto Side Stand, Fluorescent Light Bulb Change, Multifunctional Box and Magnetic Wristband. Meanwhile for the silver winners are S-Noodles, Magic Shawl and Safety Sleeve. Bronze winners are Magneto Stick, You Shall Not Fall ad Coconut Gripper.

Prepared by Haslinda@Robita Hashim and Dr. Wan Suraya Wan Nik from Centre for Modern Language and Human Sciences (CMLHS)