Our third-year computer science major, Jhanarthananraja a/l Nagaraja, again proved the technological prowess and ingenuity of QIU students by clinching first place in the recently concluded CHIPTA Tech 2023 challenge organised by the Malaysian Administration and Management Planning Modernisation Unit (MAMPU).
His team SatuFeature, including Tan Jing Jie (UTAR), Muhammad Irfan bin Jasni and Muhammad Harris Shah bin Shahrudin (both UniKL), won Category 3: Students of Higher Education Institutions with their remarkable civic engagement app called MyUndang. This software empowers Malaysians to participate in the democratic process, stay informed, and connect with their elected representatives.
On their march to victory, Jhanarthananraja and his teammates outshone competitors from Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, and Universiti Teknologi MARA, among others. They wowed an impressive jury composed of government representatives, noted academics, and distinguished industry experts.
He and his teammates were feted for their achievement with certificates and cash prizes at the prestigious Majlis Anugerah Inovasi Perdana Sektor Awam (AIPSA) awards ceremony held at Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
The CHIPTA Tech 2023 challenge bore the theme ‘Realising Innovation for a Better Future.’ It furthered the national goal of implementing the MyDigital initiative towards increasing digital mastery among high school students, institutes of higher education, and civil servants. Broadly a ‘hackathon,’ this high-intensity, sprint-like competition tested the mental agility of contestants and mandated creative, out-of-the-box thinking and solutions.
Guided by seasoned mentors, participants had to innovate solutions to real-world problems framed as business cases and based on the four strategic pillars of the Malaysia MADANI policy framework: rebuilding the economy, ensuring human well-being, reforming democratic and legal institutions, and establishing trustworthy governance.
The CHIPTA (CH–challenge, I–innovation, and P–problem-solving through TA-technology advancement) programme provides a platform for the community to create various innovative and creative solutions by using the latest technology based on mobile application development and open-data utilisation.
Well done, Jhanarthananraja, for exhibiting your flair for technology at this top-flight competition and surging to victory against stiff competition. Your success is further proof that our students can take on the best anywhere and turn up trumps!
