FAQ -

faq

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

What is Young Innovators Challenge?

The Young Innovators Challenge is a youth innovation programme designed to help youths in Malaysia develop technical and life skills in the areas of embedded system, problem-solving, innovation and entrepreneurship through workshops, competitions and an accelerator camp.
How is Young Innovators Challenge different from Young Innovate?

Young Innovators Challenge is a Sime Darby initiative which started in 2016. Young Innovate is a programme by DreamCatcher which has been established since 2013.

Realizing the similar approach to engage youths of Malaysia in terms of building innovation capabilities, Sime Darby and DreamCatcher, through its social arm Chumbaka are collaborating for the Young Innovators Challenge 2017.
Who can participate in the Young Innovators Challenge?

The Young Innovators Challenge is open to all students in local, private and international secondary schools aged 13-17 years old, across Malaysia.

PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

How does the program work?
The Young Innovators Challenge is divided into three stages:

PROTOTYPING: JAN – MAY 2017
Boot camps will be held at schools throughout Malaysia for participants to learn about Arduino and Design Thinking. Participants will then come up with an idea to solve a real-life problem before building a solution using open source components.

STATE-LEVEL MAKER FAIRS & COMPETITIONS: MAY - JULY 2017
Participants will exhibit and pitch their projects at host universities across Malaysia.

NATIONAL ACCELERATOR CAMP: 3RD - 9TH AUGUST 2017
Top 15 teams from the state-level competitions will be selected for the National Accelerator Camp to be held at IM4U@Sentral in Puchong, Selangor. Participants will be mentored by professionals. The winning solution will be developed for market adoption.
How do I participate?

Form a team of 2 or 3 members in your school. You can participate in the state-level competition by registering your team through the online form available on this website.
When does registration close?

Registration will close at 11:59PM on the 15th of April 2017.
Is there any limit to number of participation from each school?

Schools may send as many participants as they want as long as each team does not exceed 3 members. It is common to have one school sending multiple teams taking up different challenges.
What if my school does not have any team to join the competition. Can I register as an individual?

No, only team participation is allowed.
Can I form a team with my friends from other schools?

No. For ease of communication and group work, team members must come from the same school.

PROJECT DETAILS

Will we get any funding for our project?

No. However selected schools will receive Arduino Kits that come with Learning Manuals and a comprehensive set of components, along with training and project mentoring.
What is the medium of instruction used throughout the program?

English is used for presentation, course delivery and learning material.
What is open-sourced embedded system?

Open source denotes a software or a hardware for which the original source code and design are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Embedded system is a computer dedicated to performing a dedicated task. An example of an open-source embedded system is Arduino. You can find out more at www.arduino.cc
Where can we get the open-source embedded components?

If your school is not selected to receive the Arduino Kits that come with Learning Manuals and a comprehensive set of components, you can purchase them by contacting Chumbaka at enquiry@chumbaka.asia
Can we use proprietary systems such as Lego Mindstorms or VEX for my projects?

No, this program promotes open-source hardware and software such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
What are examples of previous years’ projects?

Students built projects as diverse as automated egg hatchery, smart cushion for bed sore, crocodile detector, smart stick for the blind, and many other innovate solutions to address real-life challenges. More examples are available on the Chumbaka Facebook page.
Who owns the intellectual property rights to our solutions?

All ideas and solutions delivered during the Young Innovators Challenge belong to the organiser and its partners. If the solution is chosen for commercialization, due consideration will be given to reward and recognise the idea originator.

COMPETITION JUDGING

How do we decide on a project?
You must first decide on one industry to work on, from the following:

Food and Agriculture
Automotive/Mobility
Healthcare
Home & Shelter
Heavy Equipment & Machinery
Retail & Customer Journey

You then decide on the challenge statements to take up within the chosen industry. Bear in mind that challenge is an invitation to solve a problem hence you must first understand what the problem is before arriving at a solution. This is where you apply your design thinking skills.
What sort of prototypes do we have to come up with?

Your prototype must be functioning and not merely a mock-up. It must be a solution to address a real-life problem. You may use a simpler component to demonstrate a concept for example a tilt switch to simulate an accelerator, but it must be functioning.
What are the judging criteria for our ideas?
Problem identification – the effort of making ground visits to discover and understand problems and in-depth analysis and research on problem identified

Design - Elegance in terms of usability, simplicity of design and robustness of solution (coding walk-through is required) and providing better solutions on new and/or previously unarticulated areas

Solution impact – Effectiveness in accuracy and consistency of solution as well as ease of implementing solution (practicality) & acceptance by the targeted users
Whom do we present our projects to during the state-level maker fair and competition?

The state-level competition will be held in an exhibition format and open to the public. The evaluation process will be performed during booth visits by the judging committee. The judging committee includes academicians, industry experts and relevant government agencies.
What if I have any further enquiries?
For questions on the State-Level competition, kindly contact Chumbaka through enquiry@chumbaka.asia

For questions on the National Accelerator Camp, kindly contact Sime Darby team younginnovators@simedarby.com