Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) started developing a Living Lab in mid-2022 to inspire the university, community and industry in creating innovation.

Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Kasim Mansor said the Living Lab application was a collaborative approach to innovation that involved various stakeholders.

"Living Lab is often used in the fields of smart cities, healthcare, sustainability and education.

"Now, where we are is also a Living Lab that involves testing marine-based technology, products and services," he said while speaking during the UMS Living Lab launching ceremony.

According to Kasim, collaborative partnerships between academies, industry, government and the community were important to ensure sustainable growth of the innovation development ecosystem.

"Collaborative models across these various entities are the main support for the development and growth of the Living Lab at UMS.

"In this model, industry partners take advantage of academic capabilities to support their needs in producing more innovative and competitive products," he added.

He added that the government also intended to develop, establish and manage its own Living Lab to provide policy for administering the implementation of innovative skills.

At the international level, Living Lab is an open loop innovation ecosystem that focuses on users, integrated in the simultaneous research and innovation process.

"Our mission at UMS is to ensure that our Living Lab can be an inspiration to the university, community and industry in creating innovations that are beneficial to society and industry.

"This is in line with the theme of the university as the leader of the innovative community," he added.

He added that the Living Lab application could also be used as a platform that could solve and help promote economic models.

"This can focus on efforts to promote an economic model that is in line with environmental sustainability and social interests.

"Living Lab is also able to provide an Information Transfer Programme (KTP) to target communities to foster the sustainable use of marine natural resources." he said

Researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) continue to make the institution proud after winning nine medals and one special award at the Malaysian Technology Expo (MTE) 2023.

The university had won three golds, two silvers and four bronzes in the International Innovation Awards (IIA) category which saw a 100 percent victory for all its entries.

The first gold medal was won through an innovation titled Interactive Pre-Maths by a group of researchers led by Dr Connie Shin. The product was also crowned as the recipient of a Special Award from the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA).

The second gold medal was won by a group of researchers led by Dr Jinky Jane C. Simeon with the Sompoton Video Assisted Learning (VAL) KIT product. 

Another gold medal was won through an innovation titled UMS Transformation Modules for Young Inmates by a research group led by Dr Esther Jawing.

Meanwhile, Connie who also led the research group for the Eco Pre-Maths product once again made UMS proud when their innovation successfully contributed a silver medal.

The second silver medal was obtained by a group of researchers led by Prof Associate Dr Fauziah Sulaiman through an innovation titled Integrated STEM-PBL Physics Module.

Four bronze medals were each won by research groups led by Dr Razak Mohd Ali Lee (WiRSense), Dr Intan Soliha Ibrahim (UMSfm’s Broadcasting Technology), Junaidah Januin (Prison Learning Project: Enriching Adults Inmates with Communication Modules), and the group of Prof Associate Dr Oliver Valentine Boy (Advance Tool for Tourism).

MTE was held for three days at the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Center recently, which witnessed the participation of more than 500 innovative products from 15 countries.

The opening ceremony was completed by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang.

Also present at the award ceremony were UMS Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation Prof Ir Dr Rosalam Sarbatly and UMS PPIP Director Associate Prof. Dr Jidon Janaun.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will conduct research on the use of oil palm waste materials in the construction industry.

The university's Engineering Faculty will work with Gamalux Oils Sdn Bhd to investigate the use of De-Oiled Bleaching Earth (DOBE), a byproduct of palm oil production, in soil stabilisation and concrete production.

Its dean, Associate Professor Dr Ismail Saad, said the use of DOBE as a material in the construction industry was believed to be capable of reducing the amount of waste generated in the palm oil production process.

He claimed that this would also benefit the environment.

"However, further research is needed to understand the implications of using DOBE in soil stabilisation and concrete production to ensure that the produced concrete meets the specified standards," he said in a statement.

Ismail added that the faculty was also conducting research on waste materials such as plastic, tyres and glass to be used as materials in the production of paver blocks.

He said the engineering faculty had established a research unit called the Green Material and Advanced Construction Technology Research Unit that focused on research related to green materials for use in the construction industry.

At the letter of intent signing event, the faculty was represented by Ismail and Gamalux Oils by its plant facilities head, James Thiruchelvam.

UMS-UTOKYO Nature Tourism Postgraduate Colloquium 2023 was jointly organized by the Faculty of Tropical Forestry, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Japan recently.

It was officiated by the UMS Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Kasim Hj. Mansor.

In his officiating speech, Kasim mentioned that the implementation of the colloquium was in line with UMS vision and mission to achieve academic excellence and international recognition through its attention to teaching and learning, research and publications, and social services.

“This postgraduate colloquium is organized as part of the ongoing collaborations under MoU, which was just extended for another five years, aims to provide a forum for meeting and the proliferation of ideas among the postgraduate students of UMS and UTokyo.

“It also aims to promote the culture of knowledge sharing in the field of forestry, and specifically on nature tourism,” he said.

He added that the colloquium will further strengthen both university working relationship and serve as a forum for learning from each other on various aspects of forestry.

“Nature tourism is a timely topic because tourism is one of the important industries in Sabah,” said Kasim.

Meanwhile, according to the Dean of the Faculty of Tropical Forestry (FPT), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Normah Awang Besar @ Raffie, FPT UMS has a long-standing relationship with the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UTokyo.

“With the signing of MoU in June 2017, UMS forestry was invited as one of the core universities in Asia to participate in the Asian University Forest Research Network under the Core-to-core Program of the Japan Society for Promotion of Science,” she said.

During the colloquium, five distinguished invited speakers delivered their talk pertaining to nature tourism management and development in Sabah.

They are Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kae Miyazawa from Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences (UTokyo), Dr. Maklarin Lakim from Sabah Park, Prof. Dr. Jennifer Chan Kim Lian from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy UMS, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fiffy Hanisdah Saikim from Institute of Tropical Biology and Conservation UMS, and Dr. Wilson Wong Vun Chiong from FPT UMS.