8 December 2019 – A closing ceremony was organised to conclude the Brunei Coding Conquest 2019 held at the Lecture Theatre 2, Library Complex, Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB).
In conjunction with the Brunei December Festival 2019, the first Brunei Coding Conquest 2019 is jointly organised by the School of Computing and Informatics (SCI), UTB in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT), Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC), and Authority for Info-Communications Technology Industry (AITI).
At the ceremony, present as the Guest of Honour was the Acting Vice-Chancellor of UTB, Yang Mulia Dr. Dayang Hajah Noor Maya binti Hj Md Salleh. A closing remark was presented by Yang Mulia Dr. Awang Mohamad Saiful bin Haji Omar, Dean of School of Computing and Informatics as the Chairperson of Brunei Coding Conquest 2019, followed by summary of the judges which was delivered by Yang Mulia Muhammad Fadhil bin Hj Abd Kadir, Team Manager, Technology Delivery and Support, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) representing the judges.
The ceremony was then concluded with handing over of the prize presentation to the winners. Track 1 was presented by Yang Mulia Muhammad Fadhil; while Track 2 was handed by Yang Mulia Mr Nick Jennings, Managing Director of Separate Reality. The Guest of Honour presented the prizes to the winners of Track 3.
The theme chosen for this year competition is Smart Nation, which is driven by the Wawasan 2035 and intend to take nations forward towards better digital ecosystem. The coding conquest is a competition that requires computing, programming and artificial intelligence knowledge for the tech minds to not only test their technical skills, but also to provide a platform to develop soft skills on how to work in a team, solve complicated problems, and manage time with minimal error in a fun environment. It is also an avenue for venture capitalists and tech companies to discover new talents.
Prior to the closing ceremony, the coding conquest was divided into three major tracks that is comprised of problem-solving and project prototyping challenges starting on 4 December until this morning at the SCI Lecture Theatre and labs of the University.
The three-day competition saw the participation of seventeen teams comprising two to three members each.
Track 1: Coding Challenge with Java took 6 hours for the participants to complete followed by presentation from seven teams to the panel of judges which was held yesterday at the Lecture Theatre 2, Library Complex of the University. The track was designed to educate and provide opportunity to learn computer coding. The solutions were judged on the accuracy of the codes and their creativity in solving the problems.
As for Track 2: Artificial Intelligence, aimed to groom potential participants to learn and experience new advances in Artificial Intelligence and apply the knowledge to create computational model that can classify objects which are commonly found in Brunei. Track 3: Social Mobile Analytics Cloud (S.M.A.C) was to solve a problem statement and propose a mobile application solution by using S.M.A.C framework. The participants spent three straight days to complete Track 2 and Track 3 respectively. Seven teams from Track 2 and three teams from Track 3 pitched their solutions to the panel of judges today. Both tracks were designed towards improving productivity for Brunei’s Agriculture and Tourism domain. The evaluations for Track 2 were based on the correctness of the solution, the experimental design, and the presentation of the solution. Meanwhile for Track 3, judging criterias were based on creativity, anticipated organisational value and the teams’ presentation of ideas.
Team ‘Too Legit To Quit’ emerged as the winner for Track 3. While Track 2, the first prize was bagged by Team ‘BSoD’ and Team ‘Pseudocode’ won first place in Track 1. The champions for Track 2 and Track 3 took home BND$1000 and as for the 1st Runner Up and 2nd Runner Up won BND$700 and BND$400 respectively. Meanwhile, the champion for Track 1 won BND$600, 1st Runner Up and 2nd Runner Up bagged BND$400 and BND$200 respectively.
The competition was sponsored by Darussalam Enterprise (DARe), Progresif Cellular Sdn Bhd, Brunei Gas Carriers, Sprintville Technologies, Telekom Brunei (TelBru) Sdn Bhd, Royal Brunei Catering, Ideal Food Industries Sdn Bhd, and AIA Br-Kelvin Pong.
