6th International Biotechnology Competition and Exhibition (IBCEX 2020) is an annual program organized by Bioprocess Engineering Student Society (BIOSS), from School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor. This program was held on 18 and 19 December 2020 through online platform (Cisco Webex). One of the objectives of the program is to provide opportunities for local and international participants to introduce their innovations and further enhance their knowledge in the field of biotechnology.
I joined this program because I was pursuing my study in Bachelor Degree of Chemical Bioprocess Engineering, and through this program eventually I can get some motivation and inspiration to explore and pursue my career in the field of biotechnology in the future. Other than that, I wish to interact and work with my coursemate to be able to practise my communication skills and team working skills also get to know more about them.
This program consist of main competition, side competition, talk and forum. For main competition, it is an innovation project where participants from various institutions have to compete and present the creative innovation product. Given the theme “Empowering Nation: Towards a More Sustainable Future”, there are categories of innovation such as Environment/ Waste Treatment/ Biotechnology, Biofuel/ Renewable Energy and Green Building/Green Technology Product. Thus, participants can choose and showcase their best innovation product. The innovation could be in health care and pharmaceuticals, fermentation technology, food and drinks innovations, energy and environment management, or any other types of innovation related to biotechnology and green environmental. For side competition, participants are required to design a poster related to the theme and the poster will be upload to IBCEX 2020 Facebook page and Instagram. Apart from competition, there is talk entitled "From Innovation to Commercialization" [speakers: Nursyuhada Binti Mohd Shafawi (Patent Examiner of Intelectual Proper Corporation of Malaysia ) and Profesor Madya Ts. Dr. Noor Azurati Binti Ahmad @ Salleh (Director of Innovation and Commercialization Centre)]. On the last day of program, there is a forum entitled "Discovering the Real Impact of COVID-19 on Entrepreneurship" which the speakers will be Prof. Ida Idayu Bt Muhamad (Founder of Food & Biomaterial Engineering Research Group) and Mr. Redza Rahman (Director of R&D CTDK Holdings).
