AWARDS & EVENTS
Publication in Newton-Ungku Omar Fund report
Moving forward with positive progress, the
collaborative research project between UTAR and University of
Strathclyde (UoS) United Kingdom (UK) has made another step as the
project was published in the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund impact report.
Winning the grant from the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund has enabled UTAR
Department of Computer and Communication Technology Head Dr Goh Hock
Guan, who is also the Principal Investigator, and his team, together
with the UK experts, to contribute in promoting the economic development
and social welfare of Malaysia.
Citing from pages 32 to 33 of the
report, the research project was highlighted in the category of Future
Cities. With the plan to find effective solution to grow and distribute
organic food within the cities, the research project focuses on having
crops grown in well-controlled indoors environments, and using sensor,
wireless and cloud technology to distribute the crops. Dr Goh mentioned
that the idea was to improve the urban lives through the data gathered
from information technology.
One of the aspirations of the
research team is to implement the research project in major cities of
Malaysia, such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Penang. "We can use
idle spaces within cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru
to grow food, this will reduce delivery cost and carbon footprint to
transport food from outside the city. And by using cloud and analytic
technology, we can build an intelligent transportation system to find
the best routes to distribute the fresh produce", explained Dr Goh from
the report.
"It is truly an honour and recognition to UTAR for
having the research project published in the report. I hope, with this
continuous support, the project can be used for commercialization.
Currently, we have already managed to produce vegetables in the indoor
environment at our UTAR lab," commented Dr Goh.
The research
project was also previously presented to local and international public
in the
International Workshop of Sustainable Future Cities (IWSFC) in Kuala
Lumpur on 2 March 2016. Involved in organising the IWSFC were UTAR, UoS,
and Sunway University Malaysia, where IWSFC Honorary Chair and UTAR
President Ir Prof Academician Dato' Dr Chuah Hean Teik, British Council
Malaysia Newton Programmes Manager Liew Siew Hui; Newton Fund Programme
Manager Izza Ismail and Science and Innovation Officer Lee Ching Heong;
and IWSFC Organising Chairman and UTAR Faculty of Information and
Communication Technology (FICT) Dean Dr Liew Soung Yue were present. At
the IWSFC, Dr Liew also said that these sustainable plans for the cities
are able to solve issues like overpopulation, congestion, and resource
scarcity. He also mentioned that UTAR has been actively working on
research projects relating to Sustainable Cities and hopes to see more
collaborative efforts with other universities and industries.
Read the published report
here.