Students receive innovation awards

Students receive innovation awards

JAKARTA: Several teams of university students received awards on Thursday for their innovative products in a competition sponsored by major corporations.

The Contest for Business Innovations, organized by a local non-governmental organization Progressio with sponsors including consultancy firm McKinsey Indonesia, oil firm Medco Group, food retailer McDonald's, and the Ministry of Research and Technology, is aimed at encouraging students to invent innovative products for business.

Roy Sembel, a member of the team of judges, said the winner was a student team from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture who developed soft corals in a particular medium.

The runner up was a student group from Yogyakarta National University, who created electronic tools for batik printing, he added.

The third award went to a student team of Surabaya-based Sepuluh November Institute of Technology, who invented a new sewing needle.

Special awards were also given to a team from Bina Nusantara University for their achievement in information technology, and a team from Bandung Institute of Technology for their invention of a portable power generator. -- JP