Drone startup SkyVision clinched first place and a $10,000 prize with its AI-powered photo and video surveillance system at the inaugural Innovate Challenge hosted by the Brunei Innovation Lab (BIL).
everBetter secured second place and a $6,000 award for its data dashboard designed for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), while Keplar claimed third place, earning $4,000 for its mobile application focused on pet supplies and stray animal control.
The announcement of winners took place on October 22 at the Design and Technology building in Anggerek Desa. These winning teams are now poised to join other promising solutions from the five-week challenge in BIL’s next developmental program, the Innovate Accelerator.
Under the accelerator program, participants will undergo further training and receive resources over the next five to six months to propel the development of their prototypes towards commercialization.
More than 50 Bruneian youths participated in the Innovate Challenge, forming 13 startups to address 27 challenge statements proposed by seven opportunity sponsors. These sponsors have collectively allocated an additional $110,000 in proof-of-concept funds.
Hj Amirul Shahnoel Md Noeh, BIL Chairperson, emphasized that the Innovate Challenge stands out by addressing genuine industry problems and providing resources to solve them, differentiating it from conventional hackathons.
The hackathon has three primary objectives: creating a talent funnel for new tech-driven startups, connecting these startups to the industry ecosystem, and supporting them in commercializing new and innovative products.
Aligned with the government’s broader aspirations to become a Smart Nation under its Digital Economy Masterplan, the challenge fosters collaboration between creators and adopters of tech-driven solutions.
“Successful teams that can convince the opportunity sponsors may continue the development of the solutions towards commercialization. Although there are a few more steps ahead, both of these efforts are showing positive outcomes,” shared Hj Amirul.
More than just a challenge; providing training and mentoring
Although participants with a tech-related background had a headstart in the challenge, many participants, including some of the winners, had no formal prior training in coding and computing.
Over the five-week hackathon, participants attended a series of workshops covering ideation and design thinking, product development, UI/UX and prototyping, financing, branding and positioning, and pitching. They also received personalized guidance from mentors and trainers.
Freddie Ting, BIL’s General Manager, stated that the upskilling component of the challenge aligns with their mission to develop a technologically capable network in the country, with plans to host the challenge every six to 12 months.
SkyVision utilised the programme to extend its business model beyond standard drone media services into data analytics and surveillance.
Choosing the challenge statement on applying data analytics from drones and CCTV in the oil and gas industry, SkyVision’s online platform aims to provide automated detection for four main variables at production sites.
“Our system uses camera capture from drones and CCTVs to collect data, detecting corrosion, liquid leakage, gas leakage, and unauthorized entry. This is then displayed in a single platform (website), which we call SkyV AI,” explained SkyVision’s Nur Amirah Khairiyah Md Khir Johari Amirah.
“It could take years to make the system fully automated through AI; we are in discussions for the first step which is to deploy the system to collect the initial data.”
Meanwhile, for the founders of everBetter and Keplar, both business graduates from Universiti Brunei Darussalam, the challenge provided them with the technical fundamentals to apply their ingenuity in developing solutions to their challenge statements.
“From the challenge, we were able to gain an understanding of the technical requirements so that the solutions we were coming up with could be feasibly implemented,” said everBetter’s Md Zhoriif Zahiruddin Hj Persidi Ahmad.
Their solution, eB-, is software that automatically converts raw data compiled by an organization into KPI or performance graphs.
Keplar’s founder, Sahrul Nizam, plans to work with or recruit a developer to create a working prototype. He won over the judges by proposing a mobile application that could provide a nationwide solution to the challenge statement of controlling stray animals at industrial sites.
The Pelihara application allows the public to report strays, which will then be reviewed by NGOs and other organizations that support the neutering and treatment of strays.
“The app also allows the public to adopt these strays (that have been neutered and treated), as well as purchase pet supplies from vendors,” said Sahrul.
