AUSMAT Business Management & Enterprise: Innovation Seminar 2019

On the 27th of July, AUSMAT Sunway’s Business Management & Enterprise (BME) Subject team organized their annual seminar. This year’s Innovation Seminar 2019 saw 290 students in attendance as it was held in conjunction with an assessment whereby students prepared a report based on what they have learnt from the invited speakers. The esteemed invited speakers came from prominent Malaysian and multinational companies. They are Ms Tengku Nor Adlina & Mr Sew Jun Wu (Talent Acquisition from Teach for Malaysia), Sunway’s very own Associate Professor Dr Yap Kian Meng (Head of H.O.M.E. Lab from Sunway University), Ms Mia Ong (Manager of Business Development and Accounts of MGAG) & Ms Loo Siew Mei (Business Developer and Relationship Cultivator from Sedunia). Each speaker brought with them invaluable years of experience and knowledge from various industries ranging from computing and information systems to online digital content and social volunteering.

Ms Adlina & Mr Jun Wu conducted an engaging Presentation Skills Workshop. They used personal stories and important statistics to show the importance of presenting well before an audience. They emphasized the value of story telling in terms of a burger analogy. The analogy sandwiched all the planning, slide creation and rehearsals with thought and presentation. This was particularly useful since BME students are expected to do a research presentation at the end of the semester.

Meanwhile Dr Yap of the Department of Computing and Information Systems a rousing, and rather humorous, presentation on haptic technology to assist the visually impaired. He masterfully explained the value of integrating innovative touch systems into the JomJe website, allowing those with visual impairment to actually feel textures of products as they browsed the e-commerce website. Particularly inspiring was his emphasis to always include societal involvement in every innovation he participates in.

Ms Mia of MGAG spoke about the creation and delivery of millennial centric digital content in this era of technology driven media. MGAG’s use of online content coupled with localized lingo and sponsored advertisements overturned the concept of marketing popularized by traditional media. Ms Mia also introduced their new product, The Malaysian Dream card game, which somewhat ironically, took online memes and jokes offline into the physical format.

In the final session, Ms Siew Mei introduced Sedunia as an online interactive volunteering platform that has disrupted the industry. While it sounded like a crowdfunding website, the currency they’re sourcing for is manpower, collaborations and partnerships. The gamification of volunteering and tracking of social impacts garnered quite some attention during the seminar.

During the Q&A session, as well as networking after the event, demonstrated that students appreciate how organizations and innovation can have a real impact in the lives of people all around them. Some even expressed an interest in interning at some of these organizations. Several were even keen to begin volunteering! We are greatly appreciative of all the time and effort (and merchandize from some companies) generously offered by these invited speakers. We hope that this annual event will continue to create such impacts, so that students see education not merely as bookish but also alive!