UTP To Represent Malaysia To Final Global Competition In Netherlands

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) -- The Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP or Petronas University of Technology) team defeated 1,000 teams from around the world to qualify in the Shell Ideas360 final competition to be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands on May 21. The competition challenged the university students on finding ways to tackle some of the pressing issues regarding the world's food, water and energy resources. UTP vice-chancellor Dr Abdul Rahim Hashim said to be among the five finalists in a global-level challenge was a huge achievement for the university besides giving an opportunity for the students to advance themselves. Earlier in his speech, deputy education minister II, P.Kamalanathan said the higher education institutions should be proud to have universities capable of producing world class ideas in addressing global issues. "UTP should be an example in encouraging students to participate at the global level, and I thank Shell Malaysia for continuing to provide such opportunities for the students and education sector," he said. In the final, the UTP team known as 'The Cricketeers' represented by Omar Choudhry and Chaw Yin Nyein will present their unique and innovative idea called 'The New Protein' as an alternative protein source through cricket farming. Omar said the inspiration to choose cricket as the main source came from the news about children in a certain region who would collect locusts which were then cooked into tasty meals. Meanwhile, Chaw said even though cricket farms already existed, their idea was an opportunity to manage it on a wider scale to allow the greater access to proteins. "Our idea could be implemented anywhere with minimal resources and low access to water as long as the crickets were being properly cared for," she said. UTP is a Malaysian private university. --BERNAMA