Bangladeshi participants got four prestigious awards from the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2020-21, for the first time attending in a virtual competition.
A group of participants led by Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) joined the competition which held virtually due Covid-19 pandemic situation.
The entire judging process was completed from September 1 to December 11, 2021. Finally, the winners were announced on December 15, 2021 observing the Gala night and Award giving ceremony, BASIS sources said.
The Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards) is an international awards program organized by APICTA, which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide. This year, APICTA received 300+ nominations from 260 teams representing Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Each year, one of the member APICTA economies is responsible for hosting the APITCA Awards ceremony.
This year the participants won 2 awards (winning) and 2 merit awards from Bangladesh. Dhaka Power distribution Company (DPDC) wins in Public Sector and Digital Government category with the project named ‘IoT’ based automatic power interruption monitoring System”, Islamic University of Technology (IUT) wins in Research and Development category with the project named “AUXILIO: A Head-mounted Mouse for People with Upper Limb Disability”.
Besides the Institution of Diploma Engineers (IDEB) has also received Merit Award from Tertiary Student Category with the project named “IoT Based Agriculture Productivity recommendation System” and Jhenaidah Polytechnic Institute has received Merit Award from Senior Student Category with the project named “IoT Based Smart Vending Machine for Sanitary Pad”.
From Bangladesh, a total of 40 projects in different categories were selected to participate in the competition through a series of screenings from interested organizations among the BASIS member companies, Government organizations, and students. In this edition of the event Syed Almas Kabir, President, BASIS; Farhana A. Rahman, Senior Vice President; Shoeb Ahmed Masud, Vice President (Admin), Mushfiqur Rahman, Vice President (Finance), Rashad Kabir, Director, BASIS took part as respected judges from Bangladesh.
Rashed Kamal acted as the Economy Coordinator from Bangladesh. From BASIS Secretariat, Enamul Hafiz Latifee, Joint Secretary (Research Fellow), and Ms. Nadia Tabassum, Assistant Manager,Trade Facilitation Department, were engaged to coordinate the entire program.
This year, APICTA Awards 2020-21 was virtually held by Malaysia. The 17th edition of the APICTA Awards was held in Bangladesh by BASIS in 2017.