14 October 2019 (Monday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) bagged two major prizes at the Selangor Research, Development and Innovation (R,D&I) Expo on 10–13 October. FRIM’s innovation projects took top prizes of the R&D Competition and Pitching Competition at the expo held in Kuala Lumpur.

Farah Fazwa (fifth from right) and her research team with the awards and trophies won.	Khairul explaining about the ‘In-situ tester for furniture’ innovation project at the pitching session.

The aim of the expo was to promote research among universities and research institutes as well as providing a platform for forming commercialisation collaboration and industrial networks.

Rushdan posing with his trophy at FRIM exhibition booth.	Getha explaning about her research project.

FRIM innovation projects involved in the expo were:

• R&D Competition (university/college category):
  • Champion: Production of high quality planting materials of popular herbal species in Malaysia, Labisia pumila (Kacip Fatimah) headed by Dr Farah Fazwa Md Ariff;
  • Fourth place: ‘Ciéra: Inisiatif bioprospek, pembangunan dan pengkomersilan produk pembasmi kuman mesra alam berasaskan hasilan semula jadi’ (Dr Mastura Mohtar);
  • Sixth place: Pulp from rice straw for packaging (Dr Rushdan Ibrahim); and
  • Eighth place: NeoTRAI Antibact gel: Innovation in wound care (Dr Getha Krishnasamy).

• Pitching Competition (institution category):
  • Champion: ‘Genotip superior Kapal Terbang (Chromolaena odorata) ke arah pengeluaran produk merawat luka’ (Dr Farah Fazwa Md Ariff);
  • Fourth place: ‘Pembangunan sistem inventori aset hidup tumbuhan di tapak semaian’ (Dr Siti Salwana Hashim); and
  • Fifth place: In-situ tester for furniture (Khairul Masseat).