Ericsson Malaysia, in partnership with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and supported by Suruhanjaya Komunikasi & Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM), launched the MSC Malaysia - Ericsson CR Innovation Awards this year. The objective of the awards is to bridge the digital divide amongst disadvantaged communities by utilizing the benefits of fixed and mobile communications.

The Best Application Award in the Professional category went to Corpcom Services Sdn Bhd. This non-profit organization (also known as eHomemakers) uses a simple open-source, web-based system called “Distributed Work Management Application” (DWMA) to manage its network of single mothers who make products such as paper-based baskets from home. The system enables an administrative coordinator to send out an e-mail, which will be converted to SMS messages to the 500 women in its database, to help with the coordinating of these micro-businesses.

The Best Application Award in the Student category went to a two-man team from Multimedia University who developed a prototype of a walking stick with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor that reads RFID tags embedded in an enclosed space. The walking stick links to a mobile device which will “speak” out the directions to the blind user so that he or she knows where to go. This enables blind people to get around in a building by themselves without assistance from others.

About the MSC Malaysia - Ericsson
CR Innovation Awards
The MSC Malaysia - Ericsson CR Innovation Awards is a competition for local application developers to challenge their boundaries in developing fixed and mobile communication applications to benefit the general community as well as communities with special needs. The awards are divided into two categories, Professional and Student, with a grand prize that includes a cash award of MYR 20,000 (USD 5700) for each category. The 2008 Awards kicked off on January 24 and saw 44 entries from various educational institutions and companies. Besides Ericsson, SKMM and MDeC, the judging panels were represented by industry partners such as Maxis, DiGi, Celcom, U Mobile, and TM Net. 
More information here: www.ericsson.com.my. 

2008 Best Application Award

Corpcom Services Sdn Bhd (Best Application Award)
Application name: Distributed Work Management Application (DWMA).
DWMA is a PC-to-mobile collaborative marketing tool on an integrated platform to enable one coordinator to efficiently manage a network of home-based single mothers to sell their home-made products.

Airbel Solution (Merit Award)
Application name: BELLE Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Description: BELLE is an innovative mobile-user interface, incorporating a Braille language pack and Smart Menu Design that virtually allows users to access any application with a single press of a key.

LTT Global Communications Sdn Bhd (Merit Award)
Application name: Mum My English Teacher.
Description: Mum My English Teacher is a mobile application that focuses on enhancing the English Language proficiency of single mothers, enabling them to access learning opportunities and at the same time upgrade their standard of living whilst helping their children with their school work.

WAPTech Enterprise (Merit Award)
Application name: SMS Reminder.
Description: SMS Reminder is a “stay-alert-monitoring” application, which can take up some of the roles of a nurse or caregiver such as reminders for daily medication and periodic health screenings, or live monitoring for the elderly.

Team from  Multimedia University (Best Application Award)
Application name: Trax
Description: Trax allows a blind user to browse through critical and distinct locations available in a building by themselves, by providing step-by-step instructions to assist them until they reach the final destination.

Team from Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology (AIMST) University (Merit Award)
Application name: Braille Messaging System (BMS)
Description: This application is an add-on application for existing phones, targeted for the blind and mute, which aims to break the barrier of communication and provide the same benefits of messaging and fully utilizing the functions of a mobile phone to the physically disabled.

Team from Asia Pacific University College of Technology and Innovation (Merit Award)
Application name: L@ndM@rks.
Description: L@ndM@rks is an object-oriented virtually-mapped world database/application that enables the user to interact dynamically with each virtually-mapped object, targeted for communities with special needs.

Team from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (Merit Award)
Application name: E-Pedigree Pharma
Description: E-Pedigree Pharma aims to secure the flow of prescription drugs from manufacturers to distributors and on to pharmacies (pharmaceutical supply chain) by providing a system of tracking and tracing medicines.