By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 7: SOCOE is spearheading a four-day Startup Village Borneo innovation and entrepreneurship programme in partnership with Solana Foundation and Superteam, a non-profit foundation from Switzerland.
Running from Sept 6 to 9 in Kuching, it brings technology innovators, engineers, SMEs and students together to build secure, verifiable, AI-driven digital solutions, equipping them with the tools to do it.
An offer of US$10,000 in prize money and a Shark Tank-style pitchdigital to an international panel who serve as both judges and mentors through the journey.
According to a statement from SOCOE Sdn Bhd, the programme presents an opportunity to win US$10,000 in prize money, alongside a Shark Tank-style pitch to an international panel of industry leaders who will serve as both judges and mentors throughout the journey.
The programme is built around a simple but crucial objective — to empower Sarawak’s next generation of engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs to build solutions that are both inventive and commercially viable.
Sarawak has long watched its talent leave for Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and beyond.
Startup Village Borneo reverses that flow. Of the 100 participants who have arrived, many travelled in from West Malaysia, South Korea, Europe, Vietnam, the United States and Russia.
Teams will take their products around Kuching, put them in front of real users and document what breaks.
That fieldwork forms part of the judges’ assessment. For Sarawak’s SMEs, AI and blockchain offer practical gains and that is better efficiency, stronger digital trust and new routes into a sustainable digital economy.
“This is not a one-off competition. It is an investment in building opportunities for Sarawak as well as boosting engineering capability and networks that outlast the closing pitch, supporting Sarawak and the regions broader digital economy agenda.
“Forward deployed engineers (FDE) play a crucial role, equipped with skills to bridge the gap between real life business use cases and effective deployment of innovative emerging technology which is one of the themes emphasized in the framework of this program,” said SOCOE. – DayakDaily
