UBD Entrepreneurship Village launches IncuFest 2023

March 13, 2023

Brunei Darussalam, March 13, 2023 - The Entrepreneurship Village (EV) of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) hosted the ‘IncuFest’ (Incubation Festival) from March 13 to March 16, 2023. The event provided a platform for student startups to showcase their innovative business ideas to the public.

During the event, 27 students from various disciplines who participated in the January 2023 intake of the Discovery Year (DY) Incubation programme displayed their business concepts in the entertainment, retail, food & beverage, and services categories. Throughout the semester, these student startups had undergone a series of workshops and training sessions to build their entrepreneurial mindsets and skillsets, helping to shape their projects.

To assess the feasibility, innovativeness, and sustainability of the ideas, the student startups had the opportunity to pitch their businesses to academic experts from the university and industry judges from Brunei Innovation Lab and Mahakarya Institute of Arts Asia during the Live Pitch session. The feedback from the judges will aid in the further research and development or commercialization of the student startups’ ideas.

UBD has taken steps to support group innovation projects in DY Incubation, offering Startup Induction Grants Awards to the top three projects each semester. This initiative aims to foster teamwork and collaboration among students and recognize excellence in entrepreneurial projects. The grant provides financial support to the winning groups to develop their projects. The Startup Induction Grant committee evaluated each innovative project based on criteria such as innovation, impact, and feasibility.

The four-day festival came to a close with a closing ceremony and the presentation of the Startup Induction Grants Awards to outstanding participants, namely Anywhr, Farmtani, and ULUN, in recognition of their remarkable entrepreneurial projects. The Guest of Honour, Dr. Hazri bin Hj Kifle, Vice Chancellor of UBD, presented the awards to the recipients.

The event is held bi-annually to foster a dynamic and supportive innovation ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurs at UBD, in line with the university's mission to become a “University of Innovation and Enterprise”.

By A’qilah Muzani & Hazirah Jali

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