Embrace the creative evolution: Asia Inc
By Al-Haadi Abu Bakar
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Monday, October 1, 2012
“EMBRACING the creative evolution”, the theme for this year’s Think Big Innovate Forum, will put the spotlight on creative arts and multimedia as the next most important tools that will spur entrepreneurship and innovation in Brunei.
“We’ve been doing this for five years now, and each year we have central themes; cloud computing, social media, mobile applications, innovation, and this year’s edition, we’ll be focusing on the advent of multimedia and creativity,” said Delwin Keasberry, the programmes manager at Asia Inc Forum, organisers of this year’s conference.
This year’s theme coincides with the country’s recent initiatives to promote creativity amongst the youth and encourage more local businesses to venture into the creative industry, he said.
Such initiatives include the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ latest drive towards supporting creative industry development, The Brunei Economic Development’s creative arts facility (CRAFT) and the iCentre’s Think Big iMMerse Challenge.
“We set the trend before things get hot or become mainstream. We believe that in the next few years, for corporations, organisations, NGOs and SMEs, the digital multimedia engine behind marketing will be one of the things that will be used more and more,” said Keasberry.
“We’re seeing more and more people carrying smart devices nowadays, we’re seeing more apps coming out, and we’re seeing how anybody can make a video and upload it on Youtube. It’s no longer down to an agency to make a quality video, as nowadays, everyone can do it.”
“That is part of the creative evolution the power is in the hands of the people,” he added.
“When we discussed about mobile application, the following year we saw an increase in mobile app development among local entrepreneurs. When we highlighted social media two years ago, many small businesses utilise Facebook as a marketing tool today,” he added.
The Think Big Innovate Forum, be held on October 24 at The Empire Hotel & Country Club, is expected to bring together 250 representatives of ICT industry players, government, business community and educational institutions.
Keasberry said the forum is a platform for inspiration, learning and ideas in building better businesses and markets, a stronger industry and firmer framework for encouraging entrepreneurship as well as understanding how the world is embracing the emerging technologies.
Among the guest speakers include CEO and President of Side Effects Software (Canada) Kim Davidson, the CEO of Interactive.SG Ash Singh, as well as Nulisbuku.com co-founder Aulia Halimatussadiah.
Farah Ahmadnawi, the Corporate Communications Officer at the iCentre said that the upcoming Think Big Innovate Forum supplements the iCentre’s Think Big brand, particularly the Ignite Business Plan Competition and the iMMerse Challenge.
“The Think Big Innovate Forum aligns with the iCentre’s vision and mission in developing successful entrepreneurs in Brunei,” she said.
She said that various themes discussed during the past forums have resulted to the birth of iCentre incubatees and startups that follow the respective ‘trends’ over the recent years.
Among those include startups Socialdeal and Mesixty, which started just after the Forum discussed on the advent of social media as a powerful business platform in 2008, and mobile app developers such as Infindo Technology which observed the rise of mobile apps as highlighted at the Forum’s 2010 edition.
“The Think Big Innovate Forum has a huge impact to us over at the iCentre. Last year, the forum put forth the call for more locals to consider venturing into business, so consequently we have seen the increase in the number of participants in the Ignite Business Plan Competition we have at the moment, and also the rise of e-businesses over at Facebook,” said Farah.
“And with the iMMerse Challenge, we’ve just recently ventured into multimedia after four years focusing on ICT entrepreneurs. Through iMMerse, we organised challenges in photography, storyboarding and most recently character design,” she added.
Farah revealed that the culmination of iMMerse will be during the Innovate Forum itself whereby the prize presention for the winners will be held.
The Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) is the official sponsor for this year’s iMMerse Challenge, having recently co-launched the iMMerse Character Design Challenge last week.
Sonia Kaur, BIBD’s Deputy Manager of Corporate Communications, said that the Innovate Forum resonates with the bank’s latest initiatives in supporting local education and entrepreneurship.
“We are excited to be given the opportunity to promote and nurture the creativity and innovation of Bruneians. We feel that the Innovate forum is a wonderful avenue for us as a bank to participate in education, entrepreneurship development and innovation in Brunei,” she said.
“Part of the focus of this year’s Innovate Forum is on Education – how the delivery of education can be enhanced and made more efficient through innovation and adoptions of technology.”
— The Brunei Times
Source: http://mail.bruneitimes.com.bn/business-national/2012/10/01/embrace-creative-evolution-asia-inc