Sim will be leading the team again, in presenting their prototype at the International Grand Finale that will be held in Brest, France in February 2023, to compete with all the winning teams from the other 14 cities.

PENANG, 10 December 2022 – A team supervised by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), recently won a competition with their innovative solution towards the threat of jellyfish in Penang.

The team, led by CEMACS Senior Science Officer, Sim Yee Kwang, produced a comprehensive mobile application prototype as part of their entry in the 7th edition of Ocean Hackathon, held in Kuala Lumpur from 2 – 4 December 2022.

The victorious CEMACS-led eight-member team, which comprised of students from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), is among other competing teams from various higher educational institutions which included undergraduate students, postgraduate students and academic staff in Malaysia.

According to Sim, the mobile application collects data of jellyfish abundance through citizen science and data from long-term monitoring by CEMACS to predict the blooming period and occurrence of jellyfish around the coastal area of Penang.

“It is also able to provide information on first aid assistance for jellyfish stings through a smart image detection system that will offer advice on the best response for the incident,” he added.

Organised by the Embassy of France in Malaysia, in collaboration with various institutions and organisations including Universiti Sains Malaysia, the 7th edition of Ocean Hackathon, was simultaneously held in 14 other cities across the globe, namely Boulogne-sur-Mer (France), Cape Town (South Africa), Champs-sur-Marne (France), Fort-de-France (France), La Rochelle (France), México (Mexico), Nouméa (France), San Francisco (USA), Santiago (Chile), Toulon (France), Brest (France), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Klaipeda (Lithuania), and Rose Hill (Mauritius).

It was the first time ever that the Ocean Hackathon was being organised in Malaysia.

Ocean Hackathon is non-stop event that runs for 48 hours, centred at developing prototypes driven by digital data to solve various complex ocean challenges.

A total of 10 challenges were posted by various partners, ranging from microplastic pollution, early warning systems for algal bloom and pollutions, to development of mobile apps for autonomous marine monitoring sailboats.

Meanwhile, CEMACS Director, Professor Dato’ Dr. Aileen Tan Shau Hwai, beaming with pride, said, “We are thankful that USM via CEMACS had provided three out of the 10 challenges with access to the university’s dynamic and comprehensive ocean data for participants to use and utilise.”

Since it was first launched in 2016, Ocean Hackathon® has brought together a new community around the ocean and digital environments. Originally based in Brest, it was extended in 2019 to other venues in France and beyond. 

Sim will be leading the team again, in presenting their prototype at the International Grand Finale that will be held in Brest, France in February 2023, to compete with all the winning teams from the other 14 cities.

Let us wish them all the best! And hope we can raise the Malaysian flag at the final podium in France!

Original text: Dr. Abe Woo (CEMACS)/Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin & Tan Ewe Hoe/Photo: Courtesy of CEMACS, USM