USM PENANG, 11 September 2023 – Two academicians from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) won awards at the International Invention Innovation Competition (iCAN) 2023 held recently in Toronto, Canada.

Dr. Lim Chia Yean, a senior lecturer at the USM School of Computer Sciences, together with Associate Professor Dr. Thien Lei Mee from the School of Educational Studies won two awards at the world invention and ideas event.

The awards won were for the mobile apps invention, “PositiveSat: A Mobile-Based Positive School Attribute Assessment Application” which serves as a positive school attributes assessment tool. The awards are:

1. INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL AWARD - World Invention Intellectual Property Associations (WIIPA)
2. BEST WOMAN INVENTOR AWARD - iCAN2023

Earlier in the preliminary round, both academics had also won the Silver medal.

Both of them are working on enhancing the tool with more features, as they plan to take part in another international education innovation expo in November this year. In addition, they are also planning to file copyrights for the apps.

The International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada, or iCAN is organised by the Toronto International Society of Innovation and Advanced Skills (TISIAS), which is supported locally by the Innovation Initiative Co-operative Inc., and with global support coming from the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA).

Being a world-recognised event in Canada, iCAN has seen an increase in the number of participation since it first began in 2016.

iCAN 2023 saw the participation of more than 720 inventions from 81 countries worldwide.

It has been known to be a major meeting event for inventors, innovators, students, academicians, researchers, scientists, designers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who has spectacular ideas to share, as it combines an invention competition, keynote speakers’ presentations, The Finals Movie and also the iCAN Awards.