Brunei ICT Award to inspire local talents

Brunei's most prestigious information and communications technology (ICT) award was launched on Tuesday to inspire local ICT talents and companies. The 2014 Brunei Info-Communication Technology Awards (BICTA), initiated in 2004, has become a prestigious brand associated with excellent, innovative and quality ICT products and services in Brunei. The closing date for the entry is in August 2014. With the theme of "Empowering a Digital Nation," the BICTA will categorize into three special awards and a bi-yearly trophy to the winners. The Royal Patron Trophy awarded to the best amongst the first place winners in all three categories is presented every two years by Al-Muhtadee Billah, the crown prince of Brunei. The BICTA is an annual event organized to stimulate innovation and creativity in ICT industry among individuals, students and associations including SMEs. It is held by the Ministry of Communication and co-organized by the Authority for Info- Communication Technology Industry Brunei Darussalam (AITI) and the Infocom Federation Brunei (IFB). The BICTA competition is a component of the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Award (APICTA), therefore the quality and categories provided are in line with the standard provided by APICTA. The winners of BICTA will represent Brunei in the Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA), which this year will be hosted by Pakistan. Other participating countries and regions of the APICTA events are Australia, China, China's Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, China's Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.