| UNIMAS
bags US Industry Innovators Award for eBario Project
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
(UNIMAS) won the prestigious Industry Innovators Award for Systems
Development and Applications from the US-based Society of Satellite
Professionals International (SSPI) for its eBario Project. Unimas
and co-recipient IDRC were among the six award winners from all
over the world.
Ms. Poline Bala, Team Leader
of the project and lecturer at the Faculty of Social Science represented
Unimas at the Awards ceremony and reception held at the Ronald
Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington,
D.C. on (date), accompanied by Puan Lucy Bulan, the principal
of SMK Bario (Secondary School in Bario).
The eBario project is a partnership
between UNIMAS, Canadian International Development Research Council
(IDRC), National IT Council (NTIC) Malaysia, MIMOS Bhd, Telekom
Malaysia Bhd, the Sarawak government, and many others, including
the Bario community. In fact, the persistence of the Bario community
drives the implementation and progress of the project. NITC Malaysia
sponsored a community member, Puan Lucy Bulan, to attend the award
ceremony.
Conceived in 1993 to recognize
and honour for-profit and non-profit organizations for exceptional
innovation, these awards highlight significant developments within
the satellite industry. UNIMAS and the Canadian International
Development Research Council (IDRC) were jointly awarded for the
project.
In the project, Internet access
is provided to generator-powered PCs via a Telekom Malaysia's
solar-powered VSAT (very small aperture terminal) satellite system
in Bario. The Bario Highlands can only be reached by a one-hour
flight from Miri or Marudi in northern Sarawak. Until a year ago,
Bario had no telephone access; Internet access came only about
a month ago. Fuel for generators have to be flown in to provide
the electricity supply.
Other organizations receiving
the 2002 Industry Innovators awards for their outstanding contributions
to the development and growth of the global satellite industry
were XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, National Science Foundation
and Comsat General, SES Astra, Space Systems/Loral, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA).
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