The uptake of digital manufacturing technologies within industries has increased considerably in recent years, but engineers do not always have the necessary skills and knowledge to enable the implementation of innovative and cutting-edge solutions, the UM says in a press statement. Industry insiders increasingly struggle to find qualified talent to develop state of the art solutions.

The project focusses on addressing these skills gaps by developing openly-accessible training material which can be used by both educators and learners alike over the two and a half year project.

During the meeting, the partners discussed how this can be feasibly achieved during the timeframe of the ICARUS project. They also discussed how to implement innovative pedagogic solutions in order to improve the efficacy of knowledge transfer.

The ICARUS project, coordinated by the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Malta, is in partnership with the Free University of Bolzano, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, University of Minho and the Politehnica University of Bucharest.

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“This partnership with the Edward de Bono Institute has been of great benefit for Melita, helping to inject new and creative ideas into our marketing strategy,” said Mireille Muscat, Head of Marketing at Melita. “This will help us to better communicate the benefits of using Melita’s infrastructure and products. We also hope that the experience will have given a useful practical insight to the students about what awaits them once their studies are completed,” she added.

“This initiative was a great experience for our students, giving them an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge to a practical scenario. The Edward de Bono Institute is committed to building partnerships like this with the private sector as we firmly believe that these initiatives help both students and potential future employers to understand each other’s skills and requirements,” said Margaret Mangion, Senior Lecturer at the Edward de Bono Institute.

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The exhibition emerged out of Michelle Gialanze’s idea who is also one of the participating artists. The initiative wishes to support breast cancer research through the University of Malta’s (UM) Research Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT), according to the press statement by the UM.

The paintings exhibited which all have a splash of pink are all works of renowned and aspiring artists and they range from landscapes to nudes. This exhibition offers a great opportunity for art aficionados to experience quality art while supporting breast cancer research.

Set up in 2011 as an autonomous support platform, the RIDT is striving to further the advancement of research, innovation and development in all areas of study, knowledge and activity in Malta. By encouraging high-calibre research through the fund, the University of Malta will continue to deliver tangible outcomes leading to a better quality of life.

EDITORIAL NOTE: In Malta, the National Health Screening Services administers the National Cancer Screening Register — for breast cancer, colorectal cancer and cervix cancer screening. Further information about the screening services is available through the webpage of the official body.

“A screening test tries to find a disease before there are any symptoms. With breast cancer, there’s a misconception that if you feel fine, don’t have a lump, and have no family history of breast cancer, you’re okay. The truth is that three-quarters of the women in whom we find breast cancer have no risk factors. So screening is important for everyone,” according to a quote by Susan Greenstein Orel, M.D., posted on the related subpage of the Government of Malta.

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SATINET is a collaborative project between the University of Malta and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), funded by the MCST-CNES bilateral funding programme. The principal investigator on this project is Dr Reuben Farrugia, from the Department of Communications and Computer Engineering.

“Part of the funding will be used to award an MSc scholarship on a collaborative project with CNES, which scholarship will be partly financed through the SATINET project and the other part will be financed by CNES. The student will work for six months at CNES,” the University of Malta confirmed on a Business Malta enquiry.

Pléiades is the first satellite that captures three consecutive high-resolution images of the same region within a relatively short time-frame enabling researchers to use computer vision techniques to estimate the elevation of objects from the land surface, according to the press statement. Nevertheless, the 3D reconstruction method has an inherent error margin and can also introduce distortions in the models, the press statement notes.

SATINET is funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST)-CNES bilateral funding programme. CNES is France’s national space agency with its headquarters in Paris and is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research.

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The launch will be held from 10:30 to 19:00 at the Institute of Digital Games, where Silvio Schembri, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation will inaugurate the premises. Furthermore, Gabriel Robert, Lead Gameplay Programmer at Ubisoft will be speaking on the impact research has on innovation in games.

The institute will explain the key focus-areas of its education and showcase research on digital games done by their faculty and the University of Malta more broadly, which is critical for economic development as evidenced by the national video games and eSports strategy, says the press release. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the institute’s main research areas, which overlaps with aspects of Malta’s National AI Strategy. 

A series of workshops covering musical behaviour in games, the player-avatar relationship in virtual reality, and affective computing (emotion AI) will be open to the public from noon on. Quick-fire talks on digital game-related work and research done throughout the university as a whole will follow. 

Local game industry studios such as Dorado Games, Exient, Playmagic and Might Box will present projects that they are currently working on and will answer questions on practical aspects of career guidance. 

“We’re excited to see a growing and dynamic games industry in Malta that our students can participate in and contribute to. Our inauguration gives us an opportunity to highlight this and we’re proud to show the educational and research role of our Institute to the general public,” said Prof Georgios Yannakakis, Director of the Institute of Digital Games.

Registration for the whole-day event is required as space is limited.

The post UM’s Institute of Digital Games to open new premises on 25 September first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The projects of the students covered a range of topics like marine biology, electromagnetism, plant ecology, chemistry, insect studies, physical oceanography and operations research.

At the ceremony marking the end of the programme and the distribution of the attendance certificates in Valletta, Gaetano Bugeja, Director of DLAP, highlighted the various initiatives of formal schooling to encourage students to take up STEM subjects, and the encouraging numbers of students choosing Chemistry and Biology. 

The university’s Faculty of Science collaborated with the Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes (DLAP) and HSBC Malta Foundation sponsored the Project Poster Award.  

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The final winners of the Proof of Concept category were: Pregnancy Risk Chip — to develop an easier, earlier way of detecting pregnancy complications — and iFoot — to assess foot pressure and temperature, adapting to different scenarios of walking and taking active participation in offloading areas of high peak plantar pressure during walking.

The winners of the Seed Fund category were: SmartAgriFarmsR&D — to focus on the research and development of hydroponic farming in Malta, specialising in the formulation of hydroponic solutions —, Phileae — targeting the perfume niche brand market, allowing customers to personalise their scent —, and iSmart – focussing on creating solutions to improve reading comprehension, especially for those with learning difficulties (dyslexia, ADHD and other auditory or visual problems).

The teams will be working closely with the TAKEOFF Business Incubator and the University’s Knowledge Transfer Office over the next year in a bid to bring their ventures closer to commercialisation.

“Education can contribute to society’s well being and prosperity if teaching and research prepare us to intervene effectively in the real world and help us solve problems and improve reality through knowledge, skills and a moral commitment to change society for the better,” Minister for Education and Employment, Evarist Bartolo said when presenting the grants today.

“During the last six years, TOSFA supported 45 beneficiaries in developing further their ideas while helped others to commercialise them. Over this period, a total of €600,000 of funds were disbursed, helping and supporting very good ideas to flourish and grow and at the same time collaborating with already established companies. The ideas are diverse and come from numerous sectors ranging from Health, Energy, Technology, Artisans,” said Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses, Nancy Caruana, at the University of Malta TAKEOFF Business Incubator today.

“The University of Malta is keen to continue supporting funds such as the TAKEOFF Seed Fund as it is an aid for entrepreneurship and research commercialisation. Every year the considerable number of applications received shows the interest from both entrepreneurs as well as researchers at the University of Malta,” Prof Saviour Zammit said.

Prof Saviour Zammit, Pro-Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer, presided over the Award Ceremony, which was also attended by, Prof Russell Smith, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation, and Anton Bartolo, Director of the Knowledge Transfer Office.

The post TAKEOFF awards grants to five projects first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The webinar will follow up on the theme of the first session and will elaborate on machine learning specifically focusing on anti-money laundering (AML).

Mr Vella is a lecturer within the Department of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Malta, mainly responsible for the MSc AI-fintech stream. His main areas revolve primarily around AI, machine learning and computational finance.

The members of the bitpod’s founding are George Mangion, Senior Partner at PKF Malta and Marilyn Formosa, Head of Legal at the firm.

“These webinars are an offshoot of our home-grown bitpod concept, launched earlier this year, which is a quasi-lab that contributes to the Maltese startup ecosystem by offering a readily available space to startups, and holding informal meet-up sessions for industry, startups and investors,” said Ms Formosa. 

“We have received great feedback on our first six sessions as well as several suggestions on topics to cover in our future bitpod webinars. Our last session in July was the first featuring a Malta-based crypto operator where we welcomed Adrian Kreter, co-founder of Instacoins, a Bitcoin brokerage firm that is minded to apply for a license under the new VFA Act,” Ms Formosa added.

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The website also aspires to offer a platform for partner organisations, current members, local grants and seed funding, as well as a new resource in the form of open access, online curriculum that teaches the essentials of enterprise and entrepreneurship, the press statement sent to BM says.

“TAKEOFF is more than a coworking facility, it is a mentored pathway that walks members through a powerful business-building framework. We provide friendly support and expert guidance so members do not feel alone and they can see a clear route forward,” said Joseph Bartolo, Incubator Manager.   

The new website also carries further information about the recently-announced “MedFest Call” for entrepreneurs as part of the Medfest’19 “Invest in the Future” event to be held on 14 December. MedFest is organised as part of the Malta-Sicily I-KNOW project, aiming to stimulate investment in innovation.

The concept is based on a UK model called VentureFest, and is expected to provide “unprecedented” opportunity for selected innovators to develop, then pitch, their business idea to a live audience of VIP guests and invited “business angel” investors.

“We are encouraging anyone with an innovative business, or business idea, to apply for the MedFest Call. People do not need to be experts in business or equity finance because we will provide that education to everyone we select to move forward. MedFest will be a powerful platform for something incredible to happen here in Malta, and who knows where the opportunity might lead us,” said Russell Smith, one of the original forces behind VentureFest.

“Participants would also receive upwards of €15,000 worth of expert mentoring, coaching and business advice, plus membership at TAKEOFF,” Mr Smith added.    

The post UM’s business incubator CEBI launches new website first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Three students received the Certificate in Liberal Studies (Cert.L.S.), while others will receive the Higher/Diploma and the Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies during the November graduation ceremonies.

The PLAS units consist of weekly evening lectures and applicants are free to choose between 18 courses which UM offers in Semester 1 2019/20, starting in October 2019 until January 2020. 

The subjects include herbal sciences, nature photography, beekeeping, psychology of communication, sociology, opera, cultural intelligence, anthropology, astronomy, science fiction and others.

UM also offers two PLAS tech units in order to respond to the need for ICT professionals with focussed expertise on a selection of current and emerging software technologies and tools.

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