Forest Interactive continues to make headlines by formally signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Centre of Unmanned Technologies (CUTe) of Kulliyyah of Engineering (KOE), International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM). The MOA marks the beginning of a partnership between the company and the university to develop crowd analysis technology by pairing cameras with Bluetooth coordination tracking device using Artificial Intelligence (AI) facial recognition.
To commemorate the MOA signing together in conjunction with KOE’s 25th anniversary, the university invites President of IIUM Datuk Dr. Mohd Daud Abu Bakar, Rector of IIUM Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Director of CUTe Dr. Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, and CEO of Forest Interactive Johary Mustapha. Also present, Director of Industry & Community Collaboration, Department of Higher Education Prof. Madya Dr. Wan Zuhainis Binti Saad, Wan Mohd Farhan Wan Mohd Fuaad of Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and Dean of KOE, IIUM Prof. Dr. Ahmad Faris bin Ismail.
The grant falls under Forest Interactive’s Artificial Intelligence Recon Analysis (AIRA) product development and the IIUM Research Management Centre. As part of this cooperative effort, Forest Interactive contributes equipment and cloud computing services amounting up to RM177,000.
“There are a lot of new innovations coming into the tech industry, especially now we are moving towards Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0). At Forest Interactive, we are constantly on the lookout for solutions that the industry demands and how smart partnership with higher institutions such as IIUM where they have research and development (R&D) facilities can help to provide smart and innovative tech solutions in today’s world,” says Forest Interactive CEO Johary Mustapha.
“This partnership with Forest is a good opportunity for IIUM and KOE to make full use of our expertise in the field of engineering and provide beneficial solutions for the community,” says Director of CUTe Dr. Zulkifli Zainal Abidin
As of now, 15 local companies are actively involved in AI and the number is predicted to rise in the future. According to International Data Corporation, the Big Data and analytics software market in Malaysia is forecast to reach RM595 million by 2021. Forest Interactive hopes that this partnership with IIUM can lead to more developments in time to come, thus creating a paradigm shift in the research market.