The inaugural UniKL Innovation Festival (INNOFest) 2026, aimed at promoting research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, attracted around 1,000 participants over two days on 4 and 5 February at Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) City Campus and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad (BPMB).
The festival reinforced UniKL’s position as a technical and entrepreneurial university dedicated to producing competent, competitive, and future-ready graduates, while supporting national development agendas and aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The highlight of the festival was the INNOGEN’26 Challenge, hosted by UniKL Royal College of Medicine Perak (RCMP), which provided students a platform to present innovations evaluated on originality, impact, and SDG alignment.
A total of 81 awards were presented: 27 Gold, 37 Silver, and 17 Bronze medals, along with four Best Category Awards recognising achievements in Technology and Engineering, Healthcare and Biomedical Solutions, Sustainable and Green Innovations, and Education, Business, and Social Innovation.
UniKL RCMP secured two Best Category Awards, followed by UniKL MIMET and UniKL MICET.
Other major programmes included BIZPORA 2026, organised by the Teknoputra Division, and UniKL ScholarX 2026, led by the Institute of Postgraduate Studies (IPS).
BIZPORA 2026 emphasised entrepreneurship and commercialisation through business pitching sessions and industry engagement, encouraging participants to convert innovative ideas into viable ventures.
UniKL ScholarX 2026 offered postgraduate students a platform to showcase advanced research outputs and promote interdisciplinary collaboration across campuses.
For the record, the opening ceremony was officiated by YBhg. Encik Zahari Aziz, Deputy Director-General (Entrepreneurship) of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA).
The festival brought together students, academics, and researchers from various UniKL campuses, alongside representatives from partner institutions such as Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Kampus Beting, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Nilai University, SEGi University, and Universiti Selangor Bestari Jaya (UniSEL).
The event was supported by Bahagian Pembangunan Usahawan (BPU) from MARA, Yayasan UniKL, MyIPO Malaysia, IPVolusi Sdn Bhd, industry partners, and panels of academic and industry judges, including the Malaysian Young Chemists Network (MYCN).
Note: In line with Malaysia’s aspiration to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) continues to strengthen and expand its efforts through various initiatives. This article specifically supports SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
