THE Brunei Technology Expo 2018 (TechXpo 2018) will showcase Service Robots brought all the way from Belgium.

This was announced by Chairman of InfoCom Federation Brunei (IFB) Sheikh Haji Abas bin Sheikh Mohamad at a press conference held at D’Sunlit Sdn Bhd premises in Beribi on Thursday. He said the Belgian robotics company Zora Robotics NV (ZoraBots) designs and develops an interactive and caring platform solution which runs on the world’s most popular humanoid robots.

Organised by IFB, a non-profit organisation that serves as the voice of Brunei Darussalam’s ICT industry together with D’Sunlit as the appointed event manager, TechXpo 2018 is scheduled to be held from August 16 at the Plenary Hall of the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas.

There was also a signing agreement for partners of the TechXpo 2018.

The guest of honour who witnessed the agreement signing ceremony was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications Haji Azhar bin Haji Ahmad.

Signing on behalf of IFB was its Chairman Sheikh Haji Abas and was witnessed by IFB Secretary Vincent Chok Kah Thiam while signing on behalf of D’Sunlit, was its Executive Director Dato Paduka Haji Danial bin Haji Hanafiah and witnessed by D’Sunlit Sales Manager Mike Chia.

Event partners were represented by official representatives from each organisation accompanied by witness representatives from the official event and activity partners of the TechXpo 2018.

The event themed ‘Innovative Technology For All’ is set to attract large crowd of all ages, especially those who are experts or enthusiastic about technology.

The event will also offer opportunities to conduct business networking and seek out new prospects within the technology sector both on the local and international levels.

International exhibitors from Belgium, China, Singapore and Malaysia will be participating and showcasing their latest technological developments with Belgium showcasing its ZoraBots that makes friendly and intelligent companions.

Visitors will get to meet and interact with humanoid robot Oliver, a smart and agile robot that can recognise people down to the smallest facial details and Zora, a personal caregiver for the young and elderly, making it the first robot in the world that take cares of those in need.

Aside from these friendly robots, TechXpo Cyber Games Tournament 2018 is back to be even bigger and better with a record prize pool of BND15,000 cash prizes to be won across the seven games namely PC games ‘CS:GO’, ‘League of Legends’ ‘DOTA 2’, ‘Console Games – Tekken 7’, ‘FIFA 18’ and mobile games – ‘Mobile Legends’ and ‘Rules of Survival’.

The TechXpo Cyber Games Tournament 2018 is jointly organised by D’Sunlit and Sigma Cyberspace as the cyber games event manager and Progresif Cellular Sdn Bhd as the title sponsor for the event open to gamers from Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei, except for CS:GO, which is open to residents of Brunei only.

BAG Networks Sdn Bhd will also be launching a pre-event promotional game ‘Trail to TechXpo 2018’ in conjunction with the TechXpo 2018 event set to take place in August and scheduled to be officially launched on August 3.

Organisers of the upcoming Brunei Technology Expo (TechXpo) 2018 are planning to upgrade the biennial premier tech fair into an annual event.

Infocomm Federation Brunei’s (IFB) Chairman Sheikh Hj Abas Sheikh Mohamad said that the organising committee is looking at increasing the frequency of the TechXpo from once every two years to annually.

He said the move would encourage more local and international ICT industry players to promote their technologies and innovation to the public, in line with this year’s theme ‘Innovative Technology For All’.

“We want more companies or individuals to use TechXpo as an avenue to showcase their products, ideas and inventions,” said the chairman in a press conference yesterday.

Sheikh Hj Abas said that said TechXpo offers invaluable opportunities to conduct business networking and seek new prospects within the technology sector both on the local and international levels.

IFB is a non-profit organisation that serves as the voice of Brunei’s ICT industry. The group introduced TechXpo back in 2010, but the event had been put on hiatus since 2015.

Gaming prodigies across Borneo will have a chance at testing their mettles against one another in what would be Brunei’s biggest E-sports tournament yet next month.

Dubbed the TechXpo Cybergames Tournament 2018, the four-day event will see E-athletes from Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak compete in seven highly popular computer game titles, with cash prizes totaling at B$15,000 up for grabs by winners of each games.

The tourney will be held alongside TechXpo, the country’s premier technology fair organised by DSunlit and the Infocom Federation Brunei (IFB), and with Progresif as its premium sponsor, which will be held from August 16 until 20 at the International Convention Centre (ICC).

Gavin Chai, D’Sunlit’s Business Development Manager, and Hawaii Yee, a member of the gaming event’s organising committee, said that the upcoming tourney is an opportunity to revitalise the local E-sports scene.

The gaming scene in Brunei is currently going through a resurgence, they said, following a three-year hiatus. The last major tournament held in Brunei was during the 2015 TechXpo.

Yee said that the gaming industry has a huge potential in attracting international investments as well as open up career and business opportunities for gamers.

“We hope that this event could encourage the government to tap into this sector as it could definitely help the country diversify its economy,” said Yee, who is also the manager of the country’s gaming elite Goodfellas.

E-sports is big business overseas, they said, with large corporations recruiting the top e-Athletes to endorse their brand, while others get hired in video game development.

“In other countries, gamers who are established can be paid up to US$10,000 just to play games,” Chai added.

Chai and Yee said that Brunei has a large pool of gaming talents who are just itching to compete. Team Goodfellas, for instance, has been actively competing in the region, most recently at the MSI Grand League in Kuala Lumpur.

The TechXpo Cybergames Tournament 2018 is co-managed by D’Sunlit and local cybercafe Sigma Cyberspace, with PC retailers Concepts Computer and Netcom Computer House providing logistics support.

The games to be featured during the tourney include Counterstrike: Global Offense (CS:GO), League of Legends, Tekken 7, Mobile Legends and Rules of Survival. Registration is now open for interested teams. For further enquiries, interested parties can contact the event managers directly; D’Sunlit at 2453666 and Sigma Cyberspace at its Instagram account.

Sigma Cyberspace is hoping to draw hundreds of gamers from Borneo to contest seven PC, console and mobile games with $15,000 in cash prizes at the upcoming Technology Expo (TechXpo) Cybergames Tournament this August 16 to 19 at ICC.

Director at Sigma Winston Ang – a Bruneian cybercafe based in Sengkurong – said the event has already received interest from gaming communities in Sarawak and Sabah to participate, as it looks to be the “biggest edition yet” of the cybergames at TechXpo, which was last held in 2015.

“We hope to put Brunei eSports on the map and identify the best gamers in the country with this event,” said Ang earlier today at the Cybergames signing ceremony at D’Sunlit’s office in Beribi. “We are also positive that we will draw players from East Malaysia who see Brunei as a middle group before going over to compete in West Malaysia. With the support of the sponsors, we are expecting a very exciting tournament.”

The largest cash prizes will go to the PC Games totaling $4,264 for CS:GO; $2,864 for the League of Legends and $1,964 for DOTA. The mobile game Rules of Survival will have a pool prize of $1,750 and 17,000 game diamonds, while Mobile Legends has $1,800 up for grabs. PS4 console games FIFA 2018 and Tekken will receive $1,164 respectively.

Ang said that PC games would be $60 a team to register, $40 for mobile and $30 for console, adding that the winners of the Cybergames would position themselves at the forefront of Brunei’s eSports scene, opening up opportunities to represent the Sultanate regionally.

“Through the TechXpo Cybergames will be able find and showcase the gaming talent in Brunei, who can potentially go onto compete regionally,” said Ang, whose company is leading the games’ event management.

Ang added that while registrations were open to everyone, there are likely to be preliminary rounds for PC games at Sigma Cyberspace to select the final competitors for the Cybergames. At least 16 competitors or teams are targeted for each of the seven games.

TechXpo is IT-focused trade and consumer fair organized by InfoCom Federation Brunei, a non-profit body dedicated to growing the ICT industry in Brunei. D’Sunlit, the appointed event organizer, is targeting a 100 companies to participate in the expo, which will be held at ICC’s Plenary Hall.

Signing behalf of IFB earlier today for the TechXpo Cybergames was its chairman Sheikh Hj Abas Sheikh Mohd, while D’Sunlit was represented by its business development manager Gavin Chai.

Progresif Cellular will be the Cybergames’ platinum sponsor, along with event supporters Netcom Computer House, HyperX, Concepts Computer and Feezy Beanbag Company.