It was a memorable outing in Laos for WISE AI last week – and the Malaysian facial recognition company has got its talents to thank.
WISE AI picked up two medals at the prestigious ASEAN ICT Awards (AICTA) in Vientiane, a deserving recognition for Malaysian businesses and the startup community.
“The achievement was beyond winning medals. It’s recognition that Malaysia has talents for deep technology and we have the capability to compete internationally,” said WISE AI co-founder and business director Justin Goh.
“Being the only Malaysian company to be among the three finalists in not one but two categories has made people sit up and take notice of what Malaysian technology companies can offer.
“We are extremely proud to be the only Malaysian artificial intelligence (AI) company to be a finalist in two categories of these prestigious awards.
“Equally important is that we have our talents to thank. The key to our growth has been investing in great talent.”
AICTA is a prestigious awards programme that represents the most respected business accolade in the Asean technology industry.
WISE AI won a silver in the Startup Company category. Singapore’s Tessaract Technologies was the gold winner while Laos’ Goteddy Trading and Sole came in third.
WISE AI also picked up a bronze in the Research and Development category for its Reunite application. Indonesia’s ATM Sehat won gold for its self-titled application with Thailand’s Ingarage Assistive Technology (Maker Playground) was placed second.
Reunite is a facial recognition tool powered by an artificial intelligence mobile application that will increase the chances of parents finding their missing children. WISE AI is pushing for the application to be widely used as it is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.
“We hope the relevant authorities will take a closer look at Reunite’s capabilities,” he said.
Among the VIPs who attended the event was Malaysia’s Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Gobind Singh Deo.
Goh added the company was delighted to receive one of the awards from Gobind.
“What made it special were his words of encouragement. The minister told us to keep it up and thanked us for making Malaysia proud,” said Goh.
He added WISE AI, the preferred facial recognition enabler in Southeast Asia due to its laser focus on analysing Southeast Asian faces, would continue to push boundaries and exhibit Malaysia’s potential in deep technology.
Asean ICT Awards 2019 results
Startup Company: Gold: Tessaract (Singapore), Silver: WISE AI (Malaysia), Bronze: Goteddy (Laos).
Research & Development: Gold: ATM Sehat (Indonesia), Silver: Maker Playground (Thailand), Bronze: Reunite (WISE AI, Malaysia).
Public Sector: Gold: Road Tax (Lao PDR), Silver: IMDA Lab on Wheels (Singapore), Bronze: PARENTS GATEWAY (Singapore).
Private sector: Gold: RiTx Bertani Apps (Indonesia), Silver: Spark FX (Singapore), Bronze: V3 Vertical Positioning Technology (Singapore).
CSR: Gold: ViettelStudy Elearning Social Network (Vietnam), Silver: Aor Sor Mor Online Platform (Thailand), Bronze: Darah Kita (Indonesia).
Digital Content: Gold: Selfie eXtreme (Thailand), Silver: HOCMAI.VN (Vietnam), Bronze: VR Fire Fighter (Thailand).
Main image: WISE AI co-founders (from left) Reiner Lee, Goh and David Lim with Gobind in Vientiane, last week.
