KUCHING: More than 100 technology builders from Malaysia and abroad gathered in Kuching for a five-day residency aimed at developing technology solutions to real-world problems.
Startup Village Borneo attracted participants from Vietnam, South Korea, India, Nepal, Singapore, the United States and Europe, who worked alongside Sarawakian founders and developers.
Co-organiser SOCOE Sdn Bhd said the international turnout reflected Sarawak’s potential to attract location-independent technology talent while strengthening collaboration with local innovators.
“Sarawak has traditionally been a place where people leave to find opportunities. This programme demonstrates that Sarawak can also be a place where talented people from around the world choose to come, build, collaborate and create,” it said in a statement yesterday (Sept 10).
SOCOE said the initiative was intended to create a practical environment in which participants could design, build, test and present technological solutions to everyday challenges.
Participants, including children as young as eight and 11, worked in teams, engaged with users in Kuching and prepared their products for a final demonstration and judging session.
They were supported by mentors from venture capital firms, investment funds and the wider Solana ecosystem.
Two Sarawakian teams finished among the top five, competing against international participants while developing solutions relevant to local and national issues.
Among the projects presented was Verita, a Sarawak-based team developing a solution to construction payment-retention issues affecting Malaysian subcontractors.
Another project, Bario Seeker, focused on establishing digital provenance for authentic Bario rice by linking product information to verifiable records of origin and QR-coded packaging.
SOCOE said the projects demonstrated how global technology could be applied to local challenges, while community knowledge could generate solutions with wider relevance.
Superscrypt general partner Jacob Ko praised the diversity of participants and the performance of the Sarawakian teams.
“Sarawak is a unique place to host an event like this, and I’m excited for more tech entrepreneurs to gain exposure to this part of the world,” he said.
No Limit Holdings founding and managing partner Anatoly Kondiyakov also described the energy surrounding the programme as exceptional, saying Borneo’s startup ecosystem deserved greater attention from the global technology community.
Startup Village Borneo was jointly organised by SOCOE, the Solana Foundation and Superteam Malaysia.
