The Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) has announced the seven winners of its Smart Economy Grants Program, which was launched to stimulate technology-enabled innovation in the economy through sustainable and inclusive interventions. The first-place award went to Pandai, an education app that helps school students learn, developed by a Malaysia-based company. The second-place award went to Liber Health (minimum viable product), which is a digital solution that provides safe and contactless iris identification and Covid-19 pre-screening for underserved communities. As for the third-place award, it went to Hear Me (Minimum Viable Product). It is the first Indonesian sign language 3D animation translator application for bridging the communication between the deaf and the hearing. Smart Irrigation (prototype), a system for collecting, storing, and processing data in order to automate irrigation and optimize water usage; IROSCA (proof of concept), the purpose of the project is to provide necessary information and evaluations needed to present the iRosca to the investors as well as to conduct a feasibility study with financial projection; SOSPESO (proof of concept), a digital platform that brings together 3 parties: the donors (who will buy forward meals from an online menu); (currently) the restaurants (and other e-commerce vendors); and the low-income families; and Alumnia ID (minimum viable product), a fintech equity crowdfunding and security crowdfunding for small and medium enterprises, were the other winning projects. The winners were announced during a special webinar organized by the IsDB Institute on 30 May 2021. Launched in 2020, the Smart Economy Grants Program called for projects involving the application of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain for business and economy with Islamic finance component. In his speech during the webinar, the President of IsDB Group, Dr. Bandar Hajjar, congratulated the winners, describing them as "the embodiment of innovation and success". Dr. Hajjar said, "We are committed to supporting the development of Islamic finance in the age of fintech to successfully transform the enormous untapped potential into tangible benefits in Islamic finance through the empowerment of young innovators and entrepreneurs." A total of 47 grant applications were received from 23 countries around the world, covering an array of sectors of the economy, including education, agriculture, tourism, supply-chain management, and waste management. The seven winners were selected through a rigorous process that involved internal and external experts. Each winner will receive up to USD 10,000 to implement their projects under the IsDBI Smart Economy Lab, anchored to the Regional Hub of the IsDB in Indonesia. In his remarks, the Acting Director General of the IsDB Institute and IsDB Group Chief Economist, Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, thanked Dr. Bandar Hajjar for his invaluable support to the IsDB Institute towards the success of the Smart Economy Lab and the Smart Economy Grants Program. Dr. Al-Suwailem explained further: "The Smart Economy Lab was established with the objective to stimulate innovation and generate creative ideas involving advanced technologies to seek solutions to various economic problems guided by the principles of Islamic economics and finance. The Grants Program is designed to support patentable ideas with significant entrepreneurial potential." IsDBI Knowledge Solutions Team Leader Dr. Hilal Hussein stated, "Our objective of instituting the Smart Economy Grants Program is to empower potential entrepreneurs engaged in technology-based solutions for the smart economy challenges, developed with emerging financial technologies, to realize their dreams and contribute to the digital transformation of our societies with high-quality projects leading to patentable and copyrighted products." The cash award to be given to each of the seven winners is an initial grant that is expected to serve as a catalyst for the winning projects and open new funding opportunities.
