SANDAKAN: This east coast town was the third location for the simultaneous hosting of the Local Wisdom Innovation Competition and STEMQuest Ignite 2025, under the Putrajaya Festival of Ideas (PFOI) 2025.
The event was held from Sept 20 and 21.
Organised by the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) (IDS Sabah) with strategic partners, the programme offered youth the opportunity to delve into local cultural heritage and be encouraged to explore creative, relevant solutions for current challenges.
IDS Sabah’s CEO Datuk Dr. Ramzah Dambul stressed that combining STEM-based innovation with local wisdom values would yield inclusive solutions suited to Sabah’s societal realities and benefit long-term state development.
The Local Wisdom Innovation Competition focuses on gathering and documenting traditional Sabahan knowledge to be promoted as an economic resource.
Meanwhile, STEMQuest Ignite 2025 serves as a platform for primary and secondary school students to build interest in STEM through creative, research-based, and community-centric problem-solving activities.
The Sandakan event would catalyse more communities across Sabah to cultivate innovation rooted in local wisdom and science, aiming to produce a generation that is creative, culturally-grounded, and ready to contribute to sustainable state development. – James Leong
yield inclusive solutions.
