MoU Signing Ceremony between MES Group and University of Nottingham Malaysia
MES Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding worth RM 1.5 million with the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM) on 26th November 2021. The MOU was signed by MES Group Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Donna Ng and University of Nottingham Malaysia’s Vice Provo Prof Andy Chan.
The purpose of this MOU is to raise the level of knowledge and facilitate the transfer of knowledge between MES Asia and UNM on digital construction and building information modeling using ShareBIM Digital Works Supervision System (DWSS).
In addition, the application and usage of the DWSS will enhance the industry-academic partnership through improvements in teaching, research, and in the students’ experience.
DWSS is a cloud-based customized solution for document control/ tracking and MES Group will sponsor 50 DWSS licenses, amounting to RM 1.5 million to UNM.
About University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham Malaysia is a private university branch campus of the University of Nottingham. The university is situated in Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia. The university has been ranked as “excellent” or tier 5 on a scale of tier 1-6 and is classified as a private institution, by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. The Malaysia campus is the first campus of a British university in Malaysia and one of the first to open outside Britain thus earning the distinction of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2001 and the Queen’s Award for Industry (International Trade) 2006.
In 2019, MES Group donated 50 licenses of ShareBIM, amounting to RM 2.5 million to UNM and jointly established a Digital Construction Hub in UNM campus to conduct training on BIM collaboration and project life cycle for both their students and the industry. ShareBIM is a BIM-enabled Project Management Collaboration Platform and a cloud-based floating platform that does not require specific locations, computers or physical setup and installations.
Prof. Andy Chan remarks: The University of Nottingham Malaysia has established a very fruitful collaboration with MES Group and they have been sponsoring our research in the development of Building Information Modelling (BIM), for many years. Through the training of a doctoral student, the research work involves the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. This work is jointly envisioned and executed by our university team together with the MES Group team and I’m proud to announce that we have recently filed a joint international patent for the work and has already led to a bid from an energy management company.
Innovation is a way forward and that university-industry collaboration is a way to progress from a normal company to a great company. The research so produced will also further enhance our teaching and produce better graduates for the industry. In the year 2019, MES Group has donated RM2.5 million worth of their ShareBIM CDE platform to our Engineering Faculty to facilitate their collaboration and communication in their final year project. Today, the signing of this MoU will further grant all our students exclusive license to use the new Digital Works Supervision System (DWSS) software from MES Group which will expose our students to the latest protocols and standards of building work supervision and internal students will be trained to use the software which they will eventually bring this expertise to the industry at large after they graduate.
I’m sure this contract that we are signing is just another latest small chapter of our collaboration and I’m looking forward to a very long and fruitful research journey together with MES Group for many years to come.