PPI Dunia gives full support to iWearBatik in holding the International iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon Event 2021 to preserve, appreciate, and promote batik as a national culture on the world stage. International iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon Event 2021 is a competition to find ideas that combine culture in terms of fashion with the latest technology. This event is carried out in two stages. The first stage of the preliminary round was held on October 15, 2021 and the final stage was held on October 29, 2021 yesterday. Previously, this event had gone through a series of national workshops which were attended by more than 900 undergraduate students from all over Indonesia from August to October2021.
In the event, students were given 5 minutes to present their bright ideas about technology for culture in English. England to promote the cultural values of traditional Indonesian textiles.
During the competition, the participants were evaluated strictly by selected jury members consisting of PhD candidates, professors and collaborators at the USI UNESCO Chair from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Indonesia and the founder of the Bandung Fe Institute, Indonesia. In the first stage, there were 156 best participants and were selected to represent 33 universities in presenting ideas on innovative digital technology for cultural textile heritage.
All delegates were awarded two titles based on their presentation performance. The Grand Challengers title consists of 15 groups of finalists and the Prime Defenders title consists of 18 groups of non-finalists. In the final stage, there were 4 university groups consisting of 18 delegates selected to receive the Supereme Diamonds title as Champions. State University of Malang, East Java became the First Winner of Supreme Diamond, UIN Surabaya, East Java became the Second Winner of Supreme Diamond, the Academy of Tourism Mandala Bhakti Surakarta, Central Java and Sambas State Polytechnic, West Kalimantan became the Third Winner of Supreme Diamond.
"This competition has honed the ability of delegates in terms of confidence to represent universities in international events, knowledge of Batik and digital technology for culture, and English language skills," said Fitri Ningrum, co-founder of Caventer Indonesia.
Puspita Ayu Permatasari, PhD(c) iWareBatik research coordinator at USI UNESCO Chair, Switzerland supports this method. "Delegates who were awarded with the titles of Grand Challengers (finalists) and Prime Defenders (non-finalists) have the same responsibility to realize their vision of protecting and preserving intangible cultural heritage," he said.
Prof. Dr. Muliaman D. Hadad, Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein also emphasized that this event will be a new milestone in combining technology as part of the future with batik as the cultural heritage of Indonesia's ancestors. He believes that this event is a step forward in preserving the nation's values for the next generation.
"The iWareBatik initiative is proof that Indonesian students abroad are able to see and respond to domestic needs. iWareBatik is an effective means of promoting Batik as well as promoting Indonesian culture to the world," said Prof. Dr. Mukhamad Najib, Education and Culture attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, Australia.
