International SEED Showcase 2025 Presents Design Solutions for Food Security Challenges

 Ts. Dr. Rosalam Che Me

SRI SERDANG, 17 July 2025 – The Department of Industrial Design, Faculty of Design and Architecture (FRSB), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) successfully hosted the International SEED Showcase 2025 at Galeri Serdang, FRSB. This prestigious exhibition featured 34 Final Year Projects by Bachelor of Industrial Design with Honours students, focusing on design-based solutions to address national food security issues, in line with this year’s theme: "Innovative Solutions for Sustenance."

The theme was selected in alignment with National Agrofood Policy 2.0 and the government’s aspiration that recognizes UPM as a leading institution in the field of food security. According to Ts. Dr. Rosalam Che Me, the Coordinator of the International SEED Showcase 2025 and the course coordinator for IND4949 (Bachelor Project), the theme challenged final-year students to apply their design knowledge and skillsets to real-world issues based on the four key pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The opening ceremony was officiated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shureen Faris Abdul Shukor, Deputy Dean (Research, Innovation & Postgraduate), FRSB. Adding to the international significance of the event, this year’s showcase included participation from six international universities: Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (Thailand), Telkom University and Petra Christian University (Indonesia), as well as Hubei Institute of Fine Arts, Chengdu University, and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages (China). This marks the highest number of international collaborators since the showcase began.

Dr. Sazrinee Zainal Abidin, co-coordinator of the showcase and the IND4949 course, highlighted that the 2025 edition marks the 10th anniversary of the SEED Showcase since its inception in 2015. SEED stands for Sustainable Environmental Exploration Design, a platform that promotes sustainability-focused design exploration as a key driver in community development.

Held over three days from 15 to 17 July 2025, the event featured an array of engaging programmes including Design Talks, industry-academic forums, alumni sharing sessions, student design demonstrations, and school outreach activities, making it a holistic platform that positioned design as a catalyst for change in addressing food security challenges. Open to the public until 24 July 2025, the showcase attracted more than 200 visitors comprising industry representatives, academics, alumni, and government and private agencies. The exhibition displayed a wide range of creative design solutions that integrated technology, sustainability, and practical functionality to propose future-forward responses to food security concerns.

According to Vennosha A/P K Devarajan, Program Director of the showcase, the initiative aimed to nurture holistic design thinking among students and raise awareness of their social responsibility as designers in contributing to community development. A keynote lecture delivered by Prof. Dr. Anjas Asmara@Ab. Hadi Samsudin from UPM’s Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security (ITAFoS) Security further emphasized the transformative potential of design as a strategic driver in tackling food security issues.

All 34 students successfully developed original prototypes, offering creative, practical, and sustainable solutions—demonstrating the capacity of UPM’s design graduates to make meaningful contributions to the national design ecosystem and the broader development landscape.

Date of Input: 06/10/2025 | Updated: 06/10/2025 | marini