Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512265
NEWS 10 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 29 NOVEMBER 2023 THE Malta Engineering Ex- cellence Awards (MEEA) 2023 were successfully held last week at The Exchange Buildings, the premises housing The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enter- prise and Industry. The 22nd edition of the MEEA was co-organised with the Energy & Water Agency and held under the distin- guished patronage of George Vella, President of Malta. This event, sponsored by APC by Schneider Electric, saw one of the most encouraging turnouts in recent years and indicates the ever-increasing apprecia- tion of the high level engineer- ing accomplishments in Malta. The President of the Cham- ber of Engineers, Inġ. Malcolm Zammit opened the ceremony with his address to the audi- ence, which then immediate- ly moved to the presentation of the Industrial Excellence Award. This Industrial Excellence Award recognizes individu- als or organizations who have demonstrated excellence in their engineering work either through research and develop- ment of an engineering project or providing outstanding engi- neering solutions to overcome arduous technical challenges. There were two nominees for this award, Teva Malta (Actavis Ltd) and The Westin Dragonara Resort and the 2023 Industrial Excellence Award was awarded to Teva Malta (Actavis Ltd) with their project titled Reduction of Dust Expo- sure – Engineering Controls. The Maurice Debono Life- time Achievement Award, awarded to individuals com- mitted throughout their ca- reer to the advancement of engineering and the profession in Malta, was awarded to Hec- tor Fenech, a highly respected Maltese engineer with interna- tional engineering experience who has numerous patents and has spearheaded the develop- ment of over 30 satellite com- munication systems through- out his career. The Energy and Water Sus- tainability Award, sponsored by The Energy and Water Agency, recognises projects having a significant impact for the reduction of energy and water usage, was awarded to Crane Currency Malta for the project Semi-Autonomous Cleaning System for Roof So- lar Panels. The nominees were Baxter Malta (1st runner up), Teva Malta (2nd runner up), Bio Aqua Garden Ltd and Smart- Genie Ltd. The event then proceeded with the presentation of the Best Final Year Projects 2023 which are sponsored by the Bank of Valletta. This year marked the first year where awards for best projects for fresh graduates from MCAST Institute of Engineering and Transport and the University of Malta Faculty of Engineer- ing. The MCAST Electrical & Electronic Engineering nomi- nees were Joseph Cutajar, Kyle Galea and Salvin Magro whilst Isaac Bonello, David Cook and Kim Gatt were the nominees for the MCAST Mechanical stream. The award winners were Salvin Magro and Kim Gatt. The Director of the In- stitute, Inġ. Stephen Sammut, joined the CoE representatives to present the awards. The nominated students from the University of Malta were Nicole Borg, Matthew Calafato and Gillian Anne Gatt for the ICT stream, Gareth Blundell, Curtis Casha for the Electri- cal & Electronic Engineering stream whilst Benjamin Abela, Julia Farrugia and Kurt Spi- teri were the nominees from the Mechanical stream. The award winners were Gillian Anne Gatt, Gareth Blundell and Kurt Spiteri. The Dean of the Faculty of ICT Prof. Inġ. Carl Debono and, the Dele- gate of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Inġ. Jo- seph Buhagiar joined the CoE representatives to present the awards. In a concluding keynote ad- dress, Vella congratulated all the awardees and participants and highlighted the impor- tance of the Engineering pro- fession and the commitment of the Chamber of Engineers to the profession in Malta. Chamber of Engineers celebrates local engineering excellence Top: Dr Ing. Hector Fenech recieving the Maurice Debono Lifetime Achievement award,Middle: Middle: Manuel Sapiano from the Energy & Water Agency addressing the audience. Above: Crane Currency receiving the Energy & Water Sustainability Award 2023.