Questions, answered.
Every answer here is the official position — if anything reads differently from the full Terms & Conditions, the Terms & Conditions is the version that applies.
Eligibility
Anyone, any nationality, any age. Each team must include at least one Malaysian citizen (MyKad holder) — Permanent Residents and international students do not qualify as Malaysian citizens. The Team Leader is not required to be Malaysian; any team member may satisfy this requirement. Malaysian citizens living or working abroad are eligible.
No age restriction. Students, professionals, entrepreneurs and independent builders all apply on equal terms.
No. There's no academic or professional status requirement. Side projects, university work, employer-permitted projects and eligible full-time startups are all welcome. Startup teams may apply if the startup was incorporated within the past five years.
Teams
One to five members. Solo applications are welcome.
No exceptions: one person, one team. Listed on two? Both teams may be disqualified.
Only with written organiser approval, and only before the next stage begins. Mid-stage changes are not permitted.
Industry & Artifacts
No. Your industry selection locks at submission and cannot be changed. Choose deliberately — see the tracks guide.
English only. All written materials — pitch deck, project summary, demo video, and artifact documentation — must be in English. All spoken presentations and Q&A sessions during the Semi-Final and Grand Final are conducted in English.
A pitch deck (PDF, max 12 slides, 5 MB), a written project summary (max 500 words), and an AI usage disclosure are mandatory at application. A demo video URL, a repo/demo link, a technical architecture document (PDF, separate from the repo link, max 5 MB), and LinkedIn profiles are optional and can be added or updated later from your team dashboard.
No. Once a stage's judging review period opens (dates published via your team dashboard and email), your submitted materials are locked and cannot be edited without prior Organiser approval. Team composition changes follow the same rule — see the Teams section above.
No. Artifacts must be publicly accessible without a login wall during judging windows. You may keep it private outside those windows.
If the Organisers detect that a submitted link (deck, video, repo/demo, or other artifact) is invalid, broken, or inaccessible, you'll be notified by email and via a dashboard announcement. You then have 24 hours to fix it — and in any case, it must be resolved before the judging window for that stage closes. A link left unresolved after that is treated as a non-submission for that specific material.
Your IP stays yours — going public for judging never transfers ownership (the Organisers only receive a non-exclusive licence to use your pitch deck, project summary, team name and demo video for broadcasting, marketing and public relations; see the Terms & Conditions). To limit exposure: your repo only needs to be public during each judging window, so keep it private the rest of the time, including throughout development; or submit a hosted demo, API endpoint or HuggingFace Space instead of full source, so your codebase never goes public at all. Add a LICENSE file and copyright notice — visible is not the same as free to reuse. Copyright on your code is automatic and retained even when public; but if your work may be patentable, public disclosure can affect patent novelty, so file before the judging window or consult a Malaysian IP agent.
Prizes & Equity
The Top 3 placement awards are cash + optional equity packages, subject to the final Terms & Conditions and award agreements. Grand Champion receives RM 200,000 cash + equity, including RM 100,000 equity investment from the MAIC Nexus Challenge Organisers. Runner-Up receives RM 100,000 cash + equity, and 2nd Runner-Up receives RM 50,000 cash + equity. The equity component is optional — accepting or declining it does not affect the cash prize.
All three winning teams (Grand Champion, Runner-Up and 2nd Runner-Up) must register a Malaysian Sdn. Bhd. with at least one Malaysian director — incorporation is a condition precedent to receiving any prize. The team then submits its incorporation documents, details of directors and shareholders, and the company's bank account details. The cash prize is paid into the Sdn. Bhd.'s bank account once these conditions are met. Terms for the optional equity component are set out in a separate investment agreement.
All participants receive a merit certificate. All finalists receive Huntier talent pipeline listing. The Top 3 teams receive trophies and AI Forum + Expo access on Grand Final day.
Cost & Logistics
Yes. Registration is RM 150 per team (early bird, until 15 July 2026), RM 250 per team (fair early bird, 16 July – 8 August 2026), or RM 500 per team (standard, from 9 August 2026). Unpaid teams are billed at whichever rate is live when they pay, regardless of when they registered. The fee is paid once per team.
No, save for one exception. The fee is non-refundable, and is fully forfeited if your team is disqualified. The only case where you get a full refund is if the Organisers themselves cancel or postpone the Event — the refund processing timeframe for that will be published separately.
Preliminary is fully online. Semi-Final (October) and Grand Final (estimated November 2026) are in-person in Kuala Lumpur. Teams cover their own travel unless otherwise announced.