Questions, answered.

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 full-time startups are all welcome.

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.

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), a written project summary, and an AI usage disclosure are mandatory at application. A demo video URL, artifact/repo URL or product/technical architecture PDF, and LinkedIn profiles are optional and can be added or updated later from your team dashboard. Technical architecture PDFs must be 5 MB or under.

No. Artifacts must be publicly accessible without a login wall during judging windows. You may keep it private outside those windows.

Your IP stays yours — going public for judging never transfers ownership (the Organisers only receive a non-exclusive licence for marketing; see the Rules & Regulations). 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.

The Top 3 placement awards are framed as cash + equity packages, subject to the final R&R and award agreements. Champion receives RM 200,000 cash + equity, including RM 100,000 equity investment from the MAIC Nexus Challenge Organisers. 1st Runner-up receives RM 100,000 cash + equity, and 2nd Runner-up receives RM 50,000 cash + equity.

All three winning teams (Champion, 1st and 2nd Runner-up) must register a Malaysian Sdn. Bhd. with at least one Malaysian director — incorporation is a condition precedent to receiving any cash or equity. If you're not yet incorporated at award time, you have 90 days from notification to register; the cash is then released (within 30 days of the Grand Final where already incorporated) to the designated Malaysian member's verified account. The Champion has a further 60 days to complete equity onboarding.

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.

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.

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.

Free, online, runs in June 2026, open to all applicants. Live sessions plus recorded materials.