MDEC’S Malaysia Tech Month: WCIT 2022-Connecting To The World

MALAYSIA TECH MONTH 2021: WCIT 2022 – CONNECTING MALAYSIA TO THE WORLD

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) organised a virtual curation of digital and technology content geared towards promoting investments in a digital economy and establishing Malaysia as the Heart of Digital ASEAN.

MDEC’s Malaysia Tech Month (MTM) 2021 was launched as a virtual month-long digital and technology conference comprising workshops, business matching sessions and dialogues. Officiated by Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Communications and Multimedia Minister, the conference presented 40 curated events and more than 300 local and international industry speakers as well as investors.

MTM’21 is aligned to MDEC’s recently unveiled “Digital Investments Future5” (DIF5) Strategy – a fiveyear plan focusing on five key thrusts aimed at attracting investments and advancing the nation’s digital economy in line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint. The initiative, scheduled to run from 2021 to 2025 in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan, aims to secure high-quality digital investments as it seeks to unlock new drivers of growth.

The session features international and local speakers who are experts in IR4.0-driven digital economy. MTM is a platform to showcase digital ecosystem leaders and creators, leading edge companies as well as talents, enabling stakeholders to discover new perspectives on domestic and global trends in AI, drone technology, data analytics, fintech, Islamic fintech, e-commerce, creative games, animation and digital works.

The session comprised a panel discussion on WCIT 2022 – Connecting Malaysia to the World, featuring a distinguished line-up of speakers namely, Raymond Siva, Senior Vice President, Investment & Brand, Chief Marketing Officer, MDEC; Dr Sean Seah, Deputy Chairman PIKOM and WITSA (World IT & Services Alliance); Cheah Kok Hoong, Organising Chair, WCIT 2022; Dr James Poisant, Secretary General, WITSA; and, Dato’ Loo Lee Lian, Chief Executive Officer, Invest Penang. The panel was moderated by Ong Kian Yew, Chief Executive Officer of PIKOM.

During the session entitled “WCIT 2022 – Connecting Malaysia To The World”, the panelists shared about their hopes and outlook for WCIT 2022 which is to be held in the island of Penang.

RAYMOND SIVA

Speaking about the motivation in bringing WCIT into the country, Raymond said that Malaysia has been long recognized for its location, connectivity and multi-lingual workforce capabilities in ASEAN. The motivation is to build on the progress achieved over the years, especially with rapid changes in the last 12 months in the way business is conducted. WCIT is a catalyst to bring digital capabilities across Malaysia, which can be called the democratisation of the digital economy. The WCIT is another important piece that contributes to the progress of the digital economy. WCIT is poised to create leverage to attract investors, address their concerns, bring them into Malaysia so that they can experience the country’s ecosystem and harness the potential for investments in Malaysia, as well as to position Malaysia as the heart of digital ASEAN. On its impact on the Malaysian tech industry, the event is a meeting of minds with the participation of industry titans, and the establishment of connections to showcase the strengths that Malaysia has.

DR SEAN SEAH

Dr Sean explains that planning for WCIT has been on-going for several years. He added that the last year and a half has been a time of preparations together with Invest Penang. Dr Seah highlighted that Malaysia is ready for a platform to conduct physical and virtual events. He pointed out that the right approach has been taken with advise from various stakeholders and the event has been moved to 2022 instead of 2021, with the hope to welcome delegates to Malaysia for the physical event.

DATO’ LOO LEE LIAN

Speaking about the synergy in bringing the event to Penang, Dato’ Loo said, Penang is known as the ‘siliconvalley’ of the east for its robust E&E and semiconductor industries. She added that the country has over 300 multinationals, numerous global fortune 500 companies and over 3,000 diversified local enterprises. Penang has 50 years of accumulated industry experiences – all of them encompassing innovation, excellence in automation, medical technology, robotics, manufacturing, AI, and 5G. Stating that Penang exports over 5% of global semiconductors, Dato’ Loo said that the island state is seeking to drive, the convergence of IT and digitalisation with the hardware and semiconductor industries. Dato’ Loo pointed out that Penang holds an excellent backdrop to host such as a prestigious event as WCIT. Aside from its tech capabilities, Penang is a world heritage site, with rich culture and great food. In looking forward to the event in 2022, Penang has great infrastructure and the state is ready to provide the best experience for delegates encompassing transportation, hotels and direct flights to 22 regional airports connecting to 100 destinations. She added that the state offers a full range of hotels for every kind of budget, and that Penang is ready to be a good host to the world.

CHEAH KOK HOONG

Speaking about WCIT as the Olympics of the tech industry, Cheah said this event is a platform to showcase innovative technology. He added that as Malaysia pursued harmonious competition with other countries, in 2008, WCIT broke the record for attendees and sponsorships. Meanwhile, private and government partnership was undertaken seamlessly, demonstrating Malaysia’s extensive prowess in hospitality and the country’s uniqueness in various aspects. Cheah pointed out that in Penang, visitors can experience the integration of tech, heritage, food, and hospitality which is in line with the aspiration for the country to be a digital hub for ASEAN. He explained that as the country recovers, businesses will be looking for solutions and also a platform to promote their solutions so the event will serve well. For that, PIKOM is getting ready for a great experience.

DR JAMES POISANT

Dr James shared about WCIT’s impact on the tech ecosystem, and that it is a national priority for the event to be successful. He added that this is a significant impact on the world’s economy. It’s a life changing event that impacts millions. Dr James stressed that this technology event can be used to hook up with major players in the industry, and identify suitable investors with the event marketed effectively. He advises local hosts that key success factors to make Malaysia a game-changer, is to step back and ask ourselves, “How many more OS do we need?” or “FB and Zoom?”. He shared that over the last 25 years we have witnessed the skyrocketing of these anchors of technology that were created in the ICT industry. He added that he believed that Malaysia is going to make its mark by focusing on technology being localized – in other words, to address the local requirements of the community that can use ICT and scale it up. He advised to start thinking about how to make a local application successful and then go global. Dr James highlighted that Malaysia needs to consider how to bridge the gap by providing technology into the interiors of the country.