Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has called on Malaysians to not only consume technology but also be producers of and leverage technology for growth.
“Part of MDEC’s role in driving digital inclusivity can be illustrated by the eUsahawan and eRezeki initiatives,” said its Chief Operating Officer Dato’ Ng Wan Peng.
eRezeki is a programme for Malaysians to earn supplementary income online, while eUsahawan is a digital entrepreneurship programme catered to the masses with basic business fundamentals to enhance growth via online sales. These programmes are designed to bring in more people into digital transformation or to put it another way.
“As part of getting the balance right, we must as a nation face the global challenge of disruption posed by emerging technologies. Industry forecasts say that in 10 years more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies will be replaced by digital companies,” she said, citing a report by Innosight. “ Digital transformation of economy and society is inevitable with changing market forces (linked to future proofing efforts by forward thinking nations).”
“Malaysia’s economic transformation is critically linked to addressing the global wave of digital transformation that all countries face. In the new economy we are building, we need to put the right investments and incentives in place to make sure that Malaysia secure a good slice of the new, digitalised global economy,” she added.
“Here at MDEC, we focus on national transformation, on catalytic initiatives to speed up digitalisation with a view to draw greater efficiency from wise digitalisation of our economy. Since MDEC’s inception almost 21 years ago, our mission is to develop the nation’s digital economy. As such, MDEC’s implementation efforts are centred on driving investments, building local tech champions, catalysing digital innovation ecosystems and propagating digital inclusivity.”
According to LimeLight’s survey, Malaysians certainly seem to be in the forefront of mobile device usage and online content consumption.
“Information is at the core of the new digital ecosystem. The digital universe is growing at 40% per year. IDC estimates that by 2020, the digital universe will reach 44ZB, or 44 trillion gigabytes. We have seen a dramatic increase in the ability of key players — Google, Facebook, and Amazon — to unlock value from information. Nonetheless, most companies are still at the beginning of their journeys to extract value from information.
“If knowledge is power, then sharing and enhancing knowledge and information are an order of magnitude more powerful. Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC’s) digital inclusivity programmes stress the need for Malaysians to turn from consumption to content creation.”
Dato’ Ng also said that, within the 4th Industrial Revolution is inevitability, disruption can be positive if we grasp the opportunities at a national and grassroots level.
“The key here for us to positively navigate issues is for Malaysians to not only consume technology but also be producers of and leverage technology for growth,” she concluded.
