Strengthening Malaysia’s Position As Destination For Global Tech Players

Malaysia reinforces its position as an established destination for local and global tech businesses with the launch of Malaysia Tech Week 2019 (MTW19).

The inaugural festival brings together the best of Malaysian corporations, ecosystem partners, investors, regulators, tech start-ups and international delegations.

MTW19, which kicked off on 17th June at Cyberjaya with drone technology exhibitions, will see 31 events being held across 20 locations in the city throughout five days from 17 to 21 June.

YB Gobind Singh Deo, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, and  Surina Shukri, CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) launched the event yesterday in front of more than 1000 guests consisting of local and international industry players at the Nexus, Bangsar South in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“Malaysia’s digital evolution journey began twenty-three years ago when we acted on a vision to create an economy founded on technology that will drive digital transformation. Today, Malaysia is a location of highly skilled talents, thriving within a vibrant business eco-system founded on world-class infrastructure. Malaysia is charging forward and upward in the technology and digital space, and MTW19 is a clear indication of how far we have come and can still advance. I hope MTW19 will enable deep networking, wide connectivity and lasting partnerships amongst all digital and technology players. This industry needs your passion, innovation and investments to grow and evolve” YB Gobind Singh Deo commented during the launch.

MTW19 is the platform for everything tech and digital. Kicked off on 17 June, MTW19 features innovation showcases, business matching opportunities, pitching platforms and access to Malaysia’s successful tech ecosystem network. MTW19 was conceptualised by MDEC and supported by industry partners.

“MTW19 is a manifestation of Malaysia’s vibrant digital ecosystem. It demonstrates the opportunities, capabilities and partnerships that exist within Malaysia technology realm. MTW19 is a first-of-its-kind event where the local and international tech communities not only get to immerse themselves in everything digital but also experience what Malaysia has to offer. This whole week, visitors of MTW19 will get to attend events held at various places in the city and we welcome everyone to explore Malaysia!” said Surina Shukri.

She added, “MDEC is proud to be leading Malaysia’s journey in digital economy and it is our utmost pleasure to have the industry’s support. With that, I would like to thank our partners in making MTW19 a success. We believe that together, we will take Malaysia’s digital economy to greater heights.”

Meanwhile, Norhizam Abdul Kadir, Vice President of Growth Ecosystem Development, MDEC said the purpose of MTW19 was to boost the country’s visibility as a hub for technology in the eyes of global players.

“Tech events and programmes in Malaysia were held in fragmented manner, as such MDEC felt that was a need to boost perception of Malaysia as a hub for all tech businesses, but the amplifications would not be huge with bits and pieces of programmes, hence MTW19 was born.

“We also believed that MDEC’s efforts alone may not be enough to boost Malaysia’s image as tech hub. It has to be driven by the industry as well. Sometimes regulators come up with initiatives regardless of whether it is relevant to the industry players. The whole Malaysian Tech Week is an initiative driven by the industry players for the industry,” he explained.

IDEAL DESTINATION FOR HIGH-SKILLED DIGITAL FREELANCERS

With the aim to accelerate Malaysia’s digital economy, a new sub-category under Professional Visit Pass (PVP) for Digital Freelancers has been presented to the Ministry of Home Affairs. This new offering will attract more high-skilled-talents in emerging technology such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and cyber security, and allow them to work with Malaysian technology companies for 3-12 months.

MDEC will facilitate the Digital Freelancers and work together with Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration Department. This initiative is supported by MDEC’s industry partners, Jobbatical –  an Estonian-based recruitment platform that helps software engineers, creatives and marketeers find jobs around the world –   and NEM – a Foundation that aims to provide blockchain technology platform to enhance enterprise.

LOCAL AND REGIONAL PARTNERS COME TOGETHER

MTW19 is made possible with the support of local and international corporations.

“As Malaysia’s leading converged digital services company, our goal is to unlock the potential and possibilities of what technology can do for all Malaysians. MTW19 is an excellent platform that enables us to be a part of Malaysia’s digital transformation journey and we are pleased to be working closely with MDEC on this initiative,“ said Gokhan Ogut, CEO of Maxis

 “MTW19 is an important initiative and IBM is proud to be part of it. The Cloud & AI experiential workshops we are hosting is a shared space for participants to discover, learn and exchange ideas and experiences, ” said Catherine Lian, Managing Director, IBM Malaysia.

 “U Mobile prides itself for being always innovative and that applies even for digital financial services. Hence, it was a natural decision to partner with MDEC for MTW19 as technology is key to the growth of our business at U Mobile. We believe MTW19 is an ideal platform for us to showcase our latest digital financial services.” Jasmine Lee, CMO of U Mobile.

 “Razer™ is the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers with over 60 million users in our integrated gaming ecosystem. We are fully committed to support Malaysia’s push into developing its digitalization initiatives by extending our global reach and sharing our extensive expertise in driving esports excellence. Malaysia is our hub for building out our fintech innovation across the region and alongside this, we will continue to invest in and nurture next-generation technology leaders of Malaysia.” said Li Meng Lee, Chief Strategy Officer of Razer Inc.

MTW19 is also supported by YTL, Axiata Digital, TechNode, Facebook, UOB, UEM Sunrise, Cradle, and HLX.

MTW19 is the first major event in a month of industry-driven tech events; demonstrating Malaysia as the ideal digital destination and ASEAN gateway. The month-long celebration will continue with two spirited events, Wild Digital and Beyond Paradigm happening on 3 to 4 July and 17 to 18 July respectively. These events will give delegates the opportunity to connect with innovative minds, industry experts and a chance to scale up their businesses.

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