INGENIEUR
Launch of the Digital Free Trade Zone in Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia's Prime Minister and
Jack Ma
It is increasingly important for local companies
to become global icons. We do have wonderful
potential here – with the likes of Silverlake, a
renowned solutions provider for the global fintech
industry, Fusionex, a multi-award winning Analytics
and Big Data company that is based in Malaysia
and listed in the London Stock Exchange.
Global Acceleration Innovation Network
In this light, the MDEC Global Acceleration
Innovation Network (GAIN) initiative aims to
identify companies that have the potential to
be accelerated into major global icons, such as
Sedania Innovator and iPay88. Through MDEC’s
Silicon Valley office, we have successfully
connected more than 20 of such companies to
the SV ecosystem of mentors, accelerators and
venture capitalists (VCs). Hence, there is a critical
need to “fast track” local MSC companies to enter
and compete in the global marketplace.
That said, it is also important that we help
smaller local companies with technologies to
scale up. Smaller-range companies can leverage
the biggest by adopting e-Commerce in their
operations. Companies like Speedminer, a
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pioneering machine learning company, are
amongst those that MDEC has successfully
nurtured. Other successful startups we have
in Malaysia with the world at their feet include
iMoney and ServisHero, together with companies
such as KFit and iflix amongst many others.
Malaysia Tech Entrepreneur Programme
Another initiative called the Malaysia Tech
Entrepreneur Programme (M-TEP) is attracting
interest from several entrepreneurs from all
across the world and shows that our initiatives
have global appeal. It is encouraging to know we
have received applications from entrepreneurs
from more than 10 countries, including Germany,
India, Australia, Singapore, the UK and the US.
Digital Transformation Acceleration
Programme
On a wider industry-level, we hope to accelerate
digital adoption by establishing the Digital
Transformation Acceleration Programme (D-TAP)
for large and mid-tier companies, who contribute
63.4% of the GDP, according to the Prime Minister
at ICM.