Inclusivity: The Real Value of #SeriouslyDigital

The MDEC team.

Dear reader,

In case you hadn’t noticed, we at MDEC put out lots of energy and made plenty of noise about going #SeriouslyDigital—the overarching theme we created as part of a giant effort to boost adoption and digital literacy to every corner of Malaysian society.

So undoubtedly you’ve seen the #SeriouslyDigital tag on social media that was doing the rounds over June and July, especially spiking during the major digital events that we’ve been heavily involved in over that period—Malaysia Tech Week 2019, Wild Digital, and Beyond Paradigm Summit among a host of many other satellite events.

To recap, #SeriouslyDigital came to life at Malaysia Tech Week 2019 (or MTW19). The weeklong event had 2,000 individuals from around the world attending 33 unique events in 20 locations around Kuala Lumpur, with 170 speakers coming down to share their insights and key lessons on things like Industry 4.0, dronetech, Islamic fintech, government policies, and more.

Then along came Wild Digital organised by the Catcha Group and supported by MDEC. It had plenty to offer for our startups and revealed just how much of an impact our local players are making globally.

The Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019 hosted by Serba Dinamik showcased Malaysia’s impressive prowess in AI and data science, with the highlight being Sofia The Robot who on a panel discussion with Tun Mahathir!

Also, there were various other happenings that took place along the way including the NASA Moonshot event at the Penang Science Cluster andthe conclusion of the Kre8tif! @ School pilot programme.

In a nutshell, every event that took place over June and July presented us with constructive insight on the path forward, and each one served to highlight the many opportunities on offer for Malaysian entrepreneurs and general public to get immersed in our vibrant digital economy.

The positive audience reception and support we received at these events (especially MTW19) provided us a sure sign of a community eager to embrace the inevitable wave of digital transformation.

These events were also the perfect way to showcase new and emerging technologies to our very own government participants and share with them how digital is in everything we do. Indeed, seeing is believing!

Ultimately, our team have taken the learnings and proof of concepts from these events as a victory not only for already existing stakeholders, but also for all those still to come into the fold.

As we have said many times at MDEC, Malaysia’s digital transformation has to be thoroughly inclusive. That means extending our efforts to anyone and everyone that can stand to benefit from the introduction of digital technology not just into their daily lives, but routines.

This includes families living in rural communities that could possibly make use of the eRezeki programme for extra income, owners of small fisheries who can leverage big data and AI to increase their yield, women needing employment who can apply for the new Empowering Women in Cyber Risk Management Programme, and special-needs students that can gain skills from the MyDigitalMaker initiative. And just are just a few examples—there are many more.

It’s probably true that the path from idea to reality is fraught with challenges and naysayers, but we feel that with all of these exciting developments in digital, there exists a real opportunity for us to present a convincing case to the doubting Thomases that our work is bearing fruit.

As our CEO Surina Shukri says: our success should be measured by the amount of people we inspire along the way, and the results should benefit as many as possible, in order to make believers of as many as possible.

So looking ahead, our various divisions at MDEC will be hard at work pushing out more inclusive programmes such as LEVEL UP KL, the AI & Big Data week, the #mydigitalmaker fair, and the Kre8tif! Conference—inspiring and exciting events that’ll help us dial up the momentum we’ve built up these past few months.

In conjunction with these events, we invite you to follow our journey and hear from our senior leaders as they share their thoughts, insights, and learnings right here on our official blog.

And while you’re at it, we also invite you to browse our revamped website to discover new opportunities and see where you fit into the bigger #SeriouslyDigital picture. We’re sure that wherever you come from, there’s a something at MDEC that’s right for you.

Thanks for reading, and welcome aboard!