- Must be a basic understanding of a country’s pain point for innovation to thrive
- NTIS enables accelerated commercialization and innovations to solve major challenges
How can Malaysia become a high-tech economy? This is a pertinent question that lies at the core of the country’s strong ambitions, as it is often touted, to become the heart of Digital Asean.
Perhaps, as you would expect, the answer is complex. No digital economy is without various moving parts in public and private institutions. Most importantly, however, as the recent Top-in-Tech Talk entitled “Pathway to Advanced Technology” points out, what is most important is that technological advances are not “just about advancing the technology” but about properly addressing the challenges and challenges facing the country .
“On the one hand, the path to advanced technology is a fundamental understanding of the [country’s] Pain points, ”says panelist Sri Ganes.
Ganes, Founder and Group CEO of SG Academy, says it is easy for us as a nation to be amazed by technology buzzwords like Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0). and jump into technological advances like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“We can tackle these initiatives, but first we need to understand whether we are solving other people’s problems,” he explains.
This need to develop real solutions to solve real problems is precisely why the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) launched in 2020 is so important to building a progressive nation.
The program, led by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) with support from the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Center (MaGIC) and the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) (among others), was launched in August 2020 to enable researchers , Innovators and startups to test their products in a live environment.
According to panelist Safuan Zairi, senior vice president of technology and innovation at MaGIC, NTIS is there to address the country’s major challenges. “We don’t pursue innovation for the sake of innovation. We want to tackle the major challenges facing the country, and how we do this we use innovation and the latest technology. “
Sandbox rules
More importantly, NTIS is also about accelerating the commercialization of these technical solutions (via the structured sandbox program). NTIS goes through a startup’s solution through multiple evaluation phases using a technology readiness level developed by NASA.
When these solutions exceed technology readiness, MaGIC works with MTDC to help startups raise funds. These startups and their solutions are also tailored to companies that need digital and technological solutions.
That level of control, Safuan says, makes it easier to convince local businesses to adopt local tech solutions. “We’re taking away the fear of working with local innovators – to give them the opportunity to advance their solutions locally, regionally and globally.”
This is a critical aspect for the program and technology providers like him, according to Amsyar Faiz, another panelist and business development director for OFO Tech.
“Good ideas are a dime in a dozen. But to actually monetize the idea, the challenge actually lies there, ”he says. NTIS offers local innovators like OFO Tech a “Green Lane Access” to validate the technology they are focusing on. In a way, NTIS also serves as a filter for whether the technology is suitable for the local market.
“For OFO and other participating companies, the NTIS should have started a long time ago,” believes Amsyar.
Solving challenges
Amsyar adds that the NTIS enables them to work with key industry players such as FELDA to integrate and optimize their technology in a commercial environment. OFO Tech tries to use the sandbox to introduce smart farming and analytics into FELDA’s conventional farms, e.g. B. with the help of IoT and AI to increase productivity and earnings while reducing work intensity.
OFO Tech was also able to use smart cameras and FELDA Bentong’s garbage trucks to better capture data on road conditions. Ultimately, this will be used to better predict road damage and reduce repair time.
“The technology is out there – it’s all about synchronizing the resources, the intelligence and the technology and not relying on international expertise while focusing on the capabilities of the country,” added Amsyar.
There is also a need for Ganes to develop talent to solve immediate industry problems. While agreeing that there is a need to develop talent requirements for the near future, he adds that “we can complement building talent that is relevant to the current moment”.
To do this, there needs to be a clear academic path to develop both talent for the near future and talent that we need today. In addition, Ganes calls for a focus on the development of specialists to become system integrators and management roles. These are employees with the right skills who can be developed and integrated into the system faster than college graduates. Micro-credentials can prove to be crucial for this. Ultimately, moving to advanced technology is at its core about solving today’s problems and developing solutions for the near future.
