CYBERJAYA: Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia), which is overseen by Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC), is set to clock in a record investment this year, buoyed by new investments coming on stream.
“We are on track to post some exciting numbers, but I can’t reveal it just yet. I will disclose it when the time comes,” MDeC’s chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood said.
“Typically, we aim to grow investments at about 10 to 15 per cent yearly, but this year, we are going to be posting more than double that amount. So it’s probably going to be a record investment year for us,” Yasmin told Business Times when met at the MDeC headquarters, here, recently.
Last year, MSC Malaysia saw RM20.09 billion in new investments, of which 22 per cent came from direct domestic investments and 45 per cent via foreign direct investments.
Of the new investments, RM17.16 billion were from current investors, while RM2.93 billion were from new investors.
The MSC companies also posted sterling results last year, with a 12 per cent increase in revenue to RM38.52 billion, a huge turnaround from the marginal increase of three per cent the year before.
Total export sales grew to RM13.73 billion, an 11 per cent jump.
MDeC is also embarking on Asean Data Analytics eXchange (Adax), a regional platform where the agency brings together innovative talent development models and showcase the latest Big Data Analytics (BDA) technologies.
Through Adax, MDeC will pilot advanced data analytics use cases for the Asean region and provide a co-working location for BDA start-ups and accelerators.
Yasmin said that under Adax, there are two programmes being carried out by MDeC to help build and nurture data scientists, namely under the Asean Data Incubator Programme and Asean Data Start-up Accelerator Programme.
“A local company, the Centre of Applied Data Science, has formed a strategic partnership with US-based Data Incubator, which is the number one Data Science Accelerator backed by Cornell University.
“This collaboration is to respond to the critical need for real world qualified data scientists and data professionals,” she said.
She added that the Data Incubator Programme is the first outside US to transform the brightest math, science and engineering talents in Southeast Asia into qualified, top-notch quality data scientists.
“MDeC has teamed up with Open Data Institute to launch the Asean Data Start-up Accelerator Programme to provide start-ups with mentoring, technology, infrastructure and networking support to expedite their growth and become investment-ready.”
On the #MyCyberSale 2015, an initiative to catalyse the growth of e-commerce, Yasmin said it has pulled in RM115 million sales during the five-day online event.
“The amount almost doubled last year’s figures. More than RM60 million in sales came from small and medium enterprises,” she said.
Yasmin also said MDeC will be launching a new initiative under Digital Malaysia, called e-Usahawan, next month to mainstream digital entrepreneurship for the rakyat.
“This initiative will look into integrating digital entrepreneurship to technical and vocational educacation and training curriculum, providing short digital entrepreneurship courses to local micro-entrepreneurs and encourage cross-agency collaboration,” she said.