Announced just as the country heads into another lockdown.
The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has launched MDEC Innovation Exchange (MIX), a program designed to accelerate the digitalisation of the nation’s economy. MIX is part of the agency’s corporate innovation efforts aimed at empowering large corporates with value-added digital transformation via local innovations; bringing together established corporates and world-class local technology players.
MIX acts as the essential link between corporates and high calibre local tech start-ups and scale-ups, enabling organisations to realise their asset value, understand their pain points and pervasively deploy and utilise digital and data technologies.
“The pandemic has brought digitalisation to the fore, rapidly shifting the paradigm of digitalisation and servitisation of the economy. It is no longer a choice but a necessity,” said Surina Shukri, MDEC CEO. “In line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) and coinciding with our agenda of Malaysia 5.0, MIX will greatly benefit local enterprises to pivot digitally and boost their competitiveness, thus accelerating a nation by providing equitable digital opportunities to the people and businesses.”
The MIX program by MDEC is set to be a game-changer in pushing for industrial advancement in Malaysia while contributing to the successful growth of the nation’s startup scene. MDEC will provide the bridge between corporates and startups via the following steps of engagement:
- Design Thinking: MDEC will help participating corporates to identify crucial problem statements and pain points within their respective organisations. Following which the agency will advise the corporates on the right solutions required for their digital transformation
- Exploration & Networking: MDEC will connect the corporates to a pool of over 800 tech startups and scale-ups that can provide solutions or proofs of concept (POCs). The agency will do this by curating a list of relevant solution providers based on the corporate’s problem statements
- Partnerships & Market Access: MDEC will co-create program with accelerators, venture builders and VC communities to unearth and highlight the best technology solutions for potential collaborations (i.e. funding, mentorship, business deals, acquisitions)
- Empowering Talents: MDEC will help participating corporates with the hiring of digitally-savvy talents through initiatives such as MyDigitalWorkforce Work in Tech (MYWiT) and the Premier Digital Tech Institutions (PDTI). The agency will also assist the corporates in the upskilling of existing staff
- CSR Program: Participating corporates will be able to collaborate with MDEC on program and initiatives such as SayaDigital, eBerkat and the Global Online Workforce (GLOW) to support underprivileged communities in Malaysia
Through MDEC’s corporate innovation programs and initiatives, the agency has formed 85 engagements with 85 corporate partners across seven economic sectors including, telecommunications, manufacturing & engineering, transport, finance, services, property & agriculture and FMCG – to help them embark on their digital transformation journeys.
To date, the agency has assisted the organisations in tackling 75 problem statements, in addition to creating nearly 1,300 opportunities for relevant tech companies, signing five memorandums of understanding (MoUs) as well as achieving 13 business deals.
The programs comes just in time as Malaysia Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has decided to implement a full closure of the social and economic sectors or ‘total lockdown’ Phase One nationwide for a period of 14 days from 1 June 2021 to 14 Jun 2021.
During this period all sector are not allowed to operate except for essential economic and service sector which will be listed by the National Security Council.
This decision was made after taking into account the current situation of COVID-19 transmission in Malaysia with the number of daily cases having exceeded 8,000 cases and active cases exceeding 70,000 cases. To date, a total of 2,552 people have died as a result of the outbreak and the death toll is rising. With the increase in daily cases showing a more dramatic upward trend since recently, the capacity of hospitals nationwide to treat COVID-19 patients is also increasingly limited.
