UTAR Vice President speaks at Cloud Forum for Digital Economy International Cooperation

With Covid-19 continuously plaguing the world, China and several ASEAN countries decided to come together to restore their respective economies by kicking off the China-ASEAN year of Digital Economy Cooperation (DEC). Thus, the 2020 Cloud Forum for Digital Economy International Cooperation was held on 29 July 2020 in Nanning, Guanxi, China via Zoom to further promote exchanges and cooperation between China and ASEAN in many fields such as 5G network, e-commerce, digital infrastructure and others.

The forum was organised by the Guangxi TusCity Group and sponsored by both the China-ASEAN Business Council and China-ASEAN Science & Technology Industry Cooperation Committee. Diplomatic officials, university scholars, well-known entrepreneurs and many others were invited to participate in the event. Also present at the forum was UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong.

Prof Choong speaking at the forum
(Photo taken from 中盟科委会CASTC)

Alongside other prominent names, Prof Choong presented two topics titled “Promote mutual assistance, cooperation and interconnection in digital industries to boost new drivers of digital economy cooperation and development in the new era” and “Explore new models and new business opportunities with a focus on five major dimensions of digital infrastructure, digital consumer, digital industrial ecology, digital public service and digital scientific research”.

According to Prof Choong, the digital economy poses as a new driver for Malaysia’s economic growth and the economic transformation in Malaysia. He specifically emphasised on the “Industry4WRD” policy, where he stated that the implementation of this policy is aimed at transforming Malaysia into a main destination for a high-tech industry by 2025. He also explained the objectives of this national policy which were to attract stakeholders, create the right ecosystem and transform industry capabilities. When explaining this, he also stated that there were three targeted outcomes. The outcomes include having a higher manufacturing sector contribution, increasing value-added products and continuing Foreign Direct Investments.

From there, Prof Choong talked about the major sectors that Malaysia focus for Industry 4.0 policy. Some of the major sectors include electrical and electronics sector, machinery and equipment sector, chemical sector, medical devices sector, aerospace sector and several other sectors. He continued by explaining the challenges Malaysia would face in having a digital transformation. The challenges include having less developed ecosystem, the need for proper business models, lack of funds, regulations and cyber security, and the greater demand over supply. Another topic that he touched on was regarding the public and private partnership and collaboration between Malaysia and China. Last but not least, Prof Choong shared the five strategies of F.I.R.S.T which were funding, infrastructure, regulation, skill, and talent and technologies.