The Digital Ministry is taking steps to promote the use of technology, namely artificial intelligence (AI), among small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Speaking at Next Big Tech 2024 in Kuala Lumpur this morning, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said one such step to promote the adoption of AI is through the Malaysia Digital Catalyst Grant (MDCG).
The MDCG is among the three grants being offered by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), an agency under the ministry. The other two grants are the Digital Content Grant and the Malaysia Digital Export Grant.
“The MDCG, for example, offers up to RM1 million or 50 per cent of project costs to drive innovation in Malaysia’s digital sector, with AI being one key target area,” said Gobind.
“Focused on fostering scalable, high-impact solutions, the grant supports projects within the Malaysia Digital (MD) Promoted Sectors for up to one year. MDCG has been awarded to 59 companies since 2021, leading to various innovative solutions that boosted productivity.”
Information about the grants is available on MDEC’s website.
Gobind also urged Malaysian companies, including SMEs, to explore emerging technologies to further strengthen the nation’s digital economy. He went on to express his confidence that Malaysia’s digital economy will surpass the projected target of 25.5 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by the end of 2025.
“This has motivated us to continue our efforts to attract more major players while nurturing home-grown companies through various initiatives, especially by MDEC.
“Such initiatives will lead to the creation of an environment that will encourage the inflow of investments. According to Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia has approved digital investments totalling RM185.3 billion from 2021 to June 2024.”
The prime minister, who chaired the Fourth National Council for Digital Economy and Industrial Revolution (MED4IR) last week, said the bulk of the investments came from tech giants such as Nvidia Corp and Amazon Web Services.
MDEC is also offering the complimentary SME Data-Driven Playbook to help businesses build resilience with data and foster a data-driven culture. It also has a Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (DAAI) Readiness Assessment which helps SMEs to understand their organisation’s data, analytics, and AI readiness levels. Both the playbook and readiness assessment are available on MDEC’s website.
“The widespread usage of technology is helping to strengthen the nation’s digital economy. The potential of emerging technologies, such as the Metaverse, is enormous and will further boost the world’s digital economy,” he added.
Reports by Meta and Deloitte indicate that the Metaverse will contribute approximately US$3.01 trillion to global GDP in 2031. The impact of the Metaverse in the Asia Pacific region could be between US$800 billion and US$1.4 trillion per year by 2035.
In a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Metaverse Survey in 2023, 82 per cent of executives said they expect Metaverse plans to be part of their business activities within three years. According to the World Economic Forum, quantum science and technology is another emerging technology that attracts US$40 billion globally in research and innovation funding from the public sector.
Gobind also stressed that it was important to connect with neighbouring countries and to leverage Southeast Asia’s huge market.
“This region has over 70 million micro-, small-, and medium enterprises that recorded a total GDP of US$3.6 trillion in 2022. Additionally, Asean’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement is forecasted to unlock up to US$2 trillion in value for the Asean digital economy by 2030,” he added.
