Innovation partnership for Australia’s Pivot City and Cyberview

By Digital News Asia September 4, 2018

Builds on a 2017 MoU between Invest Selangor and the Victorian government
Talent pool from both tech hubs will benefit greatly from this cross-border collaboration

Innovation partnership for Australia's Pivot City and Cyberview

A NEW relationship between Geelong and Cyberjaya, Malaysia will lead to an era of trade and investment with Southeast Asia and highlights the city’s growing reputation as a regional hub for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Geelong’s new 14 times weekly AirAsia link to Malaysia and its growing focus on entrepreneurship have led to the establishment of a partnership between the Pivot City Innovation District in North Geelong and Cyberjaya, Malaysia’s Global Technology Hub.

A trade delegation from Malaysia consisting of members representing the state of Selangor, headed by Teng Chang Khim, the State Executive Councillor of Selangor, chairman of Standing Committee for Investment, Industry & SME Govt of Selangor; as well as members from agencies and industry partners including Cyberview Sdn Bhd, Futurise Sdn Bhd, Setia Haruman Technology Sdn Bhd, KPJ Healthcare Bhd and CSL Group visited Geelong to sign the Innovation Ecosystem Partnership deal that will launch new trade, economic, and innovation relationships between the two cities.

The partnership deal is the result of a combined effort between the Victorian Government Trade and Investment, Kuala Lumpur Office Malaysia, Pivot City, the Committee for Geelong and the City of Greater Geelong, and is a recognition of Geelong’s emerging role as a regional smart city.

This builds on a 2017 Memorandum of Understanding between Invest Selangor and the Victorian government to explore potential trade and investment activities between the two states.

Pivot City is an industry-led Innovation District and is home to some of Geelong’s most innovative businesses, including LiveTiles, Pivot Summit, g2 Innovation and Runway Geelong. Pivot City is located on the North Geelong waterfront and is working with government, institutions and investors to develop the district, with plans to house 3,500 onsite jobs by 2021.

Cyberjaya is located in Selangor, 30 minutes from KL International Airport, and roughly the same distance from Pivot City to Avalon Airport. With AirAsia’s Avalon service launching in December, the two technology hubs will be just hours apart.

Cyberjaya is at the forefront of Malaysia’s innovation ecosystem, in line with the country’s plans to grow its digital economy. Cyberjaya’s growth into a Global Technology Hub involves its evolution as a smart city with measures in place to support the development and deployment of smart city solutions to make a positive impact on the environment, infrastructure and economy, as well as social elements of the city.

What sets Cyberjaya apart from other smart cities is that it is a testbed for startups and companies to pilot their ideas within a real-life city setting.

According to Mohd Najib Ibrahim, the managing director of Cyberview, the Tech Hub Enabler for Cyberjaya, “Nurturing talent is one of our main priorities with Cyberjaya being offered as a platform for startups to pilot their ideas and innovations. One of the programmes for us to assist startups in fine-tuning and commercialising their ideas is the Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator (CLLA) Programme”.

Through the CLLA Programme, Cyberview has nurtured 60 startups, with more than RM22 million investments raised, RM23 million revenue generated, and more than 300 jobs created.

Najib Ibrahim said that he is very excited about the opportunities that lie ahead through the partnership between Cyberview and Pivot City, and hopes that the talent pool from both tech hubs would benefit greatly from this cross-border collaboration.

Najib Ibrahim elaborated, Cyberview has always been in a position to forge strategic collaborations with the right partners for the benefit of not only the community of Cyberjaya, but also for the development of new talent who would pilot their ideas within the city before deploying them to other parts of Malaysia.

This partnership, he said, would unlock abundant opportunities for the Cyberjaya community as well as the Pivot City Innovation District community in North Geelong.

“Cyberjaya’s continuous growth has been through collaborative work with partners and industry leaders. We are ecstatic to call Pivot City our partner today. We cannot wait to execute our aligned vision for innovation within communities together,” he added.

The Mayor of Geelong, Councillor Bruce Harwood, said the new partnership is a direct result of a delegation to Kuala Lumpur in June, led by the City of Greater Geelong, Victorian State Government and the Committee for Geelong.

“The City of Greater Geelong welcomes this new partnership between Geelong and Malaysia which signifies our emergence as an innovative, clever and creative city,” Harwood said. “This is a tangible outcome from our trip to Malaysia earlier in the year and will result in more jobs for Geelong as well as attracting more tech start-ups to the region.”