For innovation to work, businesses need roadmap to track progress, plus supportive environment

• Under current economic landscape, being pioneer no guarantee of market survival
• Businesses must innovate to improve efficiency, enhance their place in value chain

Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the Tech Hub Developer of Cyberjaya recently hosted its fourth Tech Talk Webinar series for 2021, themed ‘Maximising Return on Innovation for Business Growth’.

The panel session focused on the importance of measuring Return on Innovation and how businesses can realise their innovation goals through the Cyberjaya ecosystem. The panellists were Angel Low, Principal, The HIVE Southeast Asia; Dr. Afnizanfaizal Abdullah, Chief Technology Officer of Aerodyne and cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Synapse Innovation; and Karamjit Singh, founder, Digital News Asia.

During the session, Angel highlighted “Despite businesses turning towards digital transformation, they are not innovating to the extent that encompasses a wide range of areas. They are innovating [to fulfill] the change in consumer demands, which shows that they are merely being reactive instead of realising the true potential of innovation. Businesses need to look into incorporating innovation to improve operational efficiency, which will enable them to enhance their value chains and ultimately increase market share.”

After completing their first close in May 2021, The Hive Southeast Asia, one of eight VCs selected by the Ministry of Finance under its Dana Penjana National Programme to manage a co-creation and seed fund on a 1:1 matching, is targeting to raise and deploy a total of US$11.8 million (RM50 million) or more to facilitate the growth of startups with strategic corporate partners and create an enabling environment to scale and expand their reach on the global stage.

Artificial intelligence and big data expert, Afnizanfaizal discussed the pivotal role of innovation for businesses to gain a competitive edge. “Under the current economic landscape, being a pioneer does not guarantee market survival, but [being an] innovator enables you to shift and meet the demands. At Synapse Innovation, technology adoption by customers is used as a metric to measure the success of innovation investments. The fundamental aspect of innovation is establishing a clear roadmap, which is one of the key learnings that our company gained from the Cyberview Living Lab Accelerator (CLLA) programme. Having a roadmap enables progress when it comes to the development of innovative solutions while also building business resiliency.”

Meanwhile, Karamjit zoomed in on the significance of having senior leadership that values innovation and uses it to seize opportunities in the market. “Innovation is more than just a buzzword. Innovation is about making things better, and it requires time, patience support as well as a collective effort. Businesses need to cultivate a mindset that innovation will make a difference for a better future. The Covid-19 pandemic has fostered a potent environment for innovation that business leaders should seize.” He urges companies to be proactive to take advantage of the programs and incentives that the government has provided for accessing funding, expertise and other benefits.

“Don’t sit back and wait for government to come knock on your door to help you. Help yourself to the various programs in the market.” Karamjit believes that with the government’s digital strategy, as encapsulated by MyDigital and the objectives set in the 12^th Malaysia Plan, underpinned by a robust fibre broadband infrastructure and with 5G to rapidly start rolling out soon, Malaysia has the right ingredients – from a policy and infrastructure perspective, to encourage and spur an innovation-led economy.

Since its inception in 2013, Cyberview has nurtured 85 startups to advance their innovations, raising over US$37.4 million (RM158 million) in total capital, generating over RM276 million in total revenue, and creating over 709 jobs through the CLLA Programme.

[RM1 = US$0.23]

The CLLA programme provides a launchpad for startups and innovators to accelerate their business development and growth in Cyberjaya. Through the programme, startups are offered opportunities to network and connect with relevant industry experts during a five-month process mentorship, strategy formulation, and consultancy, guided by Cyberview.

For the full recording of this webinar, visit Cyberview’s YouTube channel.