MDEC’s Malaysia Tech Month 2020 closes on a high note, eyes on 2021 now
By Digital News Asia December 10, 2020
- Month-long event saw 36 webinars, 132 speakers, over 20K attendees
- 2021 set to be a big year; MDEC to double down on achieving Malaysia 5.0 vision
November was the Malaysia Tech Month 2020 (MTM 2020), a month-long virtual event curated by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) as a follow-up to the Malaysia Tech Week held last year. The recently-concluded event saw various keynotes and panels stretched across multiple events and themes, playing host to a bevy of industry figureheads and ecosystem innovators.
“The holistic approach to MTM 2020, which connected business, investment and regulatory communities, served as a timely reminder to the world that the digital economy is now booming and an impetus to drive forward similar efforts. This will, directly, position Malaysia’s economy as a source of empowerment for digitalisation,” comments Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
“Featuring the very best digital and technology entrepreneurs along with solutions and content providers, both local and global, MTM 2020 is the ideal platform to connect the brightest minds in digital and tech facilitation; strengthen business digitalisation; provide opportunities to participate in high value networking sessions; and enable investors, corporates and entrepreneurs to exchange innovative ideas and introduce new solutions and change the region’s fast-growing digital economy,” Muhyiddin adds.
MDEC as a whole curated a total of 36 webinars and featured 132 speakers, attracting participants from over 50 countries. With the inclusion of partner events that ran under MTM 2020 as the curation platform, it attracted over 20,000 attendees in total throughout the month of November.
Minister of Communications and Multimedia Saifuddin Abdullah says that there will be “more to come” as they continue to discover how to directly engage and leverage on the digital economy.
“This will include a showcase of the great lengths this country has taken to grow and transform its digital economy. It will be the clarion call for global digital and tech industries to further their investments into Malaysia,” he adds.
Beyond its initial 2-day conference (co-curated by DNA) for the launch, MTM 2020 also featured other tie-in and partner events, such as DataKITA.Pulse Conference; the Digital Investment Summit; MyDroneTech Festival; and TechFest LIVE! Road to WCIT Malaysia.
“These were a major showcase on the socio-economic potential that Malaysia’s digital economy possesses. From the proven tech ecosystem; to highly supportive business policies; digitally diverse and versatile talent pool, all of them effectively reinforced the nation as a natural choice for global and regional business to 'Land and Expand’,” opines MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri (pic).
Beyond MTM 2020, MDEC says it still has various initiatives that are running and expected to come online in the coming months. This includes the continued the growth of its Malaysia Digital Hub, an initiative that grew to 19 locations this year – up from six in 2019. There is also the Go-eCommerce Expo, a follow-up event to e-Dagang Expo that is set to be another step to boost e-commerce.
2021 is set to be a big year for MDEC, as it enters its 25th anniversary. For this, the agency has said that it will be doubling down on building a future-ready workforce, establishing border-spanning innovations and creating alliances committed to advancing the digital economy and achieve its vision of Malaysia 5.0.
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