Week in Review: Have government efforts lifted Malaysia’s innovation levels?

  • Khailee Ng joins What’s Next 2018 lineup to talk about Deep Tech and what’s coming
  • EY Digital Village to showcase digital helping businesses in 8 sectors including Smart Factory

HIS business is as recession proof as they come because in good, bad, or the worst of times, people are still going to have sex. And for those who practice safe sex, Karex Bhd, the world’s largest condom maker and its MD, MK Goh aka The Condom King have got your back.And MK, the 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year winner for Malaysia is not worried about sex going virtual though he notes that certain sex toys have gone virtual.

As a speaker at DNA’s Aug 30th What’s Next: The Business Impact of Digital Disruption conference, MK is actually excited to share his views about how his very Brick & Mortar business plans to leverage on Digital and be a disruptor, rather than be disrupted.

You can watch the short interview I did with him and decide if What’s Next is going to be worth going for, not just to hear about how Karex plans to ride the wave of digital disruption but also to hear another Brick & Mortar leader, Parmjit Singh, the CEO of Asia Pacific University (APU), share what his university is doing to stay ahead of digital disruption and remain relevant to its Gen Z customer base.

Aside from Brick & Mortar leaders, some of our homegrown tech companies also plan to join Karek to become tomorrow’s multinationals.

One of the exciting panels at What’s Next is on “Malaysian Technology Scale-Ups Going Global: Tomorrow’s MNC” with four CEO’s from Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) GAIN cluster to be on the panel with me as provocateur.

Can Eric Cheng, Co-founder & CEO of Carsome, Khairol Anuar Mohamad Tawi, Founder & CEO of KAT Technologies, Tan Seng Kit, Group Managing Director, Strateq Group and Kamarul Muhamed, Founder & Group CEO, Aerodyne Group navigate the hurdles in global expansion and grow to become genuine Malaysia tech MNCs?

And speaking about tech, while they hope to be disruptive in the markets they enter, I am excited to announce that Khailee Ng is also joining What’s Next as a speaker and talking about the coming disruption from his Deep Tech: What’s Next in the coming wave of tech led disruption. That’s right, as we are all grappling with handling the current disruption to business caused by digital, Ng is saying we need to keep an eye on what’s coming next as well!  

A lot of this disruption the business world is facing is catalysed by innovation from entrepreneurs, be it in the form of new technology or new business models and while the Malaysian government has long recognized the need to embed innovation into government and the private sector, my contributing editor, Sharmila Ganapathy has been unimpressed by government led efforts and in her commentary, Silence is not always golden calls for the end of four government organizations with only one deserving to remain. Her contention being that history has shown that the greatest innovations have come from individuals and not governments. Do you agree?

Before I sign off, do check out the lineup of speakers and EY’s world-class Digital Roadshow that is part of this year’s What’s Next with EY leaders from around the region, including its AP Head of Digital, Will Duckworth, coming to KL to be part of an awesome What’s Next 2018.

Among the eight digital led showcase EY will lead are Smart City and Smart Factory.

With urban mobility being one of the toughest challenges for cities around the globe, how to we leverage, data driven analytics and disruptive technologies such as future mobility platforms, connected and autonomous technologies, alternative powertrains to deliver enhanced transport operations & planning to manage real-time transport network. It’s complex but digital can help.

And with Smart Factory, EY will show how its applications puts the IoT and Industry 4.0 analytics technologies in the hands of your shop floor work force to enable them to make smart real-time decisions. Which CEO would not want that?

With that, I hope you have had a restful weekend and here’s wishing you a productive week ahead.

Editor’s Picks:

It’s not all entertainment when creating digital content for kids

Lazada Indonesia partners JNE to provides cashless shipping for sellers

IDC calls on Malaysian government to forge public-private partnerships

Silence is not always golden

Quest for excellence drives APU CEO Parmjit Singh

Only a matter of time before companies embrace digital transformation

Dirty laundry is good business for eziPod

 
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