Visit to General Electric (GE) Digital at San Ramon, California, USA

Monday, 31 October 2016
GE Digital Office, San Ramon, California, USA.

A Very Good Morning to Everyone.

On behalf of MDEC and my delegation here today, I thank you for welcoming us to spend the morning with you.

2. Accompanying me are Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of MDEC, Dan E. Khoo, President of MDEC Americas, several other members of our executive team and the leaders of 24 Malaysian digital companies.

3. GE Digital is our first stop in a week-long Silicon Valley immersion experience and we are happy to be here, particularly because after these introductory remarks, we will be signing a memorandum of understanding that will forge a partnership destined to shape a bold digital future for GE and its customers, Malaysia, the ASEAN region, and our larger world.

4. Malaysians know GE as not only a global company but also one that has been a part of Malaysia for over 40 years. We hold GE in high regard for so many reasons, including its origins involving Thomas Edison, its heritage of inventing and producing so many of the products that our world has depended on for so long, and its great ability to harness imagination to stay on the cutting edge in a dynamically changing world.

5. GE Digital and the Industrial Internet are but the latest examples of that, and we are honored and eager to be entering into a partnership with you to collaborate on a wide range of initiatives that will support the growth of Malaysia’s digital economy.

6. MDEC is the steward of this growth, established by the Malaysian government 20 years ago to develop, coordinate, promote and accelerate Malaysia’s digital economy, information and communications technology industry, as well as promote the adoption of digital technology amongst Malaysians.

7. GE will find, as many others have already found, MDEC and the growing ranks of Malaysian entrepreneurs, innovators and technologists to be proactive, capable and motivated partners in pursuit of innovative digital solutions.

8. Five years ago, our Government gave MDEC the mandate to grow the digital economy in the country at all levels.

9. I’m fairly sure that as GE employees you abide by the phrase, or some version of the phrase: “what gets measured gets done.”

10. MDEC abides by this as well, and necessarily so because transforming a nation is not easy. For example, I’m proud to say that Malaysia’s Digital Economy contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product has already reached 17.8 per cent in 2015. We have almost hit the 18.2 per cent target which was set for 2020. With 2020 three years away, we are confident of exceeding our target.

11. The Digital economy has been consistently increasing its contribution to our Gross Domestic Product and creating opportunities for people and businesses. As another example, cumulative investments into Malaysia’s digital economy as a result of the programs under MDEC, are over 80 billion dollars, and growing. Moreover, Malaysia as a conducive business location has been consistently ranked as the top three country in A. T. Kearney’s 2016 Global Services Location Index, behind only India and China, countries many times our size. You could say that as a nation, Malaysia is clearly punching above its weight.

12. The pillars of this already successful MDEC’s programs include a vibrant domestic information and communications technology industry, widespread adoption of digital solutions by government, businesses, industry and Malaysian citizens, and last but not least, a robust enabling ecosystem.

13. MDEC is moving forward on a number of fronts to nurture and expand our innovation ecosystem and digital economy talent pool. With the creation of “Malaysia Digital Hub” in several locations throughout the country, MDEC strongly believes these digital hubs will be able to spur the development of local start-up communities through a range of support, from readily available broadband services to entrepreneurial mentoring programs. Through our partnership with GE Digital we expect to create one or more digital hubs focused on the Industrial Internet.

14. More broadly, we are working together with our Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to incorporate digital entrepreneurship skills into their curriculum, and with our Ministry of Education and the private sector to expose Malaysian youth to the creative and innovative aspects of digital technology. This is done through the integration of computational and computer science into their curriculum. At the university level we are working to groom a generation of young “digital makers” through a range of programs and activities.

15. You see before you today, some of the beneficiaries of these programs. As I have mentioned, they are all here this week as part of another MDEC initiative, the Silicon Valley Immersion Program, which we began last year, leveraging on the presence and relationships offered by the MDEC Americas office in Palo Alto under the leadership of its President, Dan E. Khoo.

16. You could think of these talented entrepreneurs as the PhD level of our digital talent pool – highly intelligent and accomplished, but still learning – in this case, the finer points of how it gets done in Silicon Valley.

17. I hope you get a chance to network with some of them while we are together today to understand more about the digital businesses they have created and where they’re taking them.

18. On Wednesday afternoon in San Mateo, they will be presenting their stories at our TechMatch Malaysia Expo to a range of potential Silicon Valley corporations, partners and investors. I extend our sincere invitation to all of you to attend this Expo.

19. The 24 companies here today have a combined valuation of 580 million dollars and combined revenues of 140 million dollars – almost half of which are through exports. Several are versant in the same digital technologies that are driving GE Digital’s business, and at least partially as a result of MDEC, there are scores of others back in Malaysia who are too.

20. All of these initiatives are contributing to the sustainably growing pipeline of young Malaysians entering the digital ecosystem, and I have no doubt that one or more of them will someday be at the helm of Malaysian-based unicorn companies.

21. I should also mention that MDEC has a highly inclusive view of developing our digital economy talent pool – one that is not limited to our student population. We are also collaborating with the nation’s Human Resources Development Fund to upskill workers who began their work life outside of the digital economy, but with the right training, can transition to becoming a productive member of this fast and growing digital economy.

22. Thank you for affording me the opportunity to mention some of the main reasons why GE’s decision to partner with MDEC and the nation of Malaysia is the right choice for you now, and will continue to be well into the future. Like you, we see our future as being rooted in digital technology. We have key overlapping digital innovation focus areas including big data analytics and I. O. T.

23. And like you, we are “all in.”

24. We see GE as the strategic anchor of a going-forward plan that sees a material and growing contribution coming from the industrial Internet. We see that happening in at least the following ways. One will be through collaborating to bring about the digital transformation of various Malaysian industrial enterprises, digitally enhancing their productivity, capacity for innovation, and global competitiveness.

25. Come to think of it, as the world’s gateway to the ASEAN region, our opportunities here don’t end at Malaysia’s borders only. Another way will be to establish partnerships between technology companies in MDEC’s portfolio – perhaps some of those who are here with us today – to jointly pursue new Industrial Internet solutions and technologies as well as pursue business opportunities in Malaysia, throughout the ASEAN region and around the world.

26. Let us begin our collaboration. I am confident that even from our very first steps more opportunities will be identified and then realized.

27. Before we move on to the day’s activities, I or other members of the MDEC team would be happy to answer any questions you may have about MDEC, our range of initiatives or thoughts on advancing our partnership.

Thank you