Accelerating Innovation Between Malaysia Japan In Business And Investment

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Malaysian & Japanese start-ups pitched business ideas to accelerate innovation in healthcare and mobility

JETRO Innovation Day Panelists
Cyberview Sdn Bhd (Cyberview), the Tech Hub Developer of Cyberjaya joined forces with Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to organise a Malaysia-Japan Innovation Day to accelerate innovations in business and investment opportunities between the two countries.

The virtual session started with a panel discussion largely on the importance of collaboration within the ecosystem to accelerate business innovations using technologies like drone, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. The panellists were Dr. Mohammad Fahmi Bin Ngah, Managing Director of Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU), Muhamad Shahrul Farhan bin Abdul Wahab, Head of Product Management & Strategic Planning, DreamEDGE Sdn Bhd and Dai Tsukada, Director of Overseas Business Development from the Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory (ACSL).

The Innovation Day saw eight local and Japanese start-ups pitch innovative business ideas in the areas of smart healthcare, smart mobility, cloud management, mental health as well as emerging and disruptive technologies.

The local start-ups that participated were Govicle Sdn Bhd, RunCloud Sdn Bhd and Naluri Hidup Sdn Bhd while Japan was represented by Quantum Operation Inc, Actworks Inc, Amatelus Inc, Xenoma Inc and DeepScore, Inc.

Shafinaz Salim, Head of Technology Hub Development Division, Cyberview said, “Innovation goes beyond adoption of technology, it also looks into collaboration between partners, academia, and government stakeholders in understanding the gaps and challenges in today’s society and together, finding the right solutions. Today, start-ups can fast track their efforts by leveraging living labs like the one in Cyberjaya. It is a powerful vehicle that can open up opportunities for businesses and innovators to convert ideas to reality. We are proud to see some of our own Cyberjaya Living Lab Accelerator programme alumni taking part in this session to further the development and commercialisation of their innovative business ideas.”

“Start-ups are also looking for innovation-driven growth beyond their local borders, which is why sessions like the Malaysia-Japan Innovation Day enable us to work together in exploring new business models, R&D&C of emerging tech clusters like smart healthcare, smart mobility and digital creative as well as value creation opportunities between Malaysia and Japan,” said Shafinaz.

Manabu Saito, Deputy Director, JETRO Kuala Lumpur said, “In recent years, business utilising digital and innovative technology to solve various economic and social issues is rapidly expanding in ASEAN. Based on this situation, JETRO has been focusing on supporting talented start-up collaborations between Malaysia and Japan, to accelerate open innovation and create new business opportunity.

In this collaboration with Cyberview and MDEC that have strong networks with local start-ups and extensive knowledge about the ecosystem in Malaysia, we have been able to intensify the support for these start-ups who are interested in open innovation.”

“To stay ahead, we need to continuously innovate and collaborate. Today’s partnership between MDEC, JETRO and Cyberview is a perfect example as we aim to catalyse and spur business and investment opportunities between our nations. This partnership will enable tech companies from both countries to accelerate the development of the ecosystem and ensure an upward trajectory of our digital economy in line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL),” said Gopi Ganesalingam, Vice President, Tech Ecosystems and Globalisation, MDEC.

Continuous efforts will be in place to ensure that innovation initiatives between the two nations are further pursued and renewed. The organisers will facilitate business matching sessions for the eight start-ups to determine how they can further collaborate to realise their innovative ideas and business opportunities.

Foreign companies especially, should take advantage of Cyberjaya’s ecosystem and its strategic location in the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a gateway to regional markets. Cyberview has recently unveiled its new launchpad, tailor made for startups, technology companies and ecosystem partners. This soft-landing zone will be complemented with the existing smart collaborative space called CoInnov8 in Cyberjaya and aims to provide ease of entry for foreign companies into Malaysia by allowing a faster, quicker and cheaper process for businesses to enter new markets in Malaysia and the region. This platform will also benefit local companies that are looking into expansion.

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