193 companies awarded Malaysia Digital Status in Q1 2024, says Gobind Singh

The Star

A total of 193 companies have been awarded the Malaysia Digital Status by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation in the first quarter of 2024.  Speaking at KL20 Summit 2024 on Monday (April 22), Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said that half of which are information technology companies leveraging on technologies such as blockchain, Web3 and Artificial Intelligence.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Malaysia embarked on its digitalisation journey in 1996.

00:09 We have, without a doubt, made great strides in building our digital economy through the decades.

00:15 Currently, the digital economy contributes some 23% to Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product, GDP,

00:23 becoming one of the nation's main economic pillars.

00:27 Building on the Government's commitment to developing the digital economy,

00:31 the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint and the National 4IR Policy were formulated in the year 2021.

00:39 Both the Blueprint and the Policy were introduced to set the direction of the industry

00:45 while outlining strategies, initiatives and also targets that would help us achieve and build the foundation

00:53 that would ultimately drive the growth of our digital economy.

00:58 The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation, better known as MDEC,

01:02 has facilitated to date some 262 funding deals worth US$402 million between 2020 and 2023.

01:14 In the first quarter of 2024 alone, some 193 companies were awarded the Malaysian Digital Status,

01:23 half of which are infotech companies leveraging on technologies like blockchain, Web3 and AI.

01:30 We have also recently signed an MOU with the world's leading pre-accelerator,

01:35 Dreper University, to set up a base here in Kuala Lumpur,

01:40 which should be its first campus outside Silicon Valley.

01:44 This is vital in supporting and spearheading the pipeline of VCs and startups looking to enter and expand here in Malaysia.

01:54 Malaysia is also home to leading academic institutions and renowned multinational corporations.

02:02 Such establishments produce and attract high-quality talents.

02:07 Leveraging on these advantages, Startup Genome estimates that Malaysia's startup ecosystem

02:13 is valued at US$46 billion and growing.

02:18 We also have over 3,000 local startups in the ecosystem, operating in different sectors,

02:24 ranging from fintech and e-commerce to health tech and Islamic finance.

02:31 Malaysia is eager to stamp its mark in the region.

02:36 As such, this government is looking forward to our ASEAN chairmanship in 2025 next year.

02:43 We are already gearing up for it, and plans and engagements in the region are underway.

02:48 [end of transcript]

02:50 Transcription by ESO; translation by —

02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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