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AEI-HUAWEI CONFERENCE 2022

AEI-HUAWEI CONFERENCE 2022 REPORT

Digitalization and Development, Ecosystem for Promoting Industrial Revolution 4.0 Technologies in Malaysia

11-12 October 2022, 9am-5pm, Pullman Hotel, Bangsar

In conjunction with Asia-Europe Institute and Huawei Sdn Bhd jointly organised a conference on Digitalization and Development, Ecosystem for Promoting Industrial Revolution 4.0 Technologies in Malaysia. The two-day conference was consist of two plenary sessions experts were from ecosystem organizations and universities and shared their take on the challenges and choices for Malaysia. In addition, the papers were presented at the conference are chapters forthcoming in the book, Rasiah, R., Low, W.Y. and Kamaruddin, N. (eds) (2023) Digitalization and Development: Ecosystems for Promoting IR4.0 Technologies in Malaysia, Abingdon: Routledge. The conference was held at the Pullman hotel, Bangsar on 11-12 October from 9am to 5pm. The event attended by embassy representatives from various countries, government officials, academics, representatives from the media, representatives from NGOs and students from public and private Universities.

The conference began with welcoming remarks by Professor Ir. Dr Shaliza Ibrahim, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation) of Universiti Malaya, she then continued  by thanking everyone who attended the conference, and provided a brief overview of the expected discussions of the conference. She highlighted that the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) technologies are revolutionizing all sectors worldwide, including agriculture, education and services, promising to replace the planet’s polluting, dangerous and degrading industries. She mentioned that the government has invested in several programmes to give access to digital technologies and fundamental services, especially Universiti Malaya (UM), which, among other universities in the country, has built IR4.0 centres to assist such initiatives. Moreover, she pointed out that UM embraces the digital era that must propel the economy forward to achieve the goals outlined in Malaysia’s Shared Prosperity Vision blueprint with a focus on accelerating innovation as part of a comprehensive digital economy aimed at driving the country toward a prosperous, egalitarian and sustainable nation. She ended her speech by congratulating the AEI and HUAWEI team for organizing an important conference that brought together various stakeholders to deliberate on overcoming the digital divide. She also wished the audience a productive two days.

Following her was Mr Oliver Liu, the Vice President of Public Affairs and Communication, Huawei Sdn Bhd gave an opening speech. He mentioned the importance of listening and learning from each other and thanked AEI for collaborating with HUAWEI in making this event happen and thanked the audience for coming.

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Distinguished Professor Dato’ Dr Rajah Rasiah, the executive director of Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), then delivered a keynote lecture entitled “Prometheus Unbound: Digitalization and Industrial Revolution 4.0”. The introduction of the lecture walked the audience through the development of broadband cables and milestones of IR4.0 technologies. There are divisive debates on Digitalization, and IR4.0, said Professor Rajah. He also pointed out that Digitalization evolved from resistance to mechanization in 1799 (Ned Ludd) and became essential to the 17 sustainable development goals launched by the UN in 2015. In addition, he reiterated that Taiwan and Israel embarked on Digitalization much earlier while other countries were down with the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Taiwan has relocated its agricultural farms and manufacturing firms to increase self-sufficiency by deploying robots and drones. He then added that Malaysian Governments had launched several roadmaps, initiatives, and action plans to accelerate the development of the digital infrastructure, such as Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone was launched in 2017, IR4.0 Master Plan and the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint were launched in 2018 and 2020, respectively, followed by Twelfth Malaysia Plan and budget for 2022. 

Professor Rajah also stressed that the conference addresses the aspects of digital infrastructure, digital literacy and cyber security, which is timely and pertinent as a platform to deliberate the various issues related to digital transformation in the era of IR 4.0. Subsequently, the conference focused on selected critical sectors that will become key pillars for Malaysia’s development. Finally, he concluded his lecture by saying that Digitalization promises the diffusion of IR4.0 technologies. Nations can open up the discourse to enable the open development of such technologies. However, because economic resources are scarce, many will have to focus on a few critical sectors to optimally accelerate their emergence and expansion. Then he thanked all the chapter writers of the book. 

PRESENTATION SESSION 1

Associate Professor Dr Roy Anthony Rogers, the senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya, chaired the first presentation session. 

The first presenter Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul presented on "Digitizing Food Production through the Fertigation System". He shared statistics on how we depend more on imports of vegetables and meat to meet our domestic requirements. According to him, this is a structural problem and needs policy intervention. He also described the fertigation process as a laborious process that is a turn-off for the younger generation. His solution was to digitalize it by making a virtual system in which farmers can monitor the fertilizer, the water and others using electrical devices such as smartphones. Then, the speaker promoted the usage of organic fertilizers and pesticides, which touched on our environmental concerns regarding agriculture. Dr Afzanizam ended his presentation by stressing the importance of the digitalization of food production, as it will help correct the imbalance to improve the SSR and maximize the earnings of our farmers.

Mr Hisham Razuli Halim, the Head of the Economics and Research Department, EPF. He presented on "Proliferation of IR4.0 Technologies in Large Scale Agriculture". In his presentation, he highlighted that Malaysian agriculture's GDP decreased in 2020 due to a decline in all economic sectors, as the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported, compared to a 4.4% increase in 2019. The speaker also highlighted four main drivers required to increase IR4.0 proliferation. Firstly, remove subsidies or repurpose investments through Government-linked or related organizations, as in the case of palm oil through FELDA and paddy farmers through MADA, to compete globally and increase exportability. Secondly, mindset change in embracing technology in stages must work hand in glove without inertia, especially for the ageing farmer demography.

Thirdly, to enable extensive scale automation in large-scale agriculture, reducing dependency on low-skilled foreign workers and lack of technology adoption. Finally, he mentioned that facilitating innovation through R&D grants enables strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors that eventually commercialize IR 4.0 product development.

Ms Charis Yeap Khai Leang is a PhD candidate at Asia Europe Institute, University Malaya, presented on “Diffusion of IR4.0 Technologies in Electronic Manufacturing”. She shared the empirical findings of her study and her experience during data collection. She also stressed that institutional support is the key to technology adoption; therefore, the roles of states and institutions are crucial. According to the findings, there are weaknesses in the infrastructure that will discourage investors. Ms Charis also suggested improvements, such as ensuring an essential infra ecosystem, helping high-performing firms, continuous training and increasing collaboration. Providing targeted financial assistance and better research and development facilities will also help increase technology adoption. Subsequently, the evaluation of roles and functions of related government institutions should also be carried out to build strong synergies by creating more inter-firm collaboration and linking firms with technology providers. Finally, the speaker concludes that IR4.0 must be promoted more widely. 

Professor Emeritus Dr Tham Siew Yean, the visiting senior fellow at Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS), summarises the previous papers and finds that the first two papers complement each other, whereby the first speaker focuses on the small-scale food sector. In contrast, the second speaker addresses large-scale farming. Prof Tham also reiterated that the Smart farming concept is good; however, proper awareness is needed. Therefore, more focus should be on what can be done in training and R&D. Engaging youth in agriculture is a global problem. Prof Tham also highlighted that land issues, such as access to land (buying land and dealing with the banks), were not discussed in the session. The discussed Q&A are below:

  1. Why are the universities (public and private) not producing more industry-relevant content? 
    Mr. Hisham gave some feedback to the comments during discussant session by stating that they are looking for more collaborations with the universities rather than internships. Currently, DreamEdge is collaborating with UTem. However, they initially had some challenges with catering to industries’ needs and speed. 
          
  2. How can Malaysia foster greater quadrilateral collaboration? 
    Ms. Charis answered why the universities are not creating the content by stating that not all academicians go to the ground to communicate with the people. Most of them rely on the literature instead. 
         
  3. What can be done to fill in the gap? The speaker then stressed that the way KPI are set and monitored should be revisited.
    Dr. Anis suggested to Ms Charis to identify and suggest the agency involved in each policy implication that is being highlighted in the paper.  
        
PLENARY SESSION 1: MAKING THE TECHINCAL LEAP INTO IR4.0

The plenary session began with the first panellist, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Kamal Mat Salih, the Executive Chairman, Yayasan Mahkota. He shared about the crouching tiger effect and mentioned an acronym they created, TIGER, Technology base Industrialization for Growth and Economic Restructuring. It is supposed to reference Malaysia as the fifth Asian tiger. The 5G infrastructure is crucial for the country’s development as we are moving from the silicon age to the quantum age. Besides that, he highlighted that the Malaysian economy is growing on the right track but is in the wrong direction. He talked about Yayasan Mahkota’s efforts and projects in the past two years in the agriculture and industrial field.

Mr Naguib Mohd Nor is the CEO and MD of the Business Consulting Centre, Strand Aerospace Malaysia. He started his session by saying that he has been active as an engineer, technologist and business developer in the global aerospace supply chain since 2000. Moreover, he started his session by defining transformation as doing things faster, better and cheaper. He pointed out that success often is not because of technology, and the key to success is people's transformation. Mr Naguib also mentioned that we are already heading to IR5.0. Mr Naguib's forte is drones and drone technology. During his session, he said the usage of drones in agriculture, security, infrastructure and logistics. According to him, it is vital due to the foreign labour crunch in our country. He also said that we need to change the mindset and that people's transformation is the key to IR4.0.

Mr Chong Chern Peng, the Vice President of Digital Power Business Group Huawei Malaysia, shared that Huawei started in Malaysia as a system equipment supplier for Telekom Malaysia in 2001 and embarked on the Consumer Business Group in 2013. They have ventured into Digital Business Group recently and aspire to be an agile company and remain competitive. He also pointed out that telco and banking have already gone into IR4.0. He mentioned Huawei started it during the 2G period. He also said that carbon neutrality and sustainability are keys to IR4.0. Huawei has supported its partners by providing them with a more sustainable, efficient and low-carbon environment enabling IR4.0. Huawei is also already diversifying by enabling smart cars, electric cars, and 5G cars, as well as digital power and cloud business routes.

Dr Sumitra Nair is a Senior Vice President  & Head of Strategy & Policy at Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). She started her session by saying there is a need for an agile and flexible policy to cater to current needs. Due to covid, people were forced to make a shift to online. Companies were moving on to IR4.0 at an express rate. We saw lots of companies in Malaysia, including at globally 16%, adopt a 100% remote work policy. She also stressed that manufacturing is responsible for 10% of global emissions. Therefore, the effective adoption of digital technology will help to reduce global emissions by 15% by 2030. Dr Sumitra also spoke about the tool convergence of technologies, which were all connected through AI technologies. She highlighted that we live in an uncertain world. By integrating data with business processes, we will become more efficient and better for the environment as we are closer to achieving net zero. 

Mr Kamarul A Muhamed, Founder & Group CEO of AERODYNE Group, shared about his company’s drone services, which are a faster, cheaper and better mode of transportation. He also stressed that technology is evolving in an unprecedented phase, and the key to digital transformation is the people. The people’s transformation should not be underestimated. He also mentioned that one challenge we face is that labour is going towards the gig economy, which is an IR4.0-enabled economy. The 4.0 economy is disruptive, while the other is a traditional economy that is now on track to evolve. According to Mr Kamarul, when we go to IR4.0, there should be some key value propositions on the shop floors, such as higher productivity rates, more flexible production capabilities and agility in collaboration with other companies or disciplines. 

Dr Rahul Mishra, Senior Lecturer, Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya, concluded the session by posting a question to the panellists. The Q& A are as below: 

Q1. What is the one thing that can be fixed to change your sector?

Mr. Naguib: IR4.0 is complex and needs to have industrial maturity to understand the philosophy and leadership behind it. Hope to change the next-generation companies in the aerospace industry.
Mr. Kamarul: Focus on good execution of policies.
Tan Sri Kamal: Financial freedom for all classes of people and University 4.0 (how to transform the idea of future universities).
Dr. Sumitra: To cultivate a culture of curiosity and embrace change at all levels.
Mr. Chong: Allow more talent development opportunities and become a carbon neutrality leader.
PRESENTATION SESSION 2

Prof Dr Low Wah Yun, the Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, chaired the second presentation session.

Ms Kiranjeet Kaur, a PhD candidate at the Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya, the first presenter in the second session, spoke on the "Ecosystem for Promoting IR4.0 Technologies in Textiles and Clothing Manufacturing. She began her speech with a discussion of the systemic pillars, which are the STI's basic infrastructure, the global integration and the network vision. The essential infrastructure integration global factor and final markets of firms in Malaysia are generally good, but much more need to be done to strengthen STI infrastructure and the network connection between the firms and universities. She also mentioned that the younger generation is not interested in textile jobs, but their interest leans more towards wanting to be designers etc. She also said investors prefer alternative locations like Vietnam and Bangladesh because Malaysia only provides good support to players in this sector to subsidize finance, which is too little. 

Mr Yip Tien Ming is a PhD Candidate at the Business & Economic Faculty, University Malaya. His presentation title was “Did digitalization help manufacturers cope with the Covid-19 pandemic?” The presenter highlighted the empirical findings of his research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the manufacturing industry’s performance. He said that Malaysia has been going through a long period of early industrialization, and digitalization is expected or is assumed to have future movements in the Malaysian industry. He also said wages have not been growing in line with our economy. He also pointed out that digitalization is expected to lead the upward growth rate by increasing productivity and helping the middle income emerge as digital leaders. He stressed that this is important because it is part of our 12th Malaysia Plan. In his view, to boost digitalization, we must improve digital governance for inclusive digitalization, strengthening capacity and capability. He also mentioned the importance and use of extensive data analysis, which can help predict the environmental changes which align with our SDG goals. Better cooperation is needed with various platforms and online services to get new opportunities for firms to venture into digital businesses. He concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic is found to depress Malaysian manufacturing production. Nevertheless, digitalization has been found to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19 on manufacturing production. Hence policies to increase the uptake of digitalization, especially by small firms, should be addressed. 

Dr Mohamad Norjayadi Tamam, the Director, Delivery Management Office, Malaysia Productivity Council. He spoke on “Government Initiatives to Promote Adoption of IR4.0 Technologies in Manufacturing”. The speaker explained that productivity is essential to increase competitiveness, create employment opportunities, generate high income and improve the well-being of people. 83% of Malaysian companies have no or low technology adoption as of 2021. The speaker also reiterated that the uncertainty of modernizing infrastructure, reliance on low-cost labour, lack of skills in digitalization, and lack of capabilities to improve operational efficiencies via technology was among the challenges to IR4.0 adoption. 

Associate Professor Dr Sameer Kumar from Asia Europe Institute, University Malaya, concluded this panel session by saying that Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPSs) have three main elements, connectedness, intelligence and readiness, and how they use in physical and digital systems s into a shared infrastructure. Moreover, other questions from the audience on the cost of digitizing versus having migrant workers. Dr Norjayadi answered that salary and wages must be separated from the productivity perspective. Productivity should be a priority, and digitalization increases productivity. 

PRESENTATION SESSION 3

The second day of the conference (October 12 2, 2022) began with the introduction of the presenters by Datuk Prof Dr Danny Wong, the dean at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya. 

Prof. Emeritus Dr Tham Siew Yean spoke on "E-commerce Expansion in Malaysia in this session. She explained that Malaysia's e-commerce has accelerated over the years during Covid-19. However, Malaysia could be better placed compared with some ASEAN neighbours regarding digital trade restrictions and broadband speed and cost. Moreover, there needs to be more compiling firm-level data, which is needed for facilitating better research and providing evidence-based policy suggestions. E-commerce platforms with lower entry barriers can export more. The Digital free trade zone will increase the SME's goods export to USD38 billion, create over 60,000 jobs and support US$65 billion worth of goods moving through DFTZ by 2025. DFTZ will make Malaysia Asia's leading transhipment Hub by 2025. She also mentioned infrastructure relations' challenges, policy implications, and regional differences. 

Dr Khairul Hanim Pazim, a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, presented on “Digitalization and the GIG Economy: Ecosystem System Supporting Consumer Services”. She first talked about the sharing economy, an umbrella term for non-ownership forms of consumption such as Uber, which provides transportation services without owning any vehicles. She talks about consumer behaviour in this generation and the sharing economy. She mentioned the consumer behaviour we saw during the pandemic and how it changed post-pandemic. She said consumer behaviour is often confused with the act of reciprocation. She also pointed out that the digital sharing economy has become part of the lifestyle and has already transformed various industries. The speaker concludes that future studies should investigate consumer preferences in the sharing economy.

Distinguished Professor Dato' Dr Rajah Rasiah presented on behalf of Dr Maslina Daud on Addressing Cybersecurity Measures. He began his talk by sharing some snapshots of cyber security incidents in Malaysia to show the seriousness of the issues. Some national policies have been laid out, yet we still have some serious cyber security incidents. He shared about the technological domains in IR 4.0, such as the Internet of Things, Artificial intelligence, Robotics process automation, Big Data Analytics, manufacturing and services, and other cybersecurity concerns. He also stressed the central theme: cybercrimes are happening, but what are they doing about it? More cyber security policies are needed to create a trusted, secure, and ethical digital environment. He then concluded that the government and intermediary organizations are essential for all stakeholders to serve their intended purposes. 

Mr Naguib Mohd Nor, on the other hand, presented “The Role of STRAND in Malaysia’s Industrial Transformation”. He argued that technology is an enable and not the driver. The impact of IR4.0 can be seen in the shift in skills and jobs. An example he gave was regarding firefighters and the shift of skills needed. He said that soon, the job of the firemen will still be relevant, but their skillset will be different as they may be using drones and other devices. This means firemen in the future would be required to learn how to operate drones etc. Mr Naguib also shared regarding a program his company did in the UK in which he sent 80 students from rural areas to learn about technology. The speaker concluded that it is all about the gig behind computing, and STRAND ensures value propositions by producing an investment modal by their aerospace engineers. 

Dr Nurliana Kamaruddin is the deputy director (academic) at the Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya. She concluded the session by summarizing all the chapters and expressing concern on how we will deal with the ideas of having and not having the consideration of security which are still lacking while accelerating the digital and technology era. She also reiterated that what STRAND is embarking on currently is an excellent example of a collaborative approach. She said e-commerce expansions have many prospects, and we need to empower our capacity and markets. She mentioned that infrastructure always grows, and many challenges we face are not infrastructure based; instead, they are policy and government based. Regarding digitalization and the gig economy, she questioned how we view consumption and resources and how we continue to fill the gap in what we share. Lastly, she highlighted that the most crucial investment Malaysia needs to make now is improving the e-commerce infrastructure. 

PLENARY SESSION 2: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN SOCIETY

This session was moderated by Associate Prof. Dr Dorothy DeWitt (Rtd.) from the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya.

The plenary session two began with the first panellist Prof. Emeritus Dr Tham Siew Yean, saying that there are types of digital divides, internal and external. She highlighted the importance of bridging the digital divide in the region to reap the full potential of digitalization in each country as we are linked by trade and investment. Significant digital divides will also mean that investments tend to gravitate towards the more digitally connected countries and render community-making in ASEAN more difficult to achieve. There are many lofty plans: for example, The ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 envisions ASEAN as a “leading digital community and economic bloc”. It is a bold plan that demands effective investments in infrastructure and skills.ASEAN’s importance lies in knowledge-sharing and shaping legal frameworks. She also mentioned the increasing interest in increasing digital trade commitments, for example, the digital pillar in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Digital is a cross-sectoral issue and needs to engage a whole-of-government approach in its negotiations. Some administrative officers cannot understand trade rules governing data flows and their implications on their sector. However, we should provide training and capacity building for all government officers and not just leave them to trade. 

Dr Mohd Shahril Nizam bin Shaharom is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya. He talked about the generation gap and the importance of knowing the current generation (Gen Z) to shape a better future generation. Characteristics of Gen Z are that they multi-task, do not memorize, and are the first “digital natives”. He also highlighted that a meaningful way to give people digital skills is to know them by their generation. He ended by saying that digital tools are like a knife. If appropriately used, one can get good results and be a valuable tool to humans. However, if used poorly, it will be a danger to society. 

The third speaker, Datuk Dr Anis Yusal Yusoff, Principal Research Fellow, Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), said that technology should facilitate us, not make us dumber. He stressed the importance of “Peopleware”. In his speech, he mentioned technology, hardware and software components. He said the most important component is the “peopleware” and sustainability. He also clarified that the issue is not about people not having access to social media and TikTok. It is about not using IoT and others. People may have connections when talking about productivity, but the content is not something they can understand. 

Dr Smita Kuriakose, the Senior Economist, Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank, spoke next on the importance of digitalizing SMEs to boost competitiveness. She said that during Covid, digitalization was adopted actress the board, but there was a difference between SMEs and larger firms. For example, the SMEs adopted vital tools to have a presence so that they were able to maintain some market share during the pandemic. However, the larger firms invested in technology which was productivity enhancing. Larger firms invested an average of nearly five times in digitization during the pandemic. According to Dr Smita, there were 101 programs on digitizing SMEs across 25 government agencies in 10 states. Dr Smita said that SMEs struggle to use digital tools because they lack skills, regional differences, and level of penetration of business activity and digitalization and are most vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Professor Khaeruddin Sudharmin is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business & Technology at Asia Metropolitan University (AMU), Industry Adviser at Meritus University. He talked about the digital divide's impact on society, including its effect on mental health, the education barriers as post-secondary education increasingly moves online and the worsening of gender discrimination. He also stressed that we should not let the digital divide become the new face of inequality. Almost half of the world population, primarily women, mostly in developing countries, are still offline. He also mentioned that the United nation believes digital technologies are game changers and critical in achieving global goals. He said policymakers need to reduce the prices of technological devices, internet services, electricity tariffs, and taxes. The recruitment of big tech and major internet service providers is to help close gaps. It opens room for public-private solutions. 

PRESENTATION SESSION 4

Session 4 was chaired by Dr Ngeow Chow Bing, the Institute of China Studies (ICS) Director, FASS, Universiti Malaya.

Associate Prof. Dr Dorothy DeWitt, the first speaker in the session, spoke on "Creative Digital Pedagogies for Student Engagement: Preparing students for Industry 4.0." She stated that Digital creativity is the uncertain nature of work after the COVID-19 pandemic, such as e-learning like WhatsApp and telegram. She said it is the time to prepare our people (children, youngsters and graduates) to be more creative. Every sector needs to be innovative. She also pointed out that many of the public and private sectors' traditional approaches and work cultures have been replaced with digital transactions, which benefits the users. Digital creativity and innovation is now essential feature of work. New solutions and ideas need to be developed from multiple perspectives as technology will continue to evolve and disrupt work scenarios and situations. Hence, the ability to create new knowledge and innovative processes is an advantage and could ensure sustainability in the future. She also highlighted that digital creativity is not only limited to the creative industry but is required in every field of work, such as covering artistic expression to problem-solving in the context of economic, social and sustainable development. 

Dr Nurliana Kamaruddin, the second speaker in the session, presented the topic of “Online Education in Malaysia: Institutional Change to Stimulate Digital Literacy”. She mentioned in her presentation that educators tend to assume that students know how to use the internet, find journals, etc. She brought up a point on how we expect students to learn from the reproduction of the information. Besides that, she questioned educators whether they are digitally literate or not. She also brought up the infrastructure in Malaysia and the lack of connections, especially in rural areas. She highlighted in her presentation that we need to reform the educators; we need to be more proactive and need better infrastructure to enable online education and bring institutional change to stimulate digital literacy.

Dr Cheong Kee Cheok, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, presented “The Role of TVET in IR4.0 for Malaysia”. The speaker started his presentation by addressing projection vs reality. He mentioned that Malaysia is unprepared for IR4.0 due to its de-industrialization and institutional decay. He also said TVET is not doing as well as it should. TVET industry is important but often is looked at the other way, especially by the public. TVET graduates are not exceptionally equipped with the employability skills needed in the job market. The focus has become on the input rather than the output.

Moreover, the allocation has become the benchmark rather than the number of students being trained. The intuitional framework for TVET needs to be addressed appropriately. He pointed out that TVET is important in IR4.0 due to the rapid developments in genetics, AI and robotics. Most children entering primary school today might end up working in jobs that do not yet exist. He concluded that education for IR4.0 requires a new paradigm shift and mindset change.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Fumitaka Furuoka, the Senior Lecturer at Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya, summarised all the papers briefly and highlighted that the universities’ role in the 60s was to create nation-building. It is time to transform continuously according to the current technology requirement. Dynamic capacity building is a vital factor to be considered.

CLOSING REMARKS

Distinguished Professor Dato' Dr. Rajah Rasiah delivered the closing remarks. He highlighted that a clear understanding of technology, skills, and digital competencies is vital in IR4.0. He then pointed out that Taiwan and Korea could be a benchmark on how they managed the grants and incentives to develop their industries with a carrot and stick. Finally, he thanked Huawei Cooperation, the presenters, all the chapter writers and the participants and reminded them that the book could be downloaded for free once it had been published. He also extends gratitude to all the support staff who have worked hard for this event's success and declared the conference is closed.


Rapporteurs: Mr.Alif Fahmi, Ms.Shamala Thevi and Ms.Azeemah
Compiled & Edited by : Ms.Marsha Prema Priya

Last Update: 26/01/2023