KUALA LUMPUR: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the driving force behind the future of Malaysia’s industries, public services, and economy, said Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
The potential for AI to enhance productivity, streamline processes and unlock new avenues for growth is immense, he stated.
“It offers Malaysia an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen our global competitiveness while ensuring inclusive development for all citizens. By embracing AI, we can tackle pressing challenges, modernise key sectors and secure long-term prosperity,” he said in his speech read out by the ministry’s secretary-general Fabian Bigar at the inaugural Cisco Malaysia AI Day today.
Gobind quoted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as saying that the government wants to empower all citizens through digital inclusivity.
“This is extremely important. Digital technology is for everyone. We will ensure no one is left behind in our race to transform Malaysia into a digital nation. We will continue to be citizen-centric and inclusive, regardless of age, background or social standing. Our objective is to enhance the efficiency of public services and accessibility to these services for the people,” Gobind said.
At the event, Cisco formalised three collaboration agreements aimed at driving Al-led innovation in Malaysia.
The company announced a collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to launch an Al hackathon aimed at bridging the Al skills gap and providing students with valuable hands-on experience working with technology.
Additionally, it outlined its strategy to empower Malaysian businesses to leverage Al to unlock new business opportunities.
Cisco said that Al can potentially deliver a US$115 billion (RM493 billion) uplift to Malaysia’s gross domestic product. While it generates new opportunities, it also introduces new security risks and threat vectors that must be defended against, it added.
Cisco detailed its strategy to help businesses in Malaysia address these challenges at scale by building trusted infrastructure to help companies power, support, and secure Al workloads, and incorporating Al across Cisco’s entire portfolio to simplify the customer experience.
Additionally, Cisco signed two collaboration agreements under its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) programme in Malaysia.
CDA is its co-investment and co-innovation platform that operates in 50 countries around the world. With CDA, Cisco aims to power economic resilience and social inclusion by unlocking the value of digitisation.
The first collaboration with Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) will focus on helping the National Digital Department (JDN) modernise its digital infrastructure.
TM will build a secure, agile network for JDN’s Putrajaya campus, enhancing network performance, reliability, and capacity to support bandwidth-intensive applications such as Al/Machine Learning technologies. Cisco will provide Al-powered collaboration tools such as Webex Boards and Cisco Spaces to drive seamless and secure employee workspace experiences.
With features such as Al-powered 3D maps and real-time insights on room availability and occupancy trends, employees can navigate the office while enabling JDN to optimise its space utilisation.
In its collaboration with Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Cisco will equip PNB’s innovation lab, network operations center, and open collaboration areas with Al-powered networking, Internet of Things, collaboration and security technologies as it transitions to a new office.
The innovation lab, featuring Cisco’s Webex, Meraki devices, and ThousandEyes will enable PNB to test and develop sustainable workplace technologies. Cisco ThousandEyes’ Al-driven intelligence in the Network Operations Center will enhance PNB’s ability to detect, diagnose, and remediate disruptions impacting the user experience. Cisco Webex Boards will facilitate inclusive work experiences with Al-enhanced video, audio and other capabilities.
PNB will also leverage Cisco Spaces to create smarter workplaces for employees.
