IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Ericsson and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDEC) have renewed their collaboration to prepare Malaysian students and the workforce for a digital economy.

Ericsson will provide access to its global Ericsson Educate 21st Century Technologies course – a free, self-paced online learning programme – that is designed to enhance the skills of the Malaysian workforce as well as interested tertiary-level students across all disciplines in information and communication technology.

The government’s plan to allow the foreign worker re-employment scheme is a positive development for MyEG Services Bhd, according to CGS-CIMB Research.

The brokerage said the development would improve MyEG’s job-matching business prospects and potentially leverage on its one-stop Covid-19 screening portal.

CGS-CIMB reiterated “add” on MyEG, with an unchanged target price of RM1.80, based on 24 times forward earnings.

When Candice Teoh took computer science at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, nearly 20 years ago, she was one of three female students in her class. Most other women, the 43-year-old recalls, preferred business computing.

Today, Teoh is seeing an increasing number of women working alongside her as software engineers at Epicor Software Malaysia.

• Entrepreneurs and SMEs need to assess fundamental aspects of their business
• Time to take advantage of government policies, partner to accelerate digital businesses

The Thai government has expressed interest in collaborating with Malaysia on digital governance to enhance the quality of life for its citizens.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society of Thailand, Prasert Jantararuangtong (pic), said Thailand is keen to work with Asean member states to further elevate the standard of living in the region.

Oftentimes, when people think of a “smart city”, they imagine robots walking the streets, autonomous vehicles shuttling people to and fro, drones delivering packages, and other futuristic scenes.

In reality, the transition to smart cityhood starts off far more subtly than most would expect, as demonstrated by exhibitors from both the public and private sectors during the recent Smart City Expo Kuala Lumpur (SCEKL) 2025.

Johor’s Iskandar Puteri still has some way to go before it can further reduce its carbon footprint and be as green it wants to be, but it is heading steadfastly in that direction.

On Nov 22, 2017, Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar officially proclaimed Iskandar Puteri as Johor’s second city after Johor Baru. This also made it the 14th city in Malaysia. The Johor Baru Central Municipal Council, which was established on March 1, 1978, was upgraded to the Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) on Jan 1, 2001.

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) is to work with a developer to come up with a masterplan for the 582-acre Discovery City in Malaysia.

The precinct will sit within the RM 27 billion (US$6.2 billion) Ibrahim Technopolis (IBTEC), a 7,290-acre (2,950-hectare) township in Johor in the south of the country, close to Singapore.

ZHA will lead the Discovery City design, in addition to designing the centrepiece of the masterplan – the RM269 million (US$61.5 million) cultural centre, which will be the practice’s first building in Malaysia.

Plans are in the works for a 582-acre mixed-use development smart city in Malaysia.

Discovery City is set be a new precinct within Ibrahim Technopolis, a planned 7,290 acre township in Johor.

The designer, Zaha Hadid Architects, says the city's design will focus on integration with the region's natural surroundings, implementing sustainable architecture along with smart city technologies while "minimizing [the] environmental impact."

Azli Paat, who is also Adavista Sdn Bhd director, said the official e-mail would facilitate interactions with the government departments and agencies.

"The should not arise the question of this effort making it easy for the government to monitor the public's e-mail or allowing it to send e-mail straight to the 1Malaysia e-mail account," he said when contacted by Bernama, here, Sunday.

A total of 75 local authorities (PBTs) nationwide have received the Malaysia Smart City 2025 rating, in line with the government's aspirations to realise the Smart Nation vision by 2040.

Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu said the recognition was based on smart city indicators under the Malaysia Standard (MS) ISO 37122:2019, namely sustainable cities and communities-indicators for smart cities, which outline 85 main indicators as the basis of the rating.

Have you ever sat in traffic and wondered why a road that was usually free-flowing is now congested all the time?

Or ended up being late for an urgent appointment because you couldn’t find a parking spot?

Worried about walking back to your car after work because the streets were completely dark?

These are some of the common challenges that city dwellers face as workplaces, offices and schools reopen their doors and are once again impacting their way of life.

I've been wondering how far artificial intelligence (AI) can go to make human life easier and, amid the current pandemic, safer. A good place to start is Japan, where AI is gaining ground in fields from fashion to elder care.

For example, apparel companies hit by the pandemic have been tapping AI technology to boost sagging sales, using it to predict trending designs and colours.

This follows a meeting between eGA chief executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed and Malaysian Ambassador Ahmed Shahzan Abdulsamad at the authority's premises in Muharraq.

During the meeting, Mr Al Qaed pointed to the efforts carried-out by the ambassador in enhancing the bilateral relations between Bahrain and Malaysia; as well as the country's witnessed development and progress under the reign of His Majesty King Hamad, praising the advanced Malaysian expertise within the ICT sector.

e-Government Authority's CEO praised the Malaysian Ambassador's efforts in promoting bilateral relations and the Malaysian expertise in the field of information technology and telecommunications.

As such, he said, the state and federal governments had initiated several projects to enhance usage of information and communications technology (ICT), particularly among villagers in rural areas.

Like many of its neighbours, Malaysia has been experiencing changing disease patterns. The era of acute infectious diseases and malnutrition has been succeeded by one of chronic diseases and lifestyle related illnesses. So the country’s healthcare strategy has had to shift from making traditional health and hygiene improvements to promoting healthier lifestyles and managing chronic diseases.

Set against the backdrop of a continuing health crisis, governments and organisations are reinvigorating conversations about how smart city technologies can be leveraged to mitigate or avoid future disruptions. In particular, the focus is on how critical data can be used to anticipate events and allocate resources to help build urban resiliency.

The pandemic has brought forward new perceptions into the long-term sustainability of urban metropolises and their rapid urbanisation. Cities continue to attract an influx of people for various reasons—from the promise of better job opportunities to an improved quality of life – leading the United Nations to estimate that 68% (1) of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. However, the resulting high population densities provide the ideal conditions for a virus to spread rapidly.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd has launched a new listing information network system, Bursa Link, and an online listing enquiry service, AskListing@Bursa, for the marketplace.

In a statement on Monday, Bursa Malaysia said the new e-services would serve as channels for it to move all enquiries for listed issuers online as well as digitise the disclosure and submission processes.