KUCHING: Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) is expected to complete four more Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) in the state which will be fully operational by the fourth quarter of this year.
SDEC chairman Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani said with these, there would be 13 DIHs available in the state for the people to access and utilise.
“We have completed a total number of nine DIHs,” he said at the IR4.0 Prototyping Lab Partnership launching ceremony at TEGAS Digital Village, Sama Jaya High Tech Park yesterday.
The DIHs, fully funded Co Working Spaces by SDEC located across Sarawak, provide offices, meeting rooms, hot-desking, permanent desks, event spaces and various programmes for startup development, SME Digitalisation and many more.
Morshidi also revealed that SDEC had been tasked to implement the State’s Digital Economy Initiative since its operationalisation in 2020, and its main task was to accelerate the digital transformation of Sarawak, especially in the private sector.
“SDEC aspires to be the Sarawak Digital Player as its responsibilities cover the whole breath of Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy from rural connectivity, STEM education, digital skills and workforce transformation, research and development in digital technologies, digitalisation of businesses, technology commercialisation, to any relevant digital services,” he said.
As such, he added one of the mandates given to SDEC was to coordinate the Sarawak Digital Innovation Ecosystem.
“The ecosystem has been established and grown together by all ecosystem partners in several focused components from education, facilities, industry partnerships, research & development (R&D), investments, amongst others.
“These are crucial in cultivating the culture of innovation and providing support for any organisations in Sarawak including schools, universities, government agencies and businesses or industries to participate in the digital economy,” he said.
Morshidi added the support provided by the ecosystem was designed to benefit communities, students, graduates, workforce, university researchers and business owners to acquire digital skills, talents, and tools or technologies, as well as creating and facilitating new businesses or startups leveraging on digital technologies and data to generate new economy for the state.
“A number of initiatives are being conducted within the ecosystem such as the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Digital Economy, DIH and Digital Village Accelerator Programme, and others.
Meanwhile, during the ceremony, SDEC also announced its inaugural Digital Village Accelerator (DiVA) Programme under which participants would be enrolled into a six-month programme with up to RM150,000 seed investments.
DiVA is a flagship programme under the Sarawak Digital and Innovation Ecosystem, targeting local startups to accelerate their growth and maturity, with emphasis on increased revenue generation, market expansion and investment potential.
