KUCHING: Human capital development is vital in achieving a digital economy while holistic initiatives are required to equip the current workforce with the necessary skills.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said that such initiatives would require shared responsibility between corporations, government and education providers.
“When it comes to translating technological innovations into a real business — while technology is relatively easy to come by, it is the talent that is often the limiting factor.
“There is a significant skills gap between businesses current capabilities and skills needed to achieve its goals and meet customer demand,” he said when officiating at the International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (IDECS) 2020 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here on Wednesday.
Abang Johari said that advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Industry 4.0, virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), robotics, and so on were revolutionising the nature of work, the dynamics of the workforce, and the required skillsets.
“For example, while AI creates new opportunities, the jobs will necessitate a separate set of skills,” he explained.
He said that as new roles arose and job requirements fluctuated, the scope of the existing talent in skilled workers might not cope with the changing demand. He added that it was a challenge for industries to future-proof their personnel by simply hiring new employees.
At the same time, Abang Johari said it must also be ensured that technological advances did not result in economic imbalance as lower-skilled employees become unemployed.
In addition to digital skills, he said that there was a strong demand for soft skills such as project management, decision-making, critical thinking, communication, designing, and negotiating which would empower people to be equipped with the competencies of the digital revolution.
“To address these challenges, we need to invest more in re-skilling and up-skilling our workforce,” he said, pointing out that the state’s universities, Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET), and technical colleges were contributing to the skills needed for the digital economy.
He said that in order to accelerate this, the state government had established a digital academy at the Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (Centexs).
According to Abang Johari, the academy was established in partnership with global technology companies such as Eon Reality, Huawei, and others — a model which would see the digital economy as a leading industry-focused regional training centre with relevant programmes to meet the skills needs of the digital economy.
At the same time, he said in order to ensure that all Sarawakians would benefit from the digital economy, Digital Community Centres were being developed throughout the state to provide digital skills training and capacity-building programmes.
“These digital inclusivity initiatives will help in developing the local socioeconomic sector by empowering the community to benefit from the state’s digital transformation,” he said, adding that these centres were properly planned to provide positive impacts on the people’s overall quality of life.
