KUCHING: The Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI) and Swinburne University of Technology (Swinburne) will collaborate again next year for the second edition of the Transport Innovation Centre projects offering about 20 fully-sponsorship spots for the post-graduate programme.
Chief executive officer (CEO) of MAI Datuk Madani Sahari said the spots will be opened up to other industries besides automative such as furniture, oil and gas, plantation and also edu-entertainment (games playing).
He said this during a press conference at the university’s Sarawak campus here, yesterday.
“We hope to promote this and generate more interest as we do also offer full scholarships to PhD level for projects with a deeper level and technical sessions,” he added.
Earlier on, Madani said during the first edition of the programme, response has been very encouraging with seven research projects being conducted.
“Researchers work directly with the industry to develop solutions based from current trends and demands of the automotive sector.
“This form of collaboration from the private and public sectors have demonstrated positive, and most importantly, real-time, rapid results directly for the industry.
“The multi-disciplinary teams bring in a new dimension towards addressing problems faced by the industry,” said Madani.
Madani further explained how both the industry players and the MAl-Swinburne scholars bring key elements to the table, combining methodical academic research with the experiences and expertise of the participating industry talents.
“The projects presented by this first batch of scholars are a tremendous addition to the industry 4.0 talent network within the transportation sector in line with the government’s national policy on the industry.
“As this programme grows in the years to come, the MAI-Swinburne Automotive Scholarship Research Programme is expected to create a critical mass of Industry 4.0 practitioners and further enhance Malaysia’s technology value chain beyond the transportation sector, including in the state of Sarawak”, he said.
