KUALA LUMPUR: The two-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GECommunity Summit) 2017 concluded on a new high with stronger and richer participation from aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs, more in-depth discussions on the drivers of future economies, and richer ecosystem involvement to positively shape our future economy.
“In a year, we have turned the GECommunity Summit into a must-attend for both aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs as well as corporates. The Summit is a crucial spark that continues to ignite the global movement and, more importantly, lead the way to unlock exponential economic growth and true value to our society,” said Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance.
With the ambitious theme of ‘Designing the Future’, this year’s Summit brought into focus the need for greater co-operation between corporates and entrepreneurs to unleash exponential growth and truly shape future economies. The Summit solidified collaborations between corporates and entrepreneurs, helping corporates uncover innovative ways of working while giving entrepreneurs true test-bedding opportunity.
“Collaboration with entrepreneurs is one of the most critical ways for corporates to find truly ground-breaking innovation that fundamentally changes the status quo. This is perhaps one of the most important ways to unleash untapped market potential and the power of emerging startups at the same time – shaping a new future for the industry together,” said Ashran Dato’ Ghazi, CEO of MaGIC.
A total of 76 GEC Labs were organised throughout the Summit, covering over 15 themes and among these, many of the discussions centred around established hot topics like machine learning & Artificial Intelligence, and smart cities, as well as emerging areas like social innovation.
“Driving social innovation and impact-driven enterprises has emerged as a big opportunity area to transform our economy. Our collaboration with Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) on SIX changes this dynamic, and the discussions at GEC Labs that have turned toward this topic further reinforce its prominence in changing the way we think about growth and development,” continued Ashran.
The GECommunity Summit 2017 also hosted the ASEAN Roundtable Dialogue, which was attended by key enablers of the region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and representatives from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). With a key focus on encouraging cross-border collaboration, the dialogue offered a platform to discuss pragmatic solutions to develop and strengthen the entrepreneurship talent pool through talent exchange programmes that will facilitate knowledge sharing between countries to grow ASEAN’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. In addition to insightful sharing sessions by representatives from each of the ASEAN nations,
As part of its work to champion Impact Driven Enterprise (IDEs) in Malaysia, MaGIC named eight deserving Amplify Award winners on the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit 2017. Amplify Awards, currently in its third year, recognise those contributing to the sector’s development and the people who have been active in paving the way for a sustainable impact driven enterprise sector in Malaysia.
Among the programmes that were conducted by MOHE include MOHE Siswapreneur Makerthon Challenge: Smart City, Smart Community; Entrepreneurial Higher Education Symposium: Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Higher Education Institutions towards Industry 4.0; Public-Private Research Network Innovation Lab; Public-Private Research Innovation Award. “Education is an integral catalyst that further accelerates the growth of entrepreneurs, empowering them to unlock the economic potential in the future.
“Through our innovation-driven programmes and initiatives, our aspirations are for the entrepreneurship ecosystem to continue flourishing with the passage of time,” said Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, Minister of Higher Education Malaysia .
Funding is a crucial element to further fuel the entrepreneurial progress, and this is encapsulated in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s (MOSTI) Malaysia Commercialisation Year 2.0. Aimed at connecting research resources with entrepreneurs to drive commercialisation of new products, services and technologies, the MCY Summit showcased progress and achievements of commercialisation activities, featuring start-ups, innovating and technology that are making strides in the market.
Other programmes that came under the banner of MOSTI were: MCY 2017 Award; Exhibition; Dialogue Sessions; Mentoring and Pitching; Young Innovators Corner 2.0 and Future Innovator’s – TN50. “The disruptive changes brought about by technological advancement present us with an excellent opportunity to unlock exponential growth.
We are at the cusp of that shift – the time to act is now and the programmes that were concluded create an impetus towards future economic growth,” commented Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.
