Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo has been kept busy over the past week with a series of events and meetings in France and the United Kingdom.
The trip is largely aimed at strengthening Malaysia’s digitalisation journey. The Southeast Asian nation has seen an injection of investments from some of the biggest brands and tech giants in the world since March 2023. Such investments will also accelerate the creation of a skilled workforce.
Here’s this week’s Digital Ministry’s round up.
Strengthening, empowering Malaysia’s animation industry
On June 10, Gobind visited the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market (MIFA) in Annecy, France. There he met, among others, Dominique Bourse, the chairman and chief executive officer of Cyber Group Studios (France).
He also witnessed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Thai Animation and Computer Graphic Association, and Vietnam’s Digital Content Creation Alliance.
The following day, Gobind participated in a roundtable with several animation industry experts, including Justine Bannister, the founder and creative facilitator of Just B, and representatives from Canada’s Shaw Rocket Fund, and Animation UK, on potential collaborations and co-productions between them and Malaysian companies.
Gobind visited Malaysia’s booth at MIFA (main image). Some 15 Malaysian companies were there to promote their projects and to network with industry players worldwide.
He also toured the Les Papeteries Image Factory at the GOBELINS Annecy campus, the world’s leading school for animation. Gobind was left impressed by the school’s goals to create an ecosystem favourable to the economic development of companies in the animation sector.
He also obtained insights into the academy’s curriculum, which included workshops and internship opportunities.
Of collaborations and investments
Gobind headed to London on June 12 as he spoke to Asia House corporate members. He provided updates on Malaysia’s digital infrastructure, and spoke about the initiatives and policies related to digital technology.
The digital economy constitutes nearly a quarter of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Gobind also spoke about opportunities for international businesses to invest in Malaysia’s digital economy.
He later met Nordstar Partners co-founder and managing partner Ole Ruch and his team from the management consultancy firm. They discussed about including Malaysia in Nordstar’s investment expansion plans, and collaborations leading up to Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship next year.
Gobind had a discussion with Professor Anthony Cohn from the University of Leeds regarding Large Language Models (LLM), as they discussed ideas on how to turn Malaysia into an LLM powerhouse in Southeast Asia. Gobind also met Malaysians who were representing companies that participated in London Tech Week.
This morning, Gobind met Lord Marland, the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council chairman, over breakfast as they discussed Malaysia’s digitalisation efforts.