SHAH ALAM – Selangor Digital Creative Centre (SDCC) was awarded the Digital Hub status by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) yesterday.
The matter was announced at a press conference held at the SUK building, Shah Alam.
It was attended by Dato’ Menteri Besar Selangor, Tuan Amirudin Bin Shari; Selangor State Exco, Dato’ Teng Chang Khim ; Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MDEC, Dato’ Ng Wan Peng, Chief Executive of SITEC, Yong Kai Ping, and Mr.Norhizam Kadir, VP Growth Ecosystem Development of MDEC.
Dato ‘Menteri Besar, Amirudin Shari congratulated the achievements received by the agency.
He said it was an excellent recognition that the new agency had been operating for more than three years.
“The State Government is so aggressive over the past three years to look for new initiatives especially in relation to e-commerce business.
“Hence, the State Government has set up SITEC as one of the opportunities and encourages the public to explore or engage in e-commerce specifically,” he said during a press conference.
He said with the existence of various creative initiatives, it was able to realize Selangor towards Smart State by 2025.
“So far, online business has not been fully compliant as SITEC has been created to promote e-commerce culture amongst traders and small entrepreneurs,” he said.
SITEC guiding 425 small and medium entrepreneurs with a total sales of RM10 million a year, while 50 ‘startups’ were born through Selangor Accelerator Program, StartupQuest Selangor Program and Smart City Hackathon within the next three years.
The Selangor Information Technology & E-Commerce Council (SITEC) was established by the Selangor State Government in 2015, to uplift the startup ecosystem and develop Selangor as the regional trading centre for e-commerce. It also manages Selangor Digital Creative Centre (SDCC), an 11,000 sq.ft. incubator and co-working space.
The Malaysia Digital Hub is an initiative by MDEC that supports tech and digital co-working spaces, their startups, and communities to connect to ASEAN and global digital ecosystem. Only six other co-working spaces have been awarded this status in Malaysia.
SITEC, through its activities and offerings, have met all six of MDEC’s criteria to be a Malaysia Digital Hub, such as having pervasive high-speed broadband and fiber connectivity; be a conducive environment for startups; have available a key anchor of the internet economy; organise talent development programmes; provide funding opportunity and facilitation; and a ‘cool’ environment conducive to the startup culture with adequate lifestyle amenities.
Besides SITEC, two other SITEC partners also recently achieved accomplishments. The Malaysia Digital Maker Hub status was awarded to SITEC Maker partner Arus Academy, who runs the Maker Space in the SDCC. The makerspace is a multipurpose resource room for digital making, and enables educators, students and industry experts to reach out, share resources and build collaborations.
Additionally, the coveted Alibaba Business School Training Partner status was awarded to SITEC education partner Mystartr. The first class commenced in October 2018, and will carry on into 2019, covering three specialized courses in e-commerce, entrepreneurship and digital marketing.
“Being recognised as a Malaysia Digital Hub means that SITEC will be able to accelerate startups in Selangor to grow and scale through facilities such as funding, mentorship as well as industry visits,” said SITEC chief executive Yong Kai Ping.
In September this year, SITEC took the top 10 startups of the Selangor Accelerator Programme to China, to pitch in front of China Venture Capitalists and Startups. The livestream of the pitching event in Hangzhou, China received an enthusiastic response to the tune of 1 million views.
SITEC has also organized three Smart City and Digital Economy conferences and three Cross-Border E-Commerce Conferences, touching base with thousands of industry players as well as government agencies.
