Selangor Journal
Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari (centre) visiting an exhibition after officiating the Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention during the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) 2021 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on November 20, 2021. — Picture by AHMAD ZAKKI JILAN/SELANGORKINI

Showcasing Selangor’s smart solutions

By Alang Bendahara

THE Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention (SDEC) 2022 will be held in conjunction with the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) 2022, from October 6 to 9 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).

Selangor Journal recently interviewed SDEC’s organiser, Yong Kai Ping (pic), who is the chief executive officer of Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec), to learn more about the four-day convention and its intended impact.

Yong said SDEC’s theme this year, ‘Sustainable Digitalisation Towards a Net Zero Future’, coincides with the administration’s push to make Selangor a liveable Smart State in Asean by 2025, as well as its focus on climate change and the environment.

“Smart city or digitalisation is a method of using technology and data to solve society’s problems such as waste, floods, and the effects of climate change. So, SDEC’s theme is in line with the state’s focus on climate change,” he said.

Gathering of mayors

Yong said the seventh edition of SDEC will be bigger than its previous instalments and feature five core elements.

Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) chief executive officer Yong Kai Ping at the Selangor Asean Business Conference (SABC) 2021 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, on November 19, 2021. — Picture by REMY ARIFIN/SELANGORKINI

“SDEC will host the Asian Smart City Conference, the Selangor SME Digitalisation Conference, the Selangor Fashion Accelerator (Demo Day), and the Livestream Festival and Exhibition.

“This year, we expect to get 10,000 visitors as last year and during the pre-pandemic time, we received 5,000 visitors (for each instalment). So we’ve booked bigger halls and all of our 100 booths have completely sold out,” he said.

Yong said that the Asian Smart City Conference will be one of the biggest conferences that Sidec has ever planned as it will bring experts and representatives from cities around the world.

The conference will have two big elements which are the Mayors Summit and the Net Zero and Circular Economy Forum.

“It will be the largest smart city conference in the Southeast Asia region, as we have invited 10 mayors from countries such as Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Malaysia to share the progress of their smart cities.

“The forum will see 24 experts and speakers from different industries speak on smart mobility and zero-emission vehicles, waste and river management, solar and biomass energy, cloud and data governance, smart technologies for energy as well as on green investment and financing.”

Unicorns and soonicorns

Yong said the Selangor SME Digitalisation Conference will see 16 experts talk on topics such as fintech and digital banks, digital trade, achieving unicorn status as well as using live stream to elevate retail business.

The conference will act as a platform for C-level executives, policymakers, institutions, innovators, startups and investors to meet SMEs seeking to embrace digitalisation.

“We will have speakers from Carsome to talk about how to scale up the business to become a unicorn, as well as from two soonicorn or “soon-to-be unicorns” Dropee and Commerce.Asia on how to become a soonicorns.

Business models

Sidec will also showcase its in-house programme, the Top E-Commerce Merchant (Top ECM) Awards and the Selangor Fashion Accelerator (SFA) during SDEC.

“For the Top ECM Awards, we will hold a live stream marathon with its participants for four days from two studios at KLCC from 10am to 6pm.

“As for SFA, Malaysian national music icon and businesswoman Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin will be there as one of the judges for the six finalists who will pitch their business ideas and showcase their modest fashion attire during a show,” he said.

Best way forward

Yong said SDEC has made many achievements in business matching and transactions, yet its biggest contribution is making Selangor a business conference hub for smart cities and digital economies in the region, as well as creating a paradigm shift in people’s mentality.

“Selangor is the only state which is actively holding conferences such as SIBS and SDEC, to the point where overseas exhibitors have started comparing us to Singapore. China and Singapore’s success is due to the various conferences they have done to sell their manufacturing products.

“Besides manufacturing, we also need to sell, so this is the best way to sell. Also, hosting conferences brings benefits to the state’s economic sectors such as hotels, food and beverage (F&B) and tourism,” he said.

He added that many startups in tech companies involved in net zero circular economies who previously worked in silos have also thanked the state government for helping them to match with their buyers or potential users like the local government.

“A lot of other states now want to follow and learn from Selangor. Previously they did not have smart city or digital economy conferences but now they do.”

 

This article first appeared in the Selangor Journal monthly October edition, published on October 3, 2022.

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