MSC Malaysia APICTA Award Applications Up By 40 Per Cent

KUALA LUMPUR, August 9 (Bernama) -- The 11th MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards have attracted a record number of 538 applications, surpassing last year's 383 applications.

This was an outstanding 40 per cent increase in one year, said Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

"MDeC's strategic direction for the next 10 years is to move from building capacity to go-to-market initiatives," he said at the award ceremony officiated by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili here Monday.

Badlisham said under the 10th Malaysia Plan, MDeC's role is to focus on commercialisation, taking companies and intellectual properties to market.

"There are several areas of growth that we would like to focus on, including social media, green technology, healthcare, education, data storage services, shared services outsourcing, and entertainment content for animation and mobile industries," he said.

The 11th MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards honoured the best information and communications technology (ICT) innovations, recognising 17 winners and awarding 16 merits.

The winners will represent Malaysia at the International Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards, scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur in October this year.

Among the winners are Sedania Travelneeds2u Sdn Bhd in the Best of Tourism and Hospitality category with its Global Starter Pack, a local prepaid SIM card for travellers.

Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu)'s service gateway to electronic submission and electronic payment won the in the Best of E-Government and Services category.

Jointly organised by MDeC and the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom), the APICTA Awards provided a platform to benchmark products and services, build network and exchange ideas.

Ongkili urged more small and medium enterprises and ICT ventures to participate in the awards as it had proven to be the perfect platform to fast-track the development of companies.