ICT Businesses Need To Undergo Paradigm Shift

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 (Bernama) -- Information and communication technology (ICT) businesses need to undergo a paradigm shift to meet the challenging global competitive environment, says Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.

"The world is changing rapidly and we must offer the right enabling environment and ICT facilities in order to address the needs of the ICT industry," Ongkili said in his keynote address at MSC Malaysia Cybercentre Status award ceremony here Thursday.

At the event, Ongkili presented the MSC Malaysia Cybercentre Status to GTower, the first fully-certified green building in Malaysia.

He said greater use of ICT would not only support the growth of the sector but also boost productivity and raise the nation's overall competitiveness.

"The ICT sector accounted for 9.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009 and its contribution to GDP was expected to increase to 10.2 by 2015.

"Being one of the 12 National Key Economic Areas under the 10th Malaysia Plan, ICT will play a central role and a key enabler to lead the way as the engine of economic growth," he said.

Ongkili said the extension of MSC Malaysia's enabling environment and incentives was expected to boost the growth of new investments, particularly in the ICT and knowledge-based industries, and it would enable the country to generate high-value jobs and transform into a high-income economy.

"This is because the MSC Malaysia cybercities and cybercentres serve as the MSC Malaysia ecosystem to catalyse and support growth of ICT and ICT-enabled industries and as nuclei to bridge digital divide and extend ICT benefits to the community," he said.

He said the cybercities and cybercentres were positioned to be nodes for development of ICT and ICT-enabled clusters in the states nationwide.

"They are also designated to house MSC Malaysia-status companies, offering full MSC Malaysia 10-Point Bill of Guarantees in cybercities or partial MSC Malaysia Bill of Guarantees in cybercentres," he said.