IAP TO SET TONE FOR MSC MALAYSIA IN SYNC WITH NEW ECONOMIC MODEL

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- The 12th Multimedia Super Corridor
(MSC)-Malaysia International Advisory Council (IAP) meeting which will begin
next Monday is expected to see new elements in the third phase MSC roadmap in
sync with the country's new economic model.

Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Fadillah Yusof said the
input and experiences from all IAP members would be taken into account and were
crucial to set the agenda for the MSC third phase.

"We anticipate fresh, new thinking from our IAP additions in line with the
highly globalised, flatter world of the future," Fadillah said at a media
briefing here Monday.

"What we are most interested in is counsel, insight and ideas that will
accelerate the transformation of our nation into a knowledge-based economy
through innovation and creativity," he said.

The IAP has 14 members, including Forbes' chairman and chief executive
officer Steve Forbes, Grameen Bank's founder Dr Muhammad Yunus, Huawei
Technologies' chairwoman Sun Yafang and Cisco Systems' executive vice president,
services, and chief globalisation officer Wim Elfrink.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will be chairing the 21st MSC Malaysia
Implementation Council Meeting, in which members will participate in
brainstorming and question-and-answer sessions led by Multimedia Development
Corporation (MDeC).

The council members include cabinet ministers, policy makers and head of
agencies.

At the meeting, IAP members are expected to speak on a range of topics which
include developments and initiatives in science education, technology
entrepreneurship, robotics, content development and broadband utilisation,
Fadillah said.

"He (Najib) may want to set new directions or instil new ideas in the
roadmap. We will see which areas that we can focus on," he said.

MDeC chief executive officer Badlisham Ghazali said while approaching the
end of MSC Malaysia phase two in 2011, it was crucial to see during this meeting
whether the roadmap charted in 1997/1998 was still valid.

"Phase three is about demand and taking account the economies of scale. We
need other drivers from other sectors to roll out the next phase of MSC," he
said.

To meet the government's agenda in driving innovation for growth, several
sectors related to information technology (IT) have been identified and will be
presented at the meeting, Badlisham said.

"We will be looking on what kind of strength that MSC has and will use IT
as an enabler for productivity," he said.

During the IAP meeting, a global innovation development centre will be
launched next Tuesday, involving a global company that has links with Silicon
Valley in the United States as well as the soft launch of MDeC's animation
centre by Najib.

Badlisham said the animation centre or known as MSC Malaysia Creative
Content Centre is a structure being built in Cyberjaya to house and offer
animation facilities to local animation companies.

Details on the facilities as well as services will be announced during the
soft launch, he said.

The first batch of the co-production deals under the RM75 million (US$21.9
million) fund provided by MDeC was specifically for the animation and computer
game development industry, Badlisham said.

As of August this year, there were 20 animation and 10 game development
companies under that category, he said.
-- BERNAMA