European Union-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI) kicked off the second edition of Internet of Things (IoT) Trade Mission to Malaysia from April 23 until tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur. 

The annual trade summit sees participation of delegates from five international countries which are United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, and also a representative company from Malaysia.

With this initiative EUMCCI takes the opportunity to highlight Malaysia’s great progress on the IoT industry through the National IoT Strategic Roadmap in 2015 which aims to contribute RM42.5 (US$13.4) billion to gross national income (GNI) by 2025. 

The first stop of the trade mission will see delegates participating in the twenty-first edition of Asia IoT business platform endorsed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) which saw the coming together of Senior Information and Operations Technology professionals from local enterprises and government agencies for two consecutive days at Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. 

The conference was officiated by Strategic Technology and S&T Application deputy secretary, Nordina Idris on behalf of MOSTI deputy minister Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah.

Speaking in representation of Abu Bakar, Madam Nordina mentioned that IoT carries great potential to improve the knowledge-based economy sector which has since gained widespread recognition among major players in the industry.

“86 per cent of our enterprises are currently exploring or implementing IoT solutions. This clearly indicate that the industry is convinced of IoT as a game changing agent, which further strengthen their competitive edge.

“As of last year, more than 150 Malaysian IoT-based industry players, have actively ventured into IoT business. MOSTI believes that they will take Malaysia IoT journey one step further by developing new innovative solutions and service to capitalise bigger and beyond Malaysia market, and realise our vision to position Malaysia as the Regional IoT Development Hub.

“With the positive business outlook in Malaysia, MOSTI has taken initiatives by funding grants such as the SMART fund, Innofund and Facilitation fund to assist SMEs with research and development as the same time enhance employee and increase SME competitiveness,” she added. 

According to ASEAN SME Transformation Study done by United Overseas Bank and EY and Dun & Bradstreet, the ASEAN country that see the highest need to invest in tech is Malaysia with 65 per cent of the SMEs surveyed stating that they placed priority on technological investments.

EUMCCI chief executive officer, Robert Benetello said government has been a strong advocate for the movement of Industry 4.0 across different industries in Malaysia. 

“However, one challenge that is inherent in both service providers and end-users is the resistance in IoT technology adoption.

“This could be due to the inconsistency in the technologies and systems used by different firms, resulting in an ecosystem that is not very cost-friendly to both users and providers. 

“Users may need to own multiple IoT devices from different platforms, and providers may need to develop a different system for each market segment that they want to venture into,” he said. 

All these point, he added, to one of the major concerns, readiness. In addition, national standards and guidelines have critical roles to play in removing resistance of IoT adoption. 

In line with the Trade Mission, Benetello also moderated a panel discussion, entitled “Overcoming Resistance of Adopting IoT Nationwide” featuring expert panelists such as Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) head of standards development, Abdul Karim Abdul Razak;  IoT WG Malaysian Technical Standards Forum Bhd chairman, DR Gopinath Rao Sinniah; Group Enterprise Singtel head of business development and partnerships of things, Chong Choon Jeng; Standardisation Division Standards Malaysia, senior director, Ridzwan Kasim. 

Commenting on the collaboration with Industry Platform for 21st Edition of Asia IoT Business Platform, Benetello added,” EUMCCI has been an ardent supporter of the summit since last year through the European Union Pavilion as EUMCCI recognises the summit as an ideal venue for European companies to showcase their expertise and products as well as to network with top government officials, ambassadors and major industry players from across ASEAN.” 

The IoT Trade Mission to Malaysia will be concluded with a site visit to Cyberjaya todayl to introduce Cyberview, as well as visit to MaGIC, and site visit to Siemens Malaysia on the April 26 to learn from Siemens’s successful establishment in the Malaysian market. 

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