Kuala Lumpur, August 25, 2022 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group today launched a new talent initiative and showcased various cloud-based, innovative solutions at Alibaba Cloud Day KL summit to deepen its commitment for supporting Malaysia’s digitalization.
In the presence of YB Dato' Sri Dr. Adham Baba, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), the cloud service leader launched Digital Heroes Program, a nation-wide digital talent strengthening initiative which aims to not just inspire young talent but also aspires to bridge the gap between academia and industry, in addition to furnishing Malaysia with a strong digital labour force.
As a move to expand Alibaba Cloud’s digital footprint to more states across the nation, Digital Heroes Program is an evolution of the Alibaba Cloud Academic Empowerment Program (AAEP), an initiative that strengthens budding digital talents via participating accredited educational institutions. Built upon the current internship and AAEP initiative program, Digital Heroes Program encompasses three new key areas including MY Digital Talent in U Competition, Nationwide University Tour and Student Ambassador.
- MY Digital Talent in U Competition, a contest open to students and academic staff to discover the world of cloud computing with training programs and courses provided;
- Nationwide University Tour, a university tour across the whole region that educates and introduces in-depth cloud computing to local talents alongside business developers, solution architects from Alibaba Cloud and selected key industry players; and last but not least,
- Student Ambassador, an opportunity for local students to participate in Alibaba Cloud’s events which further helps them develop leadership, professionalism and communication skills.
“The epicentre of Digital Heroes Program, is not just to provide local students with innovative digital experiences, but also for us to create a sustainable pool of digital talents which would contribute to the local business ecosystem.” said Kun Huang, General Manager of Malaysia, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “As a global cloud leader, we are proud to be part of the collective effort and would like to leverage our best-in-class technologies and proven experience to support local talent development whilst further empowering Malaysia’s digital transformation journey.”
YB Dato' Sri Dr. Adham Baba, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), who launched the program with Alibaba Cloud today, said: “As part of Malaysia’s plan to transform the country into a regional leader in digital economy, we welcome technology providers to invest in Malaysia and leverage on the skill sets and capabilities of local talents. Alibaba Cloud is a good example, where the company has successfully set up 2 local data centres, and a strong local team to support local companies and provide them with leading cloud technologies and professional services”.
Insights from Industry Captains to Drive Tech Innovation
The Summit has also shed further light on cutting-edge technology and sustainability, from the latest insights in sustainability to the future of businesses, by leaders from different sectors such as telecommunications, finance, retail, smart logistics as well as Alibaba Cloud executives. For instance, some sessions featured speakers from Genting Malaysia Berhad, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad, Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd and China Mobile International who imparted invaluable thoughts and insights to participants.
“Thanks to the collaboration with Alibaba Cloud, Genting SkyWorlds is a pioneer to feature the AI powered advanced VQ technology in Southeast Asia. With Alibaba Cloud's local data centres and its wide-range services provided, we are able to work together to level up Malaysian consumers' experience and grow our business in the market." Calvin Chee, Vice President, IT - Enterprise Application Development & Integration, Genting Malaysia Berhad.
“Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive set of products that meet our various needs. Thanks to Alibaba Cloud, i-Penta, our own IIoT Platform by W Tech is currently running on its IoT Platform and Kubernetes Container Services which have enabled us to provide microservices architecture that helps in minimizing the risk of our user’s system downtime. Combining with Alibaba Cloud’s services, it is the perfect solution for us to provide high security, reliable and efficient platform to our i-Penta platform users,” said Matthew Chin, CTO, W Tech Marketing Sdn Bhd.
“In addition, i-Penta is also heavily reliant on Alibaba Cloud’s services such as ECS, RDS, and PAI to provide the finest services to our clients. Together with Alibaba Cloud, i-Penta will continue in developing new features to fulfil and more effectively reach its user’s needs,” he added.
Hew Chee Chung, Country Head of China Mobile International Malaysia (CMI), said “I’m confident enough that digital transformation will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. The adoption rate of cloud, SD-WAN, IoT, 5G etc. continue to show results and grow well ahead in times of global economic uncertainties, pandemic, and trade war. In line with Malaysia Digital and supported by Alibaba Cloud, CMI continues to expand its solution offerings in the market by bringing in expertise from China and developing local talents for such technology exposure.”
As an infrastructure provider for a green economy, Alibaba Cloud has also shared their efforts and innovative solutions in achieving sustainability and green cloud computing ecosystems during the Summit. At the end of June this year, Alibaba Cloud launched Energy Expert, which is a sustainability platform to help customers worldwide measure, analyse and manage the carbon emissions of their business activities and products
As one of the world’s leading cloud service providers, Alibaba Cloud boasts a network of 85 availability zones in 28 regions across the globe, offering a highly secure, scalable, robust cloud infrastructure to support global customers embracing digital innovation. It is also the only global cloud provider with local data centres in Malaysia, and also launched its first cloud-based Anti-DDos Scrubbing Centre in Malaysia in 2018 serving the region.
