MaGIC Inks strategic partnership with 14 GLCs, private sector players

By Digital News Asia August 9, 2017

Welcomes Standard Chartered, Petronas, MRT Corp, UEM Group and others as new partners
MaGIC will also collaborate by participating in corporate innovation initiatives as a strategic partner

MaGIC Inks strategic partnership with 14 GLCs, private sector players

MALAYSIAN Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) on Aug 8 announced a strategic partnership with 14 government-linked companies (GLCs) and private sector players on the sidelines of the GLC ExplorAce Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

The partnership will combine MaGIC’s extensive network of creativity and innovation programmes with the private sector players’ industry expertise to support entrepreneurship development in Malaysia and drive national innovation.

The 14 GLCs and private sector players who have inked a strategic partnership with MaGIC include Standard Chartered Bank, Petronas, Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, Mimos Bhd, MRT Corp, UEM Group, Maybank, Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (CREST) and many more.

Together, they will be joining their peers as members of the MaGIC CER Circle under the MaGIC Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility (CER) platform, a national initiative to facilitate greater corporate and private sector involvement as the next major thrust of developing Malaysia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

MaGIC chief executive officer Ashran Ghazi said: “As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, companies must innovate to future-proof their business and confront disruption happening in their sector. Corporates can rapidly innovate, disrupt existing business models, bring more agility to operations and drive bottom line growth by engaging with entrepreneurs who are on the cutting edge of new skills.

“This is why we are pushing the private sector to be actively involved in our thriving local entrepreneurship community and unlock a wealth of economic possibilities by collaborating with startups that were previously difficult to access.

“We are excited to welcome our 14 new partners into the MaGIC CER family. This is an exciting development – for us and for Malaysia – as the CER movement has gained traction quickly in just two months. We now have more than 30 partners, double the number of partners we had during the launch.

“Thank you for taking the step to be involved in Malaysia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by nurturing entrepreneurs with guidance, mentorship and financing. We encourage other corporate and private sector players to join us in the MaGIC CER platform.”

Ashran also outlined the other benefits for corporates, GLCs, and private sector players in being a member of MaGIC CER Circle: “By participating in the MaGIC CER platform, corporates, GLCs, and private sector players will be able to engage with our nation’s entrepreneurs directly as well as advance their innovation agenda. Together, we can be a catalyst of the next wave of entrepreneurship and innovation, which will allow both corporates and entrepreneurs to quantum leap their growth and truly become global industry leaders.”

As members of MaGIC CER Circle, corporates, GLCs and private sector players would be able to run innovation challenges for local, regional and global startups through MaGIC Activate’s Startup Corporate Open Innovation Challenge Platform.

The innovation challenges will connect corporates with entrepreneurs to uncover revolutionary solutions. It is an initiative run in partnership with the Techstars Startup Program which provides the platform access to more than 3, 000 startups. Eight innovation challenges have been posted on MaGIC Activate so far.

Through this landmark collaboration, the new partners will also offer industry advisory and mentorship support in MaGIC’s various programs; run corporate innovation programs together with MaGIC; and take part in MaGIC’s Creativity and Innovation Labs as well as the Global Entrepreneurship Community 2017 as strategic partners.

MaGIC will also collaborate with the 14 GLCs and private sector players by participating in corporate innovation initiatives as a strategic partner; helping to design entrepreneurship and innovation programs; and engaging the new partners in MaGIC’s signature corporate entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives.

The MaGIC CER Circle and MaGIC Activate, under the MaGIC Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility (CER) platform was launched on June 9, 2017 as a national initiative to facilitate greater corporate, GLCs, and private sector

involvement in entrepreneurship development across Malaysia. CER is designed to be a catalyst of the next wave of entrepreneurship and innovation, which will allow Malaysian corporates and entrepreneurs to quantum leap their growth, and truly become global industry leaders.

The 14 partners are an addition to the first 20 partners announced during the CER launch at MaGIC on June 9, 2017 which includes AIA, CIMB, IBM Malaysia, IJM, Media Prima, Allianz, UNICEF, Microsoft, Setia Haruman, Sunway Ventures, TM and United Nations among others.