MDEC awards Digital Hub Status to Selangor Digital Creative Centre

• Malaysia Digital Hub is an initiative that supports tech, digital co-working spaces
• Sitec has met all six of MDEC’s criteria to be a Malaysia Digital Hub

SELANGOR Digital Creative Centre was awarded the Digital Hub status by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) yesterday.

The Selangor Information Technology & E-Commerce Council (Sitec) was established by the Selangor State Government in 2015, to uplift the startup ecosystem and develop Selangor as the regional trading centre for e-commerce. It also manages Selangor Digital Creative Centre (SDCC), an 11,000 sq.ft. incubator and co-working space.

The Malaysia Digital Hub is an initiative by MDEC that supports tech and digital co-working spaces, their startups, and communities to connect to Asean and global digital ecosystem. Only six other co-working spaces have been awarded this status in Malaysia.

Sitec, through its activities and offerings, has met all six of MDEC’s criteria to be a Malaysia Digital Hub, such as having pervasive high-speed broadband and fiber connectivity; being a conducive environment for startups; having available a key anchor of the internet economy; organising talent development programmes; providing funding opportunities and facilitation; and a ‘cool’ environment conducive to the startup culture with adequate lifestyle amenities.

Besides Sitec, two other Sitec partners also recently achieved accomplishments. The Malaysia Digital Maker Hub status was awarded to Sitec Maker partner Arus Academy, which runs the Maker Space in the SDCC. The makerspace is a multipurpose resource room for digital making, and enables educators, students and industry experts to reach out, share resources and build collaborations.

Additionally, the Alibaba Business School Training Partner status was awarded to Sitec education partner Mystartr. The first class commenced in October 2018, and will carry on into 2019, covering three specialised courses in e-commerce, entrepreneurship and digital marketing.

“Being recognised as a Malaysia Digital Hub means that Sitec will be able to accelerate startups in Selangor to grow and scale through facilities such as funding, mentorship as well as industry visits,” said Sitec chief executive Yong Kai Ping.

Sitec has nurtured 425 brick and mortar SMEs with sales volumes of RM10 million yearly, while 50 startups have been accelerated over the past three years through the Selangor accelerator programme, the StartupQuest Selangor programme, as well as the Smart City Hackathon.

In September this year, Sitec took the top 10 startups of the Selangor accelerator programme to China, to pitch in front of China venture capitalists and startups.

Sitec has also organised three Smart City and digital economy conferences and three cross-border e-commerce conferences, touching base with industry players as well as government agencies.