IBM collaborates with MaGIC to nurture and enable startups in Malaysia

By Digital News Asia July 26, 2017

IBM experts will provide business mentorship and training on the IBM Cloud
MaGIC will leverage IBM Cloud technologies such as cognitive computing, blockchain, and IOT

IBM collaborates with MaGIC to nurture and enable startups in Malaysia

IBM announced on July 25 a collaboration with the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre Bhd (MaGIC) to nurture and enable the startup community in Malaysia with cloud and cognitive technologies.

Through this new initiative, IBM experts will provide business mentorship and training on the IBM Cloud to help Malaysian start-ups develop competitive, next-generation applications and services that will transform their industries.

As part of the collaboration, MaGIC will leverage IBM Cloud technologies such as cognitive computing, blockchain, and IOT in its various programmes and activities geared for the start-up community and developer eco-system in Malaysia.

In addition, MAGIC will highlight IBM Watson at MaGIC’s Corporate Innovation Day and other key entrepreneurship initiatives hosted in Malaysia and Asean.

Established under the auspices of the Malaysia Ministry of Finance, the aim of MaGIC is to catalyse the entrepreneurial eco-system in Malaysia by bringing together the abundant resources from partners and communities to develop enduring, high growth start-ups that will make a positive impact at a regional or global scale.

Since it was launched in 2014 MaGIC has successfully accelerated 144 business specific start-ups and 70 social enterprises in three cohorts.

“The collaboration with MaGIC reflects the growing interest among local developers and start-ups in the use of IBM Cloud with Watson as a competitive edge to enhance their current offerings and applications. The power of IBM’s augmented intelligence is proven to be a game changer for innovation,” said IBM Malaysia managing director Chong Chye Neo (pic, above).

“The collaboration also follows IBM’s recent induction into MaGIC’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Circle (CER) along with 20 local and foreign multinationals. “A seat at the table among pacesetters and peers gives rise to more than vibrant discourse. We now have the opportunity to reimagine and bring practical ideas to life through the adoption and use of cognitive technologies on the IBM Cloud,” said Chong.

The MaGIC CER is a membership platform that connects corporates with start-up communities to help them capitalise on disruptive technologies and build a continuous innovation pipeline through partnerships.

IBM subject matter experts will work with MaGIC to coach and guide start-ups to invent and co-create personalised, innovative solutions using IBM’s leadership in cognitive, research and design to take digital experiences to the next level.

“We have clients from transportation, government, local conglomerates and financial services sector who are already piloting or testing Watson APIs,” said Chong.

According to a recent report from Startup Genome, the developer eco-system in Malaysia is on the rise with more than 600 local technology start-ups identified, many of which are founded by women.

The report adds that start-ups located in Malaysia benefit from government funded accelerator programmes, a good level of English language and a presence of multiple nationalities, which makes it a “great hub” for product testing.

IBM collaborates with MaGIC to nurture and enable startups in Malaysia

MaGIC chief executive officer Ashran Ghazi (pic, above) welcomed the collaboration with IBM to raise the quality of applications emerging from Malaysia.

“We have a thriving eco-system of start-ups with some of the best innovations in Malaysia by aspiring entrepreneurs who need nurturing, guidance, mentoring, and financing. Yet, regionally, private sector involvement in innovation and entrepreneurship is lagging behind our international counterparts.

“Corporate innovation is no longer just a key ingredient in success, but essential to survival, we encourage corporates to leverage on CER to unlock a wealth of economic possibilities via collaboration with entrepreneurs that were previously difficult to access and develop. The Corporate Entrepreneurship Circle is crucial to facilitate greater involvement from corporates and the private sector in the next major push to develop Malaysia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and drive national innovation.”