MTDC has been collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) as the training institute to organise programmes under the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) since 2012. The MTCP, launched on 7 September 1980, was Malaysia’s commitment to the South-South Cooperation, and is a platform for Malaysia to share its development experiences with other developing countries.
The 17th Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) programme conducted by MTDC was held from 19 to 21 October 2022 involving more than 50 delegates from Uzbekistan.The participants consisted of officals from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of The Republic of Uzbekistan, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan, The Space Research and Technology Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of The Republic of Uzbekistan, Department of Investments and Foreign Trade of Navoi Region and the industry.
With its title, Next New Normal – Accelerating the Adoption of Industry 4.0 Technology in Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Workshop for Uzbekistan, the workshop comes at an opportune time especially with the economic fallout from COVID-19.
Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) are in the survival mode of changing and re-building their businesses to adopt and adapt the threat of this pandemic and its after effect. The need to alter their business operations is deemed necessary for their survival mode and this is also an opportunity to expand their businesses on a global footing by engaging with digital tools to provide more business opportunities.
The opening ceremony was launched by His Excellency, Mr. Hendy Assan, Ambassador of Malaysian Embassy in Tashkent City. The event was also attended by the Honorable, Mr. Kasimkhodjaev Ulugbek, Director General of the Investment Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan
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During the opening ceremony conducted physically, Dato’ Norhalim Yunus in his welcoming speech said, “It is an honour for MTDC to be given the opportunity to collaborate with MOFA through the MTCP and to instill deeper understanding on the adoption of digitalisation and the opportunities that can be gathered through industry 4.0 technologies beyond the Malaysian shores. Our fervent hope is for the MTCP participants to utilise the knowledge and experience gained to further contribute to their country with the assistance of the experts from MTDC.”
The workshop was used as a platform to enable exchange of knowledge and experience sharing to the participants from Uzbekistan especially in the precedented environment amidst the COVID19 pandemic and its after effects. The adoption of these technologies is essential as it acts as a means for the MSMEs to be uplifted from the pandemic.
The programme participants were trained by professionals and experts from MTDC together with experienced speakers from the research and development fraternity, government policymakers as well as the industry players. The training conducted was deemed necessary for their survival mode in order to alter their business operations by expanding their businesses on a global footing.
The participants were presented on national policies and strategies and they were given the opportunity to utilise MTDC’s 30-year experience in commercialisation of local research outputs through start-ups and the development of SMEs.
Through out the workshop, MTDC had addressed the various challenges that were faced by the MSMEs such as lack of talented human resource especially those having i4.0 knowledge, adapting COVID-19 Standard practises to their business operations and competing in a highly competitive world for increased productivity and efficiency. These needs were addressed by introducing them to i4.0 solutions, marketing and business validation tools, both locally and abroad.
At the end of the workshop, the participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with MTDC’s ecosystem companies. MTDC’s goal is to develop MSMEs that are able to receive technology that is right for them. One of the avenues identified will be through the collaboration with the communities in MTDC Centre of 9 Pillars®.
The Co9P® is a community-based centre focused on helping nurture new Industry 4.0 (I4.0) innovations, primarily in accelerating technology scaleup for SMEs. In MTDC’s Co9P®, there are programs and solutions provided by its local solution partners that can create potential collaborations with the participating MTCP countries. The programs offered will be on the enhancements of autonomous systems, utilisation of data analytics, cybersecurity, usage of additive manufacturing in the medical industry to name a few.
It is envisaged that the training from this programme will result in future collaborations between governments, research institutions and industry internationally.Since MTDC’s appointment as the Training Institute under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia, the organization had conducted 16 programmes which benefited more than 500 participants from 29 countries.