ASM President’s Regional Visit to Penang

The regional visit by the ASM President continues to the sixth state, Pulau Pinang. Academician Datuk Dr Tengku Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen FASc, together with ASM CEO Puan Hazami Habib and ASM CSO Puan Nitia Samuel, on 6 May 2024, had a courtesy visit to the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Professor Dato’ Seri Ir Dr Abdul Rahman Mohamed FASc.

This visit focuses on the electric and electronics (E&E) industry, signalling ASM’s interest in collaborating with USM to bolster research and development (R&D) in Malaysia’s E&E sector. Such collaboration is vital for elevating Malaysia’s position in the value chain, fostering the creation of new technology, and nurturing specialised talent.

The session proceeded with a visit to the Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science, and Technology (CREST) office. CREST, established to address Malaysia’s E&E needs, fosters the Research, Development, and Commercialization (R&D&C) ecosystem through market-driven collaborative efforts and talent development.

With its versatile approach, CREST serves as a catalyst, funder, convener, incubator, or nudger, as needed. Additionally, the delegation had the opportunity to visit selected companies based at CREST’s HQ, which specialises in the E&E industry.

Day two of the ASM President’s regional visit to Pulau Pinang continues with a session about Digital Penang and its effort to create a connected, creative and competitive society.

Digital Penang began operations in April 2020 to accelerate efforts to capture opportunities in the digital economy and promote a digitally engaged society. The discussion sparked interest between ASM and Digital Penang in collaborating, especially in digitalisation.

The visit to the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) has increased the statutory body’s understanding of how to set direction and strategies to advance socioeconomic development in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER). NCER has created more than 30,000 job opportunities for the region’s communities. Meanwhile, with the Malaysia Science Endowment (MSE) taking place, it plans to bring quadruple helix stakeholders together, including NCIA, to focus on solution-driven R&D and prioritising based on the nation’s needs.

The Penang Automation Cluster (PAC) focuses on designing, developing and manufacturing high-precision metal fabrication components, modules, and systems for various industries.

The cluster has the mission to further enhance the local supply chain ecosystem, moving forward to be the world-class standard fabrication cluster. The ASM President and the delegation were given a tour of PAC to see various precision machines that aim to uplift the local metal fabrication/CNC machining SME capabilities to a world-class standard.

The day ended with a dinner with ASM Northern Chapter Members and Strategic Partners. The ASM President reiterated how the expert network and the industry should implement the human-centric solution for the betterment of the public and the nation. ASM thanked all the stakeholders who came together for the dinner.