Regional Conference on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Regional Conference on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) was held from 23 to 24 October 2018 at Hotel Bangi-Putrajaya, Selangor.

ASM Senior Fellow Academician Professor Emerita Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman FASc moderated a Panel Discussion that discussed the Role of Emerging Technologies in Achieving SDGs and Policy Recommendations.

The panel discussion in which Datuk Dr Mazlan was a moderator featured international experts from the government, industry as well as the academic sector: Associate Professor Dr Ramzah Dambul, Deputy Secretary General at the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC); Mr Khor Yew Shin, Senior Strategist in Telecommunications and Digital Technology, Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd; Professor Xue-Feng Yuan, Director of the Institute for Systems Rheology, Guangzhou University, China & Founding Director of the National Supercomputer Centre, China; Mr Manpreet Singh, Director of Infinite Sum Modeling, India; and Mr Nobuyuki Asai, Deputy Director of NICT Asia Center, Thailand.

The Panel Discussion addressed several issues related to the given topic from the perspectives of the government, industry and academic sectors.

It identified main issues related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia Pacific region; and how Malaysian ICT R&D institutes and universities can more actively address regional issues related to SDGs.

The panel also highlighted policy measures and programmes that have been undertaken by MESTECC, as well as cooperative efforts carried out by MESTECC with relevant stakeholders.

In addition, the panel also posed questions such as how big corporations play their parts in addressing sustainable development goals on a regional level.

Looking towards the future, the Panel Discussion also discussed on the prospect of Asia Pacific countries in embracing smart/intelligent manufacturing to address sustainable consumption and production; it also elaborated on research priority areas in emerging technologies that could benefit the region.

The Panel Discussion also identified the challenges of seamless data sharing, which can be leveraged to benefit member countries conducting predictive analysis to address SDGs; it also elaborated on how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could be more prominent in providing technological solutions and transfer of technology.

In closing, Datuk Dr Mazlan asked each panellist for policy recommendations that can be carried out to promote emerging technologies in achieving SDGs.

About the programme
The Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) in partnership with the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment & Climate Change (MESTECC), Malaysia and MIMOS Berhad organised the MESTECC-APCTT Fourth Industrial Revolution Conference 2018.

Themed “New and Emerging Technologies in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals”, this Conference was envisaged to facilitate awareness and foster collaboration among stakeholders, including those from the public and private sectors, academia, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and international participants involved in the 4IR ecosystem.

The Conference deliberated on key aspects of 4IR technologies such as IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Big Data and how these technological innovations could help countries in achieving SDGs.

The Conference’s objectives are:

• To create awareness on new and emerging technologies that can accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR); 

• To facilitate knowledge sharing on various new and emerging technologies and applications;
• To demonstrate 4IR related technologies that have strong social impact and could help in achieving sustainable development goals;
• To facilitate regional cooperation and sharing of best practices among Asian and Pacific countries on the innovative use of new and emerging technologies for social purposes and in achieving SDGs; and
• To enable access to information on new and innovative ICT applications and explore possibilities for their cross-border transfer.

In addition to the presentations and panel discussions, a site visit for international participants was organised to showcase the status of technological development related to 4IR technologies in Malaysia.