MSC Malaysia

Situated in Malaysia, the MSC Malaysia or formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor is a Government initiative, designed to leapfrog Malaysia into the information and knowledge age. It originally included an area of approximately 15x50 km² which stretched from the Petronas Twin Towers to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and also included the towns of Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. It has expanded to include the entire Klang Valley on 7 December 2006.

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Purpose and Functions

MSC Malaysia (formerly known as the Multimedia Super Corridor) is a Malaysian initiative for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry.

Conceptualized in 1996, MSC Malaysia hosts more than 900 multinationals, foreign-owned and home-grown Malaysian companies focused on multimedia and communications products, solutions, services and; research and development.

Read more: http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/Businesses

MSC Malaysia Status

MSC Malaysia status is the recognition by the Malaysian Government through MDeC for companies that participate and undertake its ICT activities in MSC Malaysia. MSC Malaysia-status companies enjoy a set of incentives and benefits from the Malaysian Government backed by the ten Bill of Guarantees.

MSC Malaysia status is awarded to both local and foreign companies that develop or use multimedia technologies to produce or enhance their products and services and for process development. Applicant companies must meet the qualifying criteria and successful companies must observe the conditions attached to MSC Malaysia status recognition.

To qualify for MSC Malaysia status, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  1. Be a provider or heavy user of multimedia products and services.
  2. Employ a substantial number of knowledge workers.
  3. Provide technology transfer and/or contribute towards the development of MSC Malaysia or support Malaysia's k-economy initiatives.
  4. Establish a separate legal entity for MSC Malaysia qualifying multimedia business and activities.
  5. Locate in a MSC Malaysia designated cybercities.
  6. Comply with environmental guidelines.

Non-qualifying activities refer to activities that involve:

  1. Manufacturing - Activity referring to the production of goods in large quantities, usually undertaken in a factory environment.
  2. Trading - Activity of buying and selling especially off-the-shelf hardware and software.
  3. Consultancy - Activity that is primarily providing professional advice and not tied to any new multimedia application developed in-house by the applicant.

Having qualified for MSC Malaysia status, companies are expected to operate according to the following conditions to maintain this preferential status:

  1. From date of approval, any unincorporated MSC Malaysia-Status company must complete business registration of the proposed company within one month; commence operations within six months. Any changes to the approved MSC Malaysia-qualifying activities must receive prior approval from MDeC.
  2. Locate MSC Malaysia-status company's headquarters and/or principal work activities of the MSC Malaysia-qualifying activities, in a MSC Malaysia designated cybercity within six months from the date of approval. Some of the notable cybercity includes Cyberjaya and quite recently the Penang cybercity (http://www.msc-status.com). The building that companies choose locate should be located in these cybercities.
  3. Ensure that at all times at least 15% of the total number of employees (excluding support staff) of MSC Malaysia-status company are knowledge workers.Continuously comply with MSC Malaysia's environmental guidelines as stipulated in: a) Environmental Guidelines for MSC Malaysia Investor's Guide, b)Physical Planning Guidelines for MSC Malaysia September 2000, c)Urban Design Guidelines for Cyberjaya, September 2000 (for companies locating in Cyberjaya)
  4. Comply with all such statutory, regulatory and/or licensing requirements as may be applicable.

The MSC Malaysia Flagship Applications

The MSC Malaysia Flagship Applications consists five type of applications:

Electronic Government

The Electronic Government initiative was launched to "lead the country into the Information Age". It aims to improve both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it should improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The seven pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows;

  1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
  2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
  3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
  4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
  5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
  6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
  7. E-Syariah

Multipurpose Card

The National Multipurpose Card seeks to develop a single and common platform for a Multipurpose Card (MPC) that will enable the government and private application providers to implement smart card solutions without duplications of effort and investment. Initially, the MPC is implemented through the GMPC and PMPC projects. As a result, MyKad and Bankcard are the products developed for the GMPC and PMPC initiatives.

It has been a controversial application, given civil society concerns about privacy and the lack of protection of private data under Malaysian law.

The objectives of the MPC Flagship Application are:

MyKad was developed by the National Registration Department (JPN) and private ICT developers that create a common platform for smart card solutions. The card is embedded with a security enhanced 64K microprocessor chip that is multifunctional across varying systems. MyKad applications are:

  1. National ID.
  2. Driving License.
  3. Passport Information.
  4. Health Information.
  5. Touch 'n Go.
  6. MEPS Cash.
  7. ATM.
  8. Public Key Infrastructure.

The GMPC project is developed in two phases – the initial pilot roll-out for an estimated population of 2 millions in the Kuala Lumpur, Klang valley and MSC Malaysia area followed by a national roll-out. The project issued 2.59 million cards in the Klang Valley as of October 2002.

As one of the Multimedia Super Corridor Flagship Applications, the development and implementation of the chip based Bankcard began in 2000 with the Malaysian Electronic Payment System (1997) Sdn. Bhd. (MEPS) at the helm working together with domestic banking institutions. Bank Negara Malaysia served as the lead agency whose primary function is to facilitate the implementation. The Bankcard will spur the vision of promoting electronic payment in the country. Initially the Bankcard will contain three payment applications namely:

  1. ATM.
  2. e-Debit.
  3. MEPS Cash.

Under this initiative of implementing multiple payment applications onto a single smart card, the domestic banking institutions pioneered the chip based electronic purse during the Commonwealth Games (SUKOM) in September 1998. The full implementation of the PMPC project (ATM, e-Debit and MEPS Cash) commenced in early 2001. In August 2002, several domestic banking institutions began their pilot rollout by issuing the Bankcard to their staff and the public. On 28 February 2003, the Bankcard was officially launched.

Smart School

The Malaysian Smart School Flagship was premised on the strong belief that information and communication technology is a key enabler to imparting the learning desire to all. This has come under criticism by the Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who has drawn attention to the number of national schools that still lack a reliable electricity supply.

It was implemented on a Pilot basis between 1999 and 2002.

Since the early 1970s, the Malaysian Government introduced various initiatives to facilitate a wider adoption of ICT to boost capabilities in every field including education. The history of the Smart School Project is rooted in the two-pronged objectives of the flagship, which are:

The Concept Requests for Proposals (CRFP) process was used for the first time ever in the country to establish partnerships between the government of Malaysia and the private sector to help conceptualise plan and implement the Flagship Applications of the Multimedia Super Corridor. In July 1997, the Prime Minister launched the Smart School Flagship Application documents to invite proposals for solutions from the private sector within and outside the country.

Telehealth

The Telehealth initiative aims to keep people in the ‘wellness’ paradigm, through the seamless availability of health information and virtual health services thus transforming the way healthcare services are delivered and accessed. Definition of Telehealth is a multimedia network linking all players to provide products and services in health care.

The four Telehealth Flagship Application pilot projects are:

  1. Teleconsultation (TC).
  2. Mass Customised / Personalised Health Information and Education (MCPHIE).
  3. Lifetime Health Plan (LHP).
  4. Continuing Medical Education (CME).

Technopreneur Development

Since 1996, one of the MSC Malaysia's key strategic thrusts has been the development of Malaysian ICT Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Its approach has been to catalyze a highly competitive cluster of Malaysian ICT / Multimedia and other strategic high technology companies which can become world-class over time. The SMEs are seen as substantial contributors to economic growth as they create new wealth and job opportunities in the knowledge-based economy. As a result of MSC Malaysia initiatives, as of 31 July 2005, there were 3,413 Malaysian ICT SMEs compared to fewer than 300 in 1996.

In recognising the need to further enhance the MSC Malaysia’s efforts to develop Malaysian SMEs in strategic high technology industries, such as ICT, Multimedia, Biotechnology and other life science industries, the Government launched the Technopreneur Development Flagship (TDF) in November 2001. The lead agency driving the Flagship is the Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia with Multimedia Development Corporation acting as the implementing agency for the Flagship.

The core objectives of the Flagship are:

  1. To spawn and nurture a critical mass of strategic high technology industries such as ICT, Multimedia, Biotechnology and other life science start-ups.
  2. To facilitate the growth of existing ICT SMEs into world-class companies.

In order to create more Technopreneurs in Malaysia, on December 2006 MSC started a RM80million (approx USD 25 million) Technopreneur Pre-Seed Fund Programme where MSC offers up to RM150k of conditional funding to develop viable business plans into commercially focused ICT projects with prototype and detailed business plans suitable for venture funding and commercialization.

Chronology

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

8th IAP Meeting - 2 fresh elements were added to the IAP Meeting – the MSC Malaysia Technopreneur Forum and the MSC Malaysia Creative Multimedia Week. The meeting was also divided into 2 parts: The IAP Meeting and Breakout Sessions. For the first time, it was chaired by the Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Hj. Ahmad Badawi and held for the first time at Putrajaya.

2005

2006

2007

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