Extra RM3.24bil in deals from WCIT
- By Hanis Sayuti
- Published 30 May 2008
- WCIT 2008
- Unrated
Source: The Star Online
KUALA LUMPUR: An additional RM3.24bil worth of business opportunities and investments have been identified following the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 conference held here last month.
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said that this figure is separate from the RM8.3bil worth of deals announced recently.
Badlisham explained that the additional sum consists of RM1.24bil worth of business opportunies and RM2bil worth of investments involving foreign investors.
Although the deals and investments have not been made official yet, Badlisham expects follow-ups to happen within the next year. “The RM1.24bil is basically the value of export potential from local ICT companies while the RM2bil consists of inbound investments,” he said.
He said that one potential export opportunity is a local design software, to be used for a township development in the Middle East. He did not specify further. Badlisham also revealed that a telecommunications company from the Middle East was showing keen interest in a local software player, while there is high interest in using MyKad technology for Government to Government (G2G) dealings.
He said that the RM2bil worth of inbound investments are in the fields of shared services, datacentre expertise and multimedia content.
“With WCIT, we have shown that we have come of age and that we have already been taking on the world. Malaysian ICT companies should no longer question their capabilities. We are already there,” he said.
Targets exceeded
WCIT 2008 chairman Dan Khoo, said that MDeC’s target for WCIT 2008 was exceeded. He said that the last WCIT in Austin, Texas had 1,900 delegates while while Malaysia had 3,313 delegates, making it the largest WCIT ever.
Khoo added that WCIT 2006 had delegates from 83 countries while WCIT 2008 attracted delegates from 92 countries.
“We also sold four times more exhibition space and got almost twice as much of sponsorship deals (RM11mil) compared to WCIT 2006.”
Khoo is also the first Asian to be elected the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (Witsa) chairman.
Witsa, considered to be the global voice of the ICT industry, is a consortium of over 60 information technology (IT) industry associations from economies around the world.
Witsa members represent over 90% of the world IT market and Khoo will be its chairman for the next two years.
KUALA LUMPUR: An additional RM3.24bil worth of business opportunities and investments have been identified following the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 conference held here last month.
Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said that this figure is separate from the RM8.3bil worth of deals announced recently.
Badlisham explained that the additional sum consists of RM1.24bil worth of business opportunies and RM2bil worth of investments involving foreign investors.
Although the deals and investments have not been made official yet, Badlisham expects follow-ups to happen within the next year. “The RM1.24bil is basically the value of export potential from local ICT companies while the RM2bil consists of inbound investments,” he said.
He said that one potential export opportunity is a local design software, to be used for a township development in the Middle East. He did not specify further. Badlisham also revealed that a telecommunications company from the Middle East was showing keen interest in a local software player, while there is high interest in using MyKad technology for Government to Government (G2G) dealings.
He said that the RM2bil worth of inbound investments are in the fields of shared services, datacentre expertise and multimedia content.
“With WCIT, we have shown that we have come of age and that we have already been taking on the world. Malaysian ICT companies should no longer question their capabilities. We are already there,” he said.
Targets exceeded
WCIT 2008 chairman Dan Khoo, said that MDeC’s target for WCIT 2008 was exceeded. He said that the last WCIT in Austin, Texas had 1,900 delegates while while Malaysia had 3,313 delegates, making it the largest WCIT ever.
Khoo added that WCIT 2006 had delegates from 83 countries while WCIT 2008 attracted delegates from 92 countries.
“We also sold four times more exhibition space and got almost twice as much of sponsorship deals (RM11mil) compared to WCIT 2006.”
Khoo is also the first Asian to be elected the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (Witsa) chairman.
Witsa, considered to be the global voice of the ICT industry, is a consortium of over 60 information technology (IT) industry associations from economies around the world.
Witsa members represent over 90% of the world IT market and Khoo will be its chairman for the next two years.
