| Danial Norjidi |
AS PART of its efforts to further diversify Brunei’s economy, the Energy and Industry Department at the Prime Minister’s Office (EIDPMO) together with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea organised the Brunei-Korea ICT Conference to Promote New Industry yesterday.
Held at the Prime Minister’s Office Building, the conference was attended by representatives from the government departments, industry, academia and public as well as representatives from Korean companies and agencies including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Sungkyunkwan University, Korean Register, Korean Telecom and KTB Solution.
The conference was held to create awareness on new emerging technologies and business models, and to benefit from the lessons learnt from Korea’s success stories, which include understanding financing approaches for public-private partnership (PPP) and inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as well as identifying new potential business areas to be implemented in Brunei Darussalam.
Present as the guest of honour at the opening session of the conference was Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB).
Also present was Cho Won-myung, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Brunei Darussalam and Adi Shamsul bin Haji Sabli, Permanent Secretary (Industry) at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The proceedings began with a speech from the Deputy Minister of Finance, who said that ICT has been the biggest catalyst in driving innovation and the development of new industries globally especially over the past decade.
Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB); Cho Won-myung, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Brunei Darussalam, in a group photo with officials from both countries. – DANIAL NORJIDI
“In more recent years, technology has given rise to the introduction of new industries and has transformed existing ones by enabling new capabilities and opportunities for the creation of innovative business models for entrepreneurs to compete with established business in a wide range of industries.”
He said that, in this digital era, the rate and magnitude of change can profoundly disrupt established ways of value creation, social interactions and doing business. Innovation, he said, has become a key factor in future business growth and success.
“However, at the end of the day, the digital revolution is about consumer behaviour and business opportunity,” he said. “The future will be defined by how well companies, organisations and governments leverage on technology to enable new engagements via digitalised processes.”
“Brunei Darussalam has entered into the next wave of development in its ongoing journey for economic development,” he said. “In realising the national vision ‘Wawasan Brunei 2035’ to build a dynamic and sustainable economy, we aspire to expand and diversify our economic growth beyond the oil and gas industry through the development of a number of industry clusters including the innovative technology and creative industry.
“The innovative technology and creative (industry) is a very diverse cluster with ICT in itself a significant sub-sector,” he continued.
“In addition to that, we recognise ICT as an integral element to support all other clusters.”
“Hence, a holistic strategy is needed to realise the transformative effect that ICT can play as a future engine of growth for Brunei’s economy,” he said. “We therefore hope that this conference will provide the platform to enrich inputs to the development of Brunei’s ICT industry strategy by identifying key areas of innovation, expansion and market differentiation for the country.”
“In our continuous efforts to diversify the economy, several initiatives have been put in place to ensure a conducive business environment for the start-ups,” he shared. “We have deployed strategic use of technology to enhance business processes as well as providing convenience to the business community.”
He noted that Brunei Darussalam was ranked in 84th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2016, improving from 105th the previous year. “This was the result of a concerted effort by the government to improve Brunei’s business environment through systematic reforms in the processes, regulations and laws.”
He also touched on DARe (Darussalam Enterprise), which he said was established early this year to nurture and support local enterprises. DARe has initiated various programmes to boost local SMEs and further progress the ICT landscape in this country, he continued. Among the programmes include the setting up of an Industry Business Academy to upgrade local enterprises, not only on the knowhow of growing their businesses, but also on the usage of technology.
“Foreign direct investment remains a key component in the diversification of Brunei’s economy and is an important channel for obtaining access not only for investment and job opportunities, but also for the development of technology and skills,” he said. “In this regard, we welcome investors to bring their technology and knowledge to develop the ICT industry in Brunei.”
The event also saw Professor Lee Soo-young from KAIST deliver a keynote speech, as well as a presentation with the topic ‘Exploiting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and establishment of Artificial Intelligence Institute’.
There were also presentations on the FDI framework in Brunei Darussalam, including one titled ‘Financial Technology (FinTech): New Trends of e-Payment and Micro Payment and Money Remittance Services’.
The morning session also featured a panel discussion titled ‘Flagship project to lay the foundation to promote ICT business for Brunei Economic Diversification’, featuring a panel session of both speakers from both Brunei and Korea.
On the panel from Korea were Jeon Jeong-chong, General Manager of Korean Register; Kim Taebong, CEO of KTB; and Professor Lee Soo-young from KAIST. On the panel from Brunei were Muhammad Norshafiee bin Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Jalil, Deputy Permanent Secretary (IT, E-Government and Industry) at the Prime Minister’s Office and Hajah Julianah binti Haji Ali Ahmad, Head of Innovative Technology and Creative Industries Division (ITCID). Soon Loo, the CEO of DARe, moderated the session.
The conference continued in the afternoon with presentations titled ‘Case Study on Software Development in Compliance with International Standards’ and ‘Tapping into the Global ICT Market through collaboration between KAIST Incubator Centre and iCentre, Brunei’, and was concluded after a second panel discussion.
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