#ITUWorld: Future-proofing Malaysia for digital disruption

ITU Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
"... It’s about ensuring that we are able to ‘future-proof’, in a way, our nations in a world where digital innovation is becoming so disruptive." – Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation. Credit: ITU

Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, joined the studio at ITU Telecom World in Busan to talk about how to “future-proof” our nations and the importance of striking the right regulatory balance to allow innovation to soar.

“To develop, to champion the digital economy … this is a very important agenda, not only for Malaysia but all countries. And it’s about ensuring that we are able to ‘future-proof’, in a way, our nations in a world where digital innovation is becoming so disruptive,” said Mahmood. “So I think, embracing digital innovation for the social and economic benefit of the country is no longer a question of ‘should we?’ or ‘why?’ It’s a question of ‘how do we do it?’”

What is important for a country is to ensure that policy is not only about regulating but also about enabling, she said.

When it comes to growing the digital economy, Malaysia has two key focuses right now, said Mahmood.
One is “to ensure that our talent – our future talent, especially – [are] not only consumers of digital innovation, but also can be innovators and producers of digital innovation. So how do we shift that mindset?”
The other focus is around enabling and encouraging the startup ecosystem.

Watch the video in full here.

The original version of this article first appeared in ITU News

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