PUTRAJAYA, 27 January 2013 – YB Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation was in Davos, Switzerland recently as part of the Malaysian delegation to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting led by YAB Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Hj. Abd Razak. Other cabinet ministers in the team were YB Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and YB Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
The theme for this year’s Forum is ‘Resilient Dynamism’ and global leaders had discussed how, in an increasingly interconnected world, nations and businesses could build risk resilience and adapt to meet new social and economic demands.
YB Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili attended several of the sessions held at the Congress Centre, including “The Social Technology Context,” “The Healthcare Context,” “The Economic Malaise and its Perils,” “Bolstering Ocean Resilience,” “Sustainable Competitiveness,” “An Insight, An Idea with Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak,” “Meeting the Innovation Imperative,” and “The Global Science Outlook.” In a special breakfast meeting organised by MITI, YB Minister introduced and explained the concepts of digital economy and bioeconomy in Malaysia’s attempt to attract foreign investment in these two sectors, into the country.
As one of the panellists in the session on “Building National Innovation Capacity,” YB Minister elaborated on the Malaysia’s National Innovation Strategy Framework. He highlighted the importance of building future skills across sectors, nurturing and developing intellectual capital for wealth creation, and creating seamless funding pipeline for innovation. He also touched on developing world class PRIs and COEs in niche areas.
At the sidelines of the WEF, YB Minister held several bilateral meetings with corporate leaders to discuss areas of mutual interest, in particular trade and investment opportunities in Malaysia:
At the sidelines of the WEF, YB Minister held several bilateral meetings with corporate leaders to discuss areas of mutual interest, in particular trade and investment opportunities in Malaysia:
i. Mr. William Xu, Executive Director of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
ii. Mr. JP Rangaswami, Chief Scientist of Salesforce Inc, a global enterprise software company headquartered in San Francisco, California.
iii. Mr. Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Telenor ASA, an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand.
iv. Mr Aalan Marcus & Danil Kerimi, Senior Director & Head of ICT, World Economic Forum, an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
v. Mr. Roland Berger, founder of Roland Berger Strategy Consultant, a global strategy consulting firm headquartered in Munich, with 51 offices in 36 countries.
vi. Dr. Robert Berendes of Syngent, Head of Business Development and Ad-Interim Head of Global R&D, Syngenta Group, an agribusiness operating in the crop protection and seeds businesses.
The bilateral meetings were attended by YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Deputy Secretary General, (Policy) MOSTI; YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Nazlee Kamal, CEO, Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp); Ms Ng Wan Peng, COO, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC); Ms Julita Majungki, Political Secretary to YB Minister; Mr. Azwa Affendi Bakhtiar, Vice President, (Government Affairs), BiotechCorp; and Mr. Sivavenayakam Velayutham, Manager of Global Sourcing Cluster, MDeC.
