THE LAUNCHING OF THE AMERICAN TECH CORNER
SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG
AT THE LAUNCHING OF THE AMERICAN TECH CORNER
13 NOVEMBER 2018
PSC@HERITAGE, WISMA YEAP CHOR EE
Her Excellency Kamala Lakhdhir
Ambassador of the United States to Malaysia
Ooi Peng Ee
CEO of Penang Science Cluster (PSC)
Dato' Yoon Chon Leong
Director of Penang Science Cluster (PSC)
PSC Directors
Managing Directors from Industry
Good afternoon and Salam Sejahtera.
First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Penang Science Cluster (PSC) and the US Embassy in Malaysia for successfully organising this American Tech Corner at PSC@Heritage. Welcome to all of you to the Penang Science Cluster. It is good to see all of you and familiar faces here again today.
When the present State Government first took office in 2008 under my predecessor, Saudara Lim Guan Eng, we received a lot of feedback from industry captains that the main constraint for Penang’s industrial growth lies in the lack of human talent – the shortage of high quality science and technical based human resources. Indeed, there was a great concern that the interest of school students to take up studies in the STEM subjects was declining.
This was especially so for Penang, whose economic success depends primarily on the size and quality of the state’s talent pool. Therein lies the seeds of collaboration between the private sector, schools and government under a Public-private Partnership (PPP) framework to drive science education forward.
As a result, the Penang State Government initiated the formation of PSC in 2010 with the mission to inspire the spirit of innovation in Science and Engineering into the community, especially among the young. Also at that time, I came to the conclusion that while this program is strongly supported by the State Government, it had to be led by industry. I believe that that the best way to make a real difference is by letting the experts lead. Looking at what has been achieved since then, I can say that we have made the right decision.
However, after over the years, the achievement of PSC is beyond our expectations. For example, in 2017 alone, PSC impacted 20,000 students through hands-on science and technology workshops. Congratulation to PSC’s team!
And for this success too, I must thank and acknowledge the collaboration and support from industry in particular the PSC director companies such as B. Braun, Intel, Keysight Technologies, Motorola Solutions, Agilent Technologies, DreamCatcher, Hewlett Packard Malaysia Manufacturing, National Instruments, Exabytes, Jabil, Mini-Circuits, and Vitrox Technologies.
Last week, 60,000 visitors attended the successful Penang International Science Fair organized by PSC, where we had 25,000 hands-on STEM activities over 2 days which is probably the largest in the world. And to top it off, PSC had over 1400 volunteers helping to organize and run the Penang International Science Fair. That is the unique thing that PSC has achieved – engaging the community and tapping the spirit of Penangites to help the next generation.
Moving on, the 4th industrial revolution is upon us. Computing is everywhere. The next wave of Artificial intelligence is coming. The power of technology is amazing, and yet, it can be scary because many jobs will be destroyed. In fact, an Oxford University study concludes that 60% of jobs will be eliminated by technology. It is not all gloom and doom however, because many other jobs will be created too.
So, the most important thing any responsible government should do is to prepare our students well for the future. We must equip our students with critical thinking skills, and to be able to think innovatively. We must also equip them with relevant technical skills; and, one of the most important technical skill is the ability to communicate with computers – to analyse data sets, draw insights, create solutions using computers. To do all this, our students must learn to code!
As such, the Penang State Government launched a moonshot program with PSC this year, where we will enable 100,000 students per year to develop coding skills in our young students in Penang. I am proud to say that Penang is the only state in Malaysia doing this. PSC continues to forge ahead.
Today, I am happy to be here to witness another collaboration by PSC with the US Embassy, the launch of the American Tech Corner. The American Tech Corner will showcase the latest American technology and innovations. As we all know, the United States of America is synonymous with high tech innovations, the worlds’ largest technology companies and world class universities.
Thus, it is fitting to have the American Tech Corner here to enable students and public to experience latest technological innovations and hopefully, spark the creativity and inspire innovations especially among our young students in Penang.
I hope to see more collaborations with the US Embassy, for example the Tech-on-Wheels mentioned by Mr Ooi Peng Ee, as it will impact many more students and help bridge the digital divide for our rural community.
I would like to end my speech by recording my appreciations to the US Ambassador, Her Excellency Kamala Lakhdhir, and US Embassy for establishing the American Tech Corner here in Penang Science Cluster.
Thank you.