THE ASIA INNOVATIF PLUS SUMMIT

SPEECH BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG YAB TUAN CHOW KON YEOW FOR THE ASIA INNOVATIF PLUS SUMMIT

 

26 October 2019, SETIA SPICE CONVENTION CENTRE

First of all, I would like to express how glad I am to be here this morning with all of you and to share my thoughts on the growth direction where we are heading and in particular, how the livelihood of Penangites will be affected in the scheme of things as we aim to achieve vision Penang2030.

Malaysia is currently in the transition to become a developed nation by resorting to the use of creativity, innovation, and technology to increase the value of our products and services. This is encapsulated in the federal government’s Malaysia 4.0 initiative, which seeks to enhance the country’s diverse sectors such as next-generation automotive, smart electronics, high-income tourism, and medical tourism, automation, robotics, and innovative agriculture.

The nation’s collective progress in these innovative sectors will certainly help to uplift the country out of the middle-income trap towards the status of a developed nation but more importantly, how we are portraying and perceiving ourselves as worthy of our rise in the value-chain and how prepared is Penang in capitalizing on this growth opportunity to reach further ahead?

I have no reason to doubt that Penang indeed can achieve more and prosper in the coming years if all of us – the stakeholders and the state government – work closely together wholeheartedly towards vision Penang2030 which I will elaborate more in my slide presentation.   

With the theme “Leading the Business of Tomorrow, Today”, I am pleased to note that the core objective of the Asia Innovatif Plus Summit and Awards is to connect the next generation of family business leaders & family business premises with a new frontier involving Innovative solutions & new investment opportunities across Asia. Family-owned businesses are some of the most significant economic contributors in many countries across the globe and are responsible for the employment of at least half of the global workforce.

These numbers are even more pronounced in Asia, where small and medium-sized family-owned enterprises are the norm. Let us all applaud Mei Tan for her drive in this initiative to lead the next generation of leaders towards Innovation.

With Innovatif, I am sure all of us are looking forward to a fun-filled event combining Conference, Exhibition, Awards, Workshop, and Networking under one roof especially in this choice location.

To all the attendees from the region and other parts of Asia, Penang welcomes you with open arms and please enjoy to the utmost of our Malaysian Hospitality.

From a mere idea to reality, only a great team of executors with a shared vision can do it — credits to Mei Tan and her team at Asia Innovative Agency for making all this a reality.

Thank you once again for choosing PENANG as the state for INNOVATIF to rise and shine.