KUCHING, 15 October 2019 – Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) under its Research and Development Unit organizes Centre of Excellence (CoE) Research Seminar today, which was attended by 70 participants from state ministries, agencies, technology partners, local and international companies, and 5 local universities which received CoE grant from SMA.

 

 

The objective of the seminar aims to disseminate information and expose the participants on the research project taken up by universities under SMA CoE grants, as well as to empower post-graduate students to present their research findings. The seminar also featured a keynote speech by Dr. Sachin Gupta, Head of IBM Research on Research and Development to commercialization.

 

“SMA believes that with the synergy between universities, local agencies, technology partners and also with the ongoing assistance by SMA’s own Research and Development Unit will further accelerate our research output to the next steps towards commercialization”, Dr. Zaidi bin Razak, General Manager of SMA.

 

Under the Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy 2018-2025 (Research and Development: Action 36), the Sarawak Government through SMA will establish a CoE to engage in fundamental and translational research in core areas of digital economy and other economic sectors in partnership with universities, industry, governments and community.

 

“Our mission is to empower the CoE grant holder by providing a platform for them to communicate their research with other researchers and technology partners through this program which will potentially be held annually”, Dr. Khairul Hafiz, Head of Research and Development Unit, SMA.

 

Currently, there are 5 universities who are receiving the grant; Curtin University, UCTS, UNIMAS, Swinburne University and UITM, with 9 sectors, 24 postgraduate talents and 26 research projects that are involved in the CoE.