This year’s Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy hybrid convention is focused on 3 core themes.

Creating an innovative digital ecosystem that inspires new talents to pursue their dreams fearlessly and building regional technology companies with lightning-fast speed is vital to propel Selangor into a digital hub in Southeast Asia.

According to Yong Kai Ping, Chief Executive Officer of Sidec, the organisation has played a crucial role in accelerating Selangor’s digitalisation especially for e-commerce merchants, startups and SMEs. In 2021, Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) achieved a notable milestone, creating a value creation of RM250 million, impacted 230,000 participants via various programmes, organised 6 major programmes, accelerated 30 startups and provided an estimation of 42,000 jobs.

Recently Sidec launched its sixth edition of the Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention. The convention gathered industry leaders, academics, SMEs and players from the public and private sectors, to delve into the mechanics of existing and future smart city and digital economy frameworks and solutions.

The event is co-organised by the Selangor Information Technology & Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) and Invest Selangor Berhad, supported by the Selangor International Business Summit.

On top of that, the convention is sponsored by Affin Bank Berhad with strategic partners from Green Packet Berhad, Tourplus Technology, VIVO, SUBPLACE, Dropee, Wilstech, Smart Rental, and PanPages Trinity.

This year, SDEC is focused on 3 core themes, each with its own corresponding event:

Day 1: Embracing Fintech, Agritech & Travel Tech towards Economic Recovery Conference

Day 2: Digital Marketing & SME Digitalisation Trends Post Covid-19

Day 3: Pitch@Selangor 5: Selangor Super League

The 3-day convention had 45 distinguished speakers speaking on various topics during the two-day panel discussions covering topics on Fintech, Agritech, Travel Tech, Digital Marketing, and SME Digitalisation.

The convention was officiated by Dato’ Menteri Besar of Selangor, YAB Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari on the second day of the convention on 20 November 2021.

The speakers are among prominent leaders, founders and experts in the industry namely, CEO of Sidec Yong Kai Ping, Covering President/CEO of Agrobank Khadijah Iskandar, Head, Government and Regulatory Affairs of Green Packet Berhad Norhizam Abdul Kadir, CEO of Boost Biz Eric Chong, CEO and Founder of Agroz Group Gerard Lim, and many others.

Since the convention features livestream elements prominently, Dato’ Sri Siti Nurhaliza, the country’s number one songbird was also invited as the special guest of honour.

Embracing Fintech, Agritech and Travel Tech towards Economic Recovery

Despite the challenging post pandemic backdrop, Fintechs have proven resilient and adaptable, contributing to post pandemic relief efforts, adjusting operations and offerings to serve vulnerable market segments, such as SME businesses.

Another sector that was covered during the event is the travel and tourism industry. Today, domestic tourism is the main focus for most of the countries. Industry players need to create strategies to target domestic travellers using social media and digital marketing.

Apart from that, the Agritech sector also has the potential to make tremendous strides in Malaysia. The government has come up with various initiatives to improve the sector such as the recently launched “Dana AgroMakanan 2.0” and IR 4.0 where the focus is to improve the yield of food production by using technology.

Digital Marketing and SME Digitalisation Trend Post Covid-19

With the development of the digital economy, the future of the global economy will have everything to do with digitalisation.

As with every business, SMEs differ in size, industry and level of experience. No matter what the differences are, going digital is proven to be a key advantage pre and post Covid-19 crisis. Digitalisation and digital tools can help SMEs reduce costs, standardise and automate business processes and reduce the reliance on manpower. Moreover, going digital will enhance SMEs business sustainability and understand consumer behaviors.

Pitch@Selangor 5: Selangor Super League

Twenty top startups from the top 3 accelerators in Selangor: Sidec, ScaleUp Malaysia and Sunway iLabs competed for the top 3 spots to win cash prizes worth RM30,000. The third day also featured sharing sessions by Elain Lockman of Ata Plus, William Lien of Mystartr and Chan Wei Chi of pitchIN.

For more information on Sidec, head to their website at https://www.sidec.com.my/ and you can also watch the replay of the three days convention at https://www.facebook.com/sidecmy