#TECH: Building AI Ecosystem In Iskandar Puteri

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Skymind, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, plans to bring its global experience and change the landscape of cities in Malaysia by developing Skymind Innovation City here.

According to the company, the Skymind Innovation City’s primary focus is to boost the economic and living standards of a city using AI innovation components.

Skymind focuses on enabling and empowering companies to develop their own AI applications and provide them with tools to be innovators in their industry as well as build a stronger AI ecosystem. Currently, more than 350 of Fortune 500 companies globally use Skymind technologies including IBM, Huawei and NASA.

The company has deployed its AI innovation components in the Digital Fujian (Changle) Industrial Park in Fujian Province, China. The introduction of Skymind Innovation components has accelerated and made way for a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem within the area, where talents are trained and upskilled under Skymind’s Talent Development programmes and AI companies came in and set up their digital innovation bases within the area.

“We create value for cities development, and we have successfully done so in Digital Fujian. It is a fully functional AI City that is able to generate considerable economic impact. We will bring components that we have built globally over to Malaysia and eventually to the region, localising the innovation to better suit the regional ecosystem,” said Skymind Global Limited’s group chief executive officer, Shawn Tan.

In 2018, Skymind deployed its AI Innovation components in Digital Fujian and the ecosystem has trained thousands of AI talents, incubated more than a hundred startup companies, attracted local and foreign companies to set up their AI R&D bases to future proof their businesses. The growth in land value that Skymind and the ecosystem has increased more than four-fold since its inception.

“We see great potential in building Skymind’s Innovation City in Johor especially in Iskandar Puteri as we feel that it is one of the country’s most dynamic areas,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, Skymind Future Cities’ managing director, Eow Wan Lin, Skymind Innovation City aims to become one of the top cities in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

“To ensure the success of this vision, we are working closely with several strategic partners such as IIB Ventures,” he said.

Iskandar Investment Berhad subsidiary IIB Ventures Sdn Bhd’s managing director, Zulfiqar Zainuddin said Skymind Innovation City is aligned with Johor state’s Digital Agenda and complements Medini with diversity of innovation programmes to provide participating companies a vibrant ecosystem for growth, to foster innovation and entrepreneurship as Johor Digital Hub and the location for Digital Innovation, emerging tech and digital talent development.

Apart from IIBV, Skymind will be collaborating with more strategic partners locally and globally to innovate in Skymind Innovation City.

Skymind Innovation City will focus on three main hubs namely; the Talent Hub for AI Talent Development, The Innovation Hub for enabling technology and AI Innovators and the Regional R&D Hub for research and development of AI applications.

 

Source: NST