Latest news with #IndustrialRevolution4.0
The Star
24-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
AI council set up to ‘drive workforce growth'
PETALING JAYA: A cross-agency collaboration has been launched to enhance Malaysia's artificial intelligence (AI) workforce development through the launch of the MyMahir National AI Council for Industry (MyMahir-NAICI). Led by Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), a strategic think-tank under the Human Resources Ministry, and the National AI Office (NAIO) under the Digital Ministry's MyDigital Corporation, the initiative aims to coordinate AI talent development and drive multi-sector implementation. During MyMahir-NAICI's inaugural meeting, there was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between TalentCorp and MyDigital witnessed by Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong and Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo. 'The question is not whether AI will replace jobs, but whether we will empower Malaysians to evolve with it,' said Sim in his opening speech yesterday. 'Through MyMahir-NAICI, we are forging a whole-of-nation mechanism, aligning skills with strategy, technology with talent and policy with purpose,' he said. Sim also said the ministry is offering about 300,000 high-skilled training opportunities, including AI and Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies. 'These programmes range from short-term to long-term, offering various certifications such as the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM) and include micro-programmes.' He noted that while the ministry provides these opportunities, many AI initiatives are led by the Digital Ministry in collaboration with major companies. 'For the upcoming National Training Week 2025, the ministry expects a million participants to engage in the available training sessions,' said Sim. Gobind emphasised the importance of government leadership in building structures that connect innovation to real-world AI implementation. 'While NAIO focuses on creating the demand and representing deployment, TalentCorp focuses on building the talent supply and MyMahir-NAICI completes the virtuous cycle by continuously feeding back for policy improvement,' he said in his speech. The council commits to a three-year collaboration focusing on four pillars: AI talent development, industry integration, policy and funding alignment, as well as stakeholder governance. TalentCorp serves as the secretariat, with NAIO aligning efforts with the national AI roadmap. Supporting this initiative are four key instruments: the MyMahir Impact Study, which identifies affected roles and future skills; the platform for policy-to-action implementation; the G.I.A.T. Action Plan for coordination across government, industry, academia, and training providers; and the AI Talent Framework, covering skills from digital literacy to advanced AI expertise. The MyMahir Impact Study projects that AI could significantly affect 620,000 jobs or 18% of formal sector roles in Malaysia in the next three to five years, while also identifying 60 emerging roles in AI, digital, green and deep tech sectors. A notable aspect of this collaboration is the integration of the AI Readiness Index (AIRI) into the platform, enabling companies to assess AI preparedness, identify capability gaps, and take actionable steps toward transformation. Pilot programmes will be validated using real-world industry problem statements. The council's progress will be monitored by the AI Implementation Monitoring Unit and reported to the ministers.
Barnama
13-05-2025
- Business
- Barnama
UniMAP Clinches Top MNC Preferred Graduate Award
KANGAR, May 13 (Bernama) -- Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) has clinched the Top Multinational Company (MNC) Preferred Graduate Rate Award through the Graduate Tracer Study System (SKPG) 2024, organised by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). In a statement today, the university said the award further solidified its reputation as a leading institution of higher learning that produced quality and competitive graduates. It added that the recognition reflected multinational companies' strong confidence in the competence and potential of UniMAP graduates, particularly in meeting the demands of high-tech industries on a global scale. Meanwhile, in the same statement, UniMAP vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zaliman Sauli described the achievement as the result of the collective efforts and unwavering commitment of all university staff in developing an educational ecosystem aligned with industry needs. 'This award demonstrates that UniMAP's strategic approach in bridging the gap between universities and industry is yielding positive results. We believe in the holistic development of graduates, not only in terms of academics but also in soft skills, leadership, and professionalism values. 'The confidence multinational companies have in UniMAP graduates demonstrates that our curriculum remains relevant and dynamic in addressing the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and beyond. 'UniMAP reaffirms its commitment to continue strengthening the structure and content of the curriculum, ensuring it aligns with current technological developments and the demands of the global job market,' he said. Zaliman said that UniMAP would continue to streamline and strengthen the curriculum by incorporating the latest elements, including digital technology, artificial intelligence, and sustainability. He said that the strategic link with industry would also be expanded to provide more opportunities for industrial training and collaborative research.
The Star
04-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Towards inclusive policies for silver workers
THE workplace is being transformed by new and emerging technologies at a pace perhaps not seen since the first Industrial Revolution – and our workforce is changing alongside it. We're well down the road of adjusting for Industrial Revolution 4.0 as we look into legislation and incentives to encourage young people to prioritise STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) at school, to become more familiar with using artificial intelligence productively, to become more resilient amid changes.
Borneo Post
25-04-2025
- Business
- Borneo Post
Sarawak forest, timber officials in benchmarking visit to Japan research institute
The Sarawak delegation during the field visit to Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba Research Institute. Hamden is at eighth right. KUCHING (April 26): A Sarawak delegation made a benchmarking visit Thursday to the Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan. Led by Sarawak Forest Department (SFD) director Datu Hamden Mohammad, the delegation comprised representatives from the department, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), and Sarawak Timber Association (STA). SFD in a statement described Sumitomo Forestry as a leading institute in forestry technology, tissue culture techniques, bio-refinery, and research and development on carbon storage and nature. 'The delegation was briefed on research conducted by the institute on enhancing the strength and durability of wooden materials and improving the performance of wood-based boards,' read the statement. On April 23, the delegates visited the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI) where they participated in scheduled programmes including presentation on various wood research conducted by FFPRI, demonstrational experiment of wood structure, and a visit to an experimental wooden house. 'This visit is significant for the stakeholders in the timber industry in the pursuit of adopting Industrial Revolution 4.0 technology, with emphasis made to the use of automation and digital technology,' said SFD. It said that with Japan as the main importer of wood pallets, Sarawak sees great potential in wood pallets and the engineered wood industry to generate green energy. This, added the department, is in line with the Sarawak government's green energy policy and Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg's green economy vision.
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The next British boom could be in the offing – if Starmer abandons net zero
Back in mid-January, as the full impact of Rachel Reeves's tax-raising October Budget began to hit home, consumer and business sentiment plunged. Keir Starmer badly needed a new growth narrative to try to convince voters and investors the UK economy, having shrunk in two of the previous three months, would soon bounce back. The Prime Minister reached for artificial intelligence (AI) before his Chancellor, even more desperate for a growth-boosting story, unleashed that hardy political perennial a fortnight later: 'the Government backs a new third runway at Heathrow'. The expansion of our leading airport won't happen for at least a decade. The only people Reeves's Heathrow announcement will enrich before the next election, amid renewed courtroom battles, are Starmer's legal chums. But AI is different. The rapid development of generative AI, sometimes referred as 'the fifth industrial revolution', will profoundly impact the world. The first three 'revolutions' took 250 years – steam power and mechanisation from the 1750s, followed by steelmaking and electrification then widespread computation by the end of the 20th century. Industrial Revolution 4.0 was the first two decades of this century – the spread of internet connectivity and 'mass data-fication', with much of what has ever been written now instantly and widely accessible. And since around 2020, the AI revolution – increasingly powerful computers 'leveraging' or making more use of that connectivity and information access – has been in full swing. In manufacturing, AI is already boosting efficiency by optimising production processes and facilitating 'predictive maintenance' – so machinery can be fixed before it breaks down. Across many sectors, AI is automating design processes, improving supply-chain management and quality control. AI-driven chatbots are now widely used by firms to field customer enquiries – they're still quite clunky, and sometimes annoying, but rapidly improving. That's the 'generative' bit – AI allows machines to 'learn', as large language models rapidly trawl ever-expanding reams of available text and data, absorbing increasingly complex trends and patterns, allowing computers to 'think'. AI-driven robots and machines will be able to – already can – make decisions and change behaviour on their own. And their very operation means they can handle increasingly complex tasks and adapt to changing circumstances, making them more flexible and efficient across a huge variety of tasks. What we're seeing now is a multibillion-dollar race, not least between US and Chinese firms, to dominate the AI market. At stake is enormous power over access to information and the processes that will increasingly dominate consumer, business and indeed government behaviour across the world. Part of Starmer's recent pledge to 'turbocharge AI' involved 'the public sector spending less time doing administration'. So why is the payroll of our already bloated Civil Service still rapidly expanding? Of all the applications of AI, the one that excites me least – and will do little to boost the economy – relates to the UK's state apparatus. Our public sector is often terrible at adopting new technology. Years after the NHS spent endless billions of pounds on a new IT system, basic information sharing across a sprawling organisation, even among qualified professionals, remains ghastly. And as for 'joined-up government' malarkey – well, good luck with that. Whitehall departments detest sharing data, most of all with other departments. Changing that culture will take decades, whatever the technology. In the real world, though, for consumers and businesses alike, the potential benefits of AI are nothing short of mind-blowing. But so are the potential pitfalls – in terms of the jobs, privacy and even safety of pretty much the entire human race. In Paris last week, JD Vance made his first major policy speech since becoming US vice president last month, framing AI as an economic turning point while issuing a note of caution. 'It will never come to pass,' he said, 'if overregulation deters innovators from taking the risks necessary to advance the ball'. Vance was taking aim at the European Union, which produced a document amounting to the first international effort to regulate AI, pledging to ensure 'AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure, and trustworthy.' While signed by scores of countries, including China, both the US and the UK refused. Regulating AI is, at best, going to be extremely tough, on a global basis surely impossible. The UK has huge talent in this area. British whizz kids created DeepMind – a firm which made major breakthroughs in machine learning, advanced algorithms and systems neuroscience. But a lack of smart, British-based capital saw the company gobbled up by US giant Google back in 2014, although DeepMind's HQ remains in the UK. The House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee this month rightly warned Britain could become merely an 'incubator' of AI firms, without the capital and infrastructure to help our promising minnows to 'scale up'. The UK certainly need the growth-boosting impact of this AI revolution. GDP grew a paltry 0.1pc during the final quarter of last year, as Britain flirts with recession. But amid all the questions swirling around the UK's part in this fifth industrial revolution, another looms large – namely power supplies. The mass of computers packed in the data centres that drive AI generative systems demand huge amounts of energy. AI-related activities used 3.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2020. If this sector expands 20-fold over the next five years, as per the government's target, that implies 72 TWh by 2030 – a quarter of the UK's current total consumption. National Grid bosses have long been warning our electricity system is 'constrained', with 'bold action' needed to cope with 'dramatically' growing demand. So here's a prediction. Starmer will need to choose between his 'AI revolution' and Ed Miliband's mad-cap net zero scheme to 'decarbonise the National Grid'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
