Malaysian technopreneurs have been asked to learn from Norway about the process of developing practical solutions that are in line with Malaysia’s industries.
Singling out Norway as a good example in terms of scale and range of industries, Microsoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd developer and platform leader Tyson Dowd said Malaysian technopreneurs should look into the possibilities of developing solutions for the local agriculture, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries.
“Norway is not a big country but there the technopreneurs specialize. They create solutions for niche markets. They don’t try to do everything. Malaysia shares certain similarities with Norway. They’re both small countries and have oil and gas industries,” said Dowd at the press conference after addressing a room full of local technopreneurs at the .Net Technopreneur Development Corporation Symposium 2006, organized by Microsoft Malaysia.
Dowd also quoted an example of how technopreneurs could look into using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for tree logging as opposed to looking at solutions for putting TV programs on mobile phones.
“The innovation is new to a phone but we’ve been watching TV for years. It’s new to a platform. Your technopreneurs should look at the strengths of your country, not just the technology available,” Dowd said.
According to Norway’s official website – www.norway.org/business/ict/ict.htm – that country’s software revolution was powered by advances in its traditional industries; petroleum, shipping and fisheries.
The site explains that there was a need to create and pay for technically advanced, cost-saving solutions in Norway. This, in turn, spurred the development of innovative software and integrated systems.
The Norwegian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry has generated a host of companies supplying software and modular solutions to virtually its entire commercial and public sectors, including data, customer relationship management, as well as administrative and financial management systems.
