Sweden Malaysia Innovation Day 2015 held in Kuala Lumpur

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Following on previous years’ events the Sweden Malaysia Innovation Initiative returned on 17 November 2015 with an Innovation Day, jointly organized by the Swedish Embassy, Business Sweden and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM).

Sweden’s Minister for Strategic Development, Future Issues and Nordic Cooperation Kristina Persson and YB Dato’ Mah Siew Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department co-hosted a High-Level Round Table Discussion. Swedish companies Atlas Copco, BAE Systems Bofors, Cale Access, Scania, Saab, SKF and Strongpoint participated together with the Malaysian representatives from both public and private sectors, including government representatives and academia. The discussion focused on how innovation in Malaysia can be enhanced through strengthening cooperation between Malaysia and Sweden. There was also an exchange of MoU between the CEO of AIM, Mr Mark Rozario, and the Managing Director of Scania, Mrs Marie Sjödin Enström.

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In the afternoon the Sweden Malaysia Innovation Day 2015 continued with the seminar “Innovate to Stay Competitive”, moderated by Ibrahim Sani, Business Radio Station BFM. Following on the welcoming remarks by YBhg. Dato’ Azman Mahmud, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA); there were speeches held by The Hon. Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Chuan, Minister II for International Trade and Industry and Minister Kristina Persson.

The Swedish minister also took part as a panelist in the seminar session “How To Increase The Number of Women in The Work Force” together with two other panelists, Mrs. Marie Sjödin Enström, MD of Scania and Dato’ Muzaffar Hishan, CEO of Maybank Islamic.

There were two more seminar sessions on the themes “How Innovations Drive Economic Growth” and “Why Innovative Corporate Culture Is Important”. After the seminar a reception was held for the ca 100 seminar participants, co-hosted by Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and InvestKL.

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The Sweden-Malaysia Innovation Initiative (SMII) started in 2011 as a platform for industry, academia and government to cooperate on innovation. Sweden Malaysia Innovation Days were held in 2011 and 2013 and now for the third time 2015. Sweden ranks number three in the Global Innovation Index 2015 and Malaysia’s government prioritizes innovation in its work to achieve the goal to become a high income nation by 2020.

Source: Embassy of Sweden, Kuala Lumpur

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