SMA: Expanding the digital innovation hub to every division
Tasked with the responsibility of promoting Sarawak’s startup ecosystem, Sarawak Multimedia Authority’s (SMA) is taking a unique approach to this by creating digital innovation hubs across the state.
According to SMA head of Digital Village Hazwan Razak, the big plan is to have a digital innovation hub in every division across Sarawak.
“The one in iCom Square – we partnered up with Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Bumiputera (Tegas). They are our strategic partner here, and also in Miri and Bintulu,” Hazwan said in an interview with BizHive Weekly.
“The hub in Sarikei is partnered with iCube Innovation (iCube). We’ve also got the Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (Centexs) as our strategic partner for Betong, among others.
“Centexs is also our strategic part for the open lab. The open lab is a research hub. Inside this research-focused hub, there is also a co-working space – like a mini co- working space that focuses on research. The rest is open to everyone.”
Hazwan went on to explain that the digital village works in a way where they provide, at the basic thing, a co-working space at every division.
“For us, we want to make sure that whatever is offered in Kuching, is also available in other divisions. We are focusing on the other divisions that don’t have hubs, such as Limbang, Lawas, Betong, Kapit and so on.
“Basically every division in Sarawak – all 12 divisions will have a hub.”
At the four operational hubs, and the few in the works, Hazwan said SMA’s focus is on technologyenabled entrepreneurs.
“That said, even for those who are interested in going into a completely different field such as, for example kek lapis business, they are still welcome at the digital innovation hubs,” he highlighted.
“Let’s say, for example, we run a digital marketing class or workshop on how to do Facebook ads. Our focus is still on our startups, but any other entrepreneurs that want to come in are welcomed by all means.”
Kuching’s specific focus
In Kuching, SMA is focusing on niche sections, specifically commercialising digital economy research.
“Generally, a startup is different from a normal business because of two factors, innovation and scalability. For example, that separates Grab from a taxi company.
“For example, Grab is innovative because you book through the app and also scaleable because today it’s in Klang Valley, tomorrow it is already in 25 other cities in Malaysia because it’s app-based, everybody has a smartphone. That’s the two niche areas we focus on, the kinds of entrepreneurs.
“In Kuching, we focus on niche areas so in the open lab there is a lot of research being done. SMA, using state funds, is also funding digital economy research. We want this research to then turn into startups, to commercialise the research.
“I’ve got a space that I will be managing once it’s ready, at Centexs in Santubong, where the focus is on digital economy research. We are bringing in all the universities in Sarawak, plus university partners overseas and the industries.”
Hazwan highlighted that these institutions will be supporting and doing research together with the local universities on Sarawak’s digital economy topics such as smart city, smart farming and others.
“The university researchers will use the platforms provided by the industry to create more awesome solutions and products, and that will be commercialised.”
Developing the ecosystem as a whole
Even as the authority sets out to ensure there are digital innovation hubs in every division, Hazwan stressed that SMA’s focus is not so much on just providing co-working spaces but more on developing the startup ecosystem.
“We consider every player, whether they are private or public to be within the (startup) ecosystem. You’ve got The Hills, iCube, The 381 Hub, these are all the private hubs, we also consider them as part of the ecosystem.
“We are not competing per se, because I manage the ecosystem and it just so happens that within the ecosystem, the state has its own funded hubs.
“But we also make sure that, even if we can give it for free, we don’t. We actually benchmark against what the others are offering because we don’t want to kill the
“What we want to do is, we want to offer opportunities so even though anyone can sign up and be based at our hubs, our focus is still to run the programs there to add value to their businesses.”
To conclude, Hazwan stressed that among the SMA digital economy enablers, digital inclusivity is the most important.
“We will only succeed and we will only be impactful if we give an opportunity to every single Sarawakian or every single person who considers Sarawak home.”