Google and the government of Malaysia are collaborating on two AI-focused initiatives — to equip Malaysian youth with future-ready AI skills, and enhance public service delivery with the help of cloud-native, AI-driven productivity tools.
The initiatives are aligned with the country’s Madani Economy Framework strategic roadmap to boost the Malaysian economy and improve the qualilty of life in Malaysia.
They are part of the strategic collaboration announced at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco last year, led by Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry.
The first initiative sees Google and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) working together to upskill Malaysian youth from diverse backgrounds by providing 161 institutes of higher learning with 500 Google Career Certificate scholarships each.
“In-demand skills in cloud computing, data analytics, cybersecurity, and AI, which can be acquired at no cost through the certificate programmes offered by Google, will lead to stronger job readiness and a rise in income. This will also translate to higher job satisfaction for workers and a larger digital talent pool for Malaysia,” said Dato’ Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir, Malaysia’s Minister of Higher Education.
Under the second initiative, 445,000 public officers will be equipped with Google Workspace tools to boost productivity across the public sector. For this initiative, Google is collaborating with Jabatan Digital Negara, the government agency in charge of coordinating and implementing national and public sector digitalisation projects under the Ministry of Digital.
“In line with the Madani Economy Framework, our whole-of-government adoption of Google Workspace’s secure, cloud-based, and AI-powered capabilities will foster seamless real-time information exchange, enabling government agencies to work closer together toward optimal and effective public service delivery,” said Rodzi bin Md Saad, Secretary-General of Malaysia’s Ministry of Digital.
According to Karan Bhatia, Global Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google, these initiatives have the potential to transform the way services are delivered for the benefit of all Malaysians, while working to equip people with the digital skills they need.
Entelechy Asia 