James Kon
Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) Chief Executive Ir Haji Jailani bin Haji Buntar called for public and private sectors to come together to build and innovate towards the goals of Smart Nation through a whole-of-nation approach.
He was delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the two-day Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) Innovation Symposium at the Radisson Hotel in the capital.
Ir Haji Jailani added that it is only by harnessing the collective power of all stakeholders that “we can work towards addressing challenges and building a digitally connected future for Brunei Darussalam”.
Innovation, he said, is a key element to spur economic growth of a nation. It is not limited to new inventions but also include how the inventions are used to solve problems or improve solutions or creating value for the people and the nation.
To achieve this, it requires extensive collaboration and partnership to share experiences, ideas and building better networks and relationships to drive a brighter future ahead.
With Brunei Darussalam’s aspiration to become a Smart Nation, the need for digital transformation and innovation becomes imperative and this has been highlighted in the Digital Economy Masterplan 2025 launched in June 2020.
Various agencies are working vigorously to achieve their digital transformation plans to realise the smart nation objectives, which he said brings about opportunities for innovation. “The question now is: How prepared are we to spur innovation with the ecosystem that not only comprise of the existing industries and government but also the society, communities, the talent and beyond? Therefore, it is important that we are equipped with the right developmental efforts in order to embrace the changes in our digital journey as they would be key to enable such digital transformation objectives,” said Ir Haji Jailani.
One of the ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) and AITI in encouraging and supporting innovation at the grassroots level is the Brunei Info-Communication Technology Awards (BICTA).
He said BICTA is an annual information and communication (ICT) competition aimed at stimulating innovation and creativity in the digital space amongst the industry, students, individuals, and organisations. “We have also emphasised on the importance of building innovative digital applications which could be created and sustained with the support from our local talents. As such, AITI has been making continuous efforts to cultivate the youth’s interest in coding and enhance their computational thinking and programming capabilities.
“In 2021, we launched Coding.bn as a platform to train and equip ICT youth jobseekers with programming skills that are in demand by the industry as well as to prepare them with the future digital skills,” said the chief executive.
