Rokiah Mahmud
The Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS), in collaboration with the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), recently completed the ICT Market Study and held a stakeholder consultation forum last Thursday to finalise their recommendations.
The study was aimed at understanding how to grow the ICT industry in the Sultanate in terms of its contribution to the economy, and creating sustainable and good paying jobs via the digitalisation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The CSPS team of consultants comprised senior researcher Dr Giuseppe Rizzo as project leader, Chief Researcher and Interim Executive Director Dr Diana Cheong as co-project leader and associate researcher Pengiran Redhuan bin Pengiran Haji Abdul Rajak as project manager, with technical assistance from Professor Eduardo Araral of the National University of Singapore.
The forum was joined by around 50 stakeholders from the public and private sectors and saw a number of favourable responses such as the timeliness of the study towards transforming Brunei into a smart digital nation and the comprehensiveness of the recommendations.
The consultants recommended a programme that aims to sustainably grow the demand for ICT solutions among local MSMEs while also expanding the supply of competitive local ICT professionals for the nation to transition towards becoming a digital native.
