Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre takes learning to a new dimension

 

Technology keeps changing, accelerating with new provisions that shorten the time we take to do things. Today we can actually print a book within a few minutes and we can immediately capture a video in 3D format. For those wanting to build interesting ways to connect with their target audiences these technologies open the door for unlimited creativity.

Every year something new hits the market and starts a consumer frenzy.
So while industries grapple with the means to beat the competition with new gimmicks and advertising, they need skills to manage the new technology and create the content they seek. 
The Limkokwing University has created new partnerships with high end digital technology providers through a new initiative called the Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre.

Already embedded within the University is INDUSITY – a revolutionary concept that merges the best of the University with the best of the Industry to bring innovative knowledge, skills and application to Limkokwing students right into the campus.
MDIC too works along this creative pathway by working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education with the mission to raise the standards and quality of the nation’s education system, which is to produce high calibre human capital to move industry up the value chain.

The Centre’s thrust responds to the Prime Minister’s transformation programme, which places high priority on education as the vehicle to move from middle-income to high income status by 2020.
Minister of Higher Education Dato’ Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, in launching the Centre recently, envisioned MDIC as an excellent “infrastructure” to push the migration of skilled talents into the industry.

The Higher Education Minister being ‘crooned’ by the Limkokwing International Choir lead singer, Siti Hasreena Rosli soon after the official launch of the centre. Others in the picture include Tan Sri Lim and senior University officials.

“I believe that a world-class digital infrastructure like this is fundamental and part of the ecosystem to support an innovation-led economy, which has become the aspiration of Malaysia today. Its strong focus on innovation will definitely take education to a new level as it provides the vehicle designed to connect the high end of digital technology to creativity and content creation.”

The creation of MDIC is in direct response to the Prime Minister’s call for norm-breaking efforts to engineer human capital that is wired to the future. For over 20 years, the University has played a pivotal role in promoting creativity and innovation as the engine of progress for the country, a role it continues with breakthrough ideas much like the digital innovation centre. 
Dato’ Seri Khaled, a strong advocate of creativity and innovation, believes quality human capital is the way to make the government’s transformation policy a success.
“In today’s world, this has to be done by intensifying the nation’s knowledge and innovation capability. In today’s world, knowledge and innovation have become the keys to progress and growth. Knowledge increasingly defines the line between wealth and poverty and between human fulfillment and poverty. A country which is able to mobilise and spread knowledge can rise rapidly to new levels of development, help its citizens to prosper and more importantly, education is considered as the most important component in the dissemination of innovation.’

The Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre houses state-of-the-art training facilities including:

• High tech computer incubation rooms
• Training and lecture theatres
• 3D LED screen
• Exhibition and conference
• Corporate boardroom
• Reception lounge and business facilities
• Olympic-size swimming pool.

“This University is possibly the world’s largest digital content training facility. For this reason, this campus has become a talent hub for some of the brightest brains in the world. Here, high tech accelerators are created to generate high end products and services that are second to none in the country.”
Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing,
Founder President of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology
In his address at the launch of MDIC at the Cyberjaya campus, 18 July 2011

Two more varsities join EPP programme

PETALING JAYA: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) joined the Education Partner Programme (EPP) spearheaded by YTL Communications. Under the programme, students and academic staff at the universities will enjoy the company's 4G Mobile Internet services on campus.
The students will receive free converged data and voice services of up to 300 megabytes per user, on a monthly basis over a period of three years, and will be able to top up their accounts at special student rates.
UPM and UM are the third and fourth universities respectively to join the EPP programme in the last two months, following Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and University Tunku Abdul Rahman.
More of Malaysia's public institutes of higher learning and private universities are expected to join the programme by year end.
YTL Comms is pleased to be a partner with UPM and UM in their vision to create a superior academic environment, said Yasmin Mahmood, executive director of YTL Comms, in a press statement.
The universities announced that the service will come in handy for students and academic staff, especially when conducting R&D work.
Associate Prof Dr Suhaimi Napis, chief technology officer and director of the UPM InfoComm Development Centre, said the service will encourage the university's model of ubiquitous learning, where students learn whether they are in lecture halls or not.
"We call this 'www-learning,' " he added.
The Ubiquitous Learning Environment at UPM, a brainchild of Dr Suhaimi, relies on the Malaysian Research and Education Network (Myren) - a high-capacity broadband network that connects universities, colleges, research organisations and scientific laboratories.
UPM also has a number of cloud services that can support blended learning, i.e. a mixture of remote and on-premises education.
For example, video collaboration services such as 1VideoBridge make live virtual-classes possible. Up to 160 laptops, desktops and other compatible devices can be connected to the service at one time.
"The power of 4G Mobile Internet will create new ways for education to be delivered and we are already working with YTL Comms to enable interoperability between our learning and research cloud-services and all other platforms, including new Android-based devices which we are eager to explore." Suhaimi said.
Meanwhile, Dr David Asirvatham, director at the UM Centre for Information Technology, said the data packages specially tailored for students is the perfect tool to enhance student lives on campus.
"4G Broadband & Voice services under a single account is a great value proposition to our students. When every ringgit needs to be stretched, it helps that our students can use their 300 megabytes of free broadband to make free phone calls, too," he said.
As Malaysia's oldest public university and a recognised research university, UM actively spearheads a number of research-intensive projects in ICT (information and communications technology) and Computational Sciences; Biotechnology and Bioproducts; and Health and Translational Medicine with the help of grid computing.
"With the superior performance of 4G, that delivers connectivity in megabits instead of the kilobits we get with 3G now, the power of grid computing can easily extend all the way to desktops and devices, significantly improving our research process," he said.