The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), recently announced the establishment of the Digital Innovator Programme (DIP), Malaysia’s maiden secondary educational programme for talented young innovators.
The programme was launched and officiated virtually by the Senior Minister of Education. It focuses on developing future innovators through project-based learning (PBL) curriculum that ensures a consistent development of tech talents to fuel the digital economy.
DIP was built on MDEC’s successful Digital Ninja programme, an extra-curricular initiative organised for Form 1 to Form 5 students during the school holidays, and has successfully produced 515 high potential young digital innovators over the last five years.
The CEO of MDEC stated that DIP is an important initiative that serves the purpose of producing digital creators and innovators to realise the goals outlined in the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL). Having a focused secondary gifted programme, which replicates the key success factors of the Digital Ninja Programme, in addition to the sustained engagement between students, teachers and industry mentors will help to nurture more innovators in the country.
As part of MDEC’s continuous push to uplift digital literacy, skills and knowledge, DIP represents an important milestone as it seeks to introduce a digital technology track into the education curriculum, aligned with the #SayaDigital Movement. The #SayaDigital Movement aims to improve Malaysians’ skills to succeed in the digital economy by creating awareness in smart lifestyles, equal opportunities and digital technology in the urban and rural communities.
A recent report alluded to the fact that Malaysian companies that invest in technical innovations are enjoying higher productivity rates compared to others. Hence, initiatives such as DIP are much needed to nurture the country’s next generation of tech innovators.
Equipped with an advanced Digital Maker Space, DIP will be able to harness students’ innate creativity to solve real-world problems via digital technologies while providing ample PBL opportunities and mentorships to cultivate entrepreneurial skills.
In addition, the students will also learn advanced programming and other related skills that touch on Data Science, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity and Mobile App Development throughout their educational journey at Kolej GENIUS@Pintar Negara, UKM.
The Vice-Chancellor of UKM stated that DIP is a collaboration between UKM and the industry, namely MDEC, to strengthen digital culture based on UKM’s five core values. This digital culture employs futuristic education in teaching and learning methods.
It emphasises an educational ecosystem that is equipped with robot and drone creation technology, augmented and virtual reality, and wearables that have propelled UKM to the forefront of global higher education.
It is hoped that the collaboration will contribute to the transformation of national education. UKM will support this aspiration by honing quality talents to provide ICT expertise for the country’s economic development in the future.
Pusat GENIUS@Pintar Negara, UKM is an educational institution for gifted and talented local youth aged 12 to 17. Previously, the institution provided a full fundamental Sciences Track for all gifted students. MoE has always played an active role in providing a specific, challenging and holistic education system to nurture gifted and talented students for them to achieve their optimum potential, consequently making them valuable national assets.
In a statement, MoE stated, “We genuinely believe that the strong collaboration between MoE, UKM and MDEC will further boost the ministry’s goal of developing a highly knowledgeable, skilful and prominent young generation, especially in digital technology.”
