There has been a rapid increase in the use of digital technology and the explosive rise of social media as well as digital technologies are the topmost contributing factors towards this transformation. Hence, digital influence is governing and reshaping everyday life and it is also growing significantly among youth. Growing up in the digital era has an abundance of advantages and having a platform where the youth community can learn and explore more on the opportunities that exist within the digital sphere is much needed, especially in a developing country like Malaysia. Together with the Ministry of Education (MOE), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) designed the #mydigitalmaker movement.

What is #mydigitalmaker?

#mydigitalmaker is a joint public-private-academia initiative to transform Malaysian youth from digital users to producers in the digital economy. This includes skills such as coding, app development, 3D printing, robotics, embedded programming, and data analytics; all of which will ultimately help to strengthen problem solving and creativity amongst our future generation.

Forest Interactive team with MDEC team

From 29th to 30th September, the #mydigitalmaker Fair, now in its third year, returned once again and took place at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil. Forest Interactive was happy to be a part of the event. The event attracted around 1,200 visitors and Communications and Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo, was also there where he joined a dialogue session with leaders from the industry. He shared that Malaysia must welcome the digital industry and develop young talents in new technology such as artificial intelligence and robotics.

“Every day we read that Singapore and Vietnam have new inventions. If we don’t take the opportunity now to create a structure where we can help the industry, we will lose out. Therefore, we have taken the approach to develop the infrastructure, as we have also pushed the idea to set up education at early stages in school as all children now have access to smartphones at a very young age, so it is important for us to make sure they understand the power of the Internet,” – Gobind Singh Deo

An exciting development

Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, the CEO of MDEC shared her post-event thoughts on her Facebook page. She found the atmosphere of the event was filled with enthusiasm and innovation. According to her, she considers the kids as our young innovators who are inspiring, smart and they are eager for what lies ahead in the future, she highlighted, “creative problem-solving abilities and values help to balance our young talents. Many of the solutions I saw during the competitions are truly awesome!”

From left: Johary Mustapha; CEO of Forest Interactive, Datuk Yasmin Mahmood; CEO of MDEC, Hasnul Hadi Samsudin; Vice President, Creative Content and Technologies of MDEC

LevelUp@Schools Awards

Johary Mustapha at the LevelUp@Schools Awards presentation ceremony

From our side, besides showcasing one of our products, Wallet Codes, our CEO, Johary Mustapha was invited for the LevelUp@Schools Award presentation ceremony for the Open Category and Newcomer Category for Best Game 2018. Forest Interactive has been collaborating with MDEC for two years in a row now for LevelUp@Schools. Align with the objectives of the #mydigitalmaker movement, LevelUp@Schools is a program created by MDEC with the support of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia (MOE) to extend exposure and forge game development skillsets to school students. Check out HERE to know more how it all turned out.