Penang’s multi-faceted industrial environment is placing the State on the right trajectory to seize the opportunities ahead.

 Penang, Jan 13, 2022 – 2022 marks the Golden Jubilee of industrialisation in Penang. Immersed in 50 years of manufacturing excellence, the State has undergone successful transformation which is worthy of celebration. Being appointed as the lead and co-lead for this celebration, Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and InvestPenang has planned and coordinated a year-long event with the industry leaders to showcase Penang’s transformation journey and opportunities ahead.

Leveraging on digitalization towards new opportunities

During the virtual press conference, Dato’ Seri Lee Kah Choon, the organizing chairman for this celebration, said: “Penang ecosystem has the right ingredients to enable the adoption and participation of all stakeholders in the IR4.0 road map. Incorporating digitalization in every aspect is the only way for us to compete in the global arena.”

The State’s competitive edges in Electrical & Electronics (E&E), Medical Technology and Digital Economy & Global Business Service (GBS) serve as an enabler in the digitalization journey among businesses and governmental bodies into the future. Aside from these, the State is also exploring the opportunities in the food and space technology that are ripe for the picking. All these exciting capabilities that Penang possessed will be showcased in this year-long celebration.

Championing talent pool expansion

“Penang’s manufacturing sector used to be dominated by direct labour. However, it has undergone structural change and the evolution is especially notable for the past 2 years. With the combination factors of the incoming new strategic projects, prominent rise of homegrown entrepreneurs and growth in the startup landscape, have sparked the creation of many high value job opportunities. As such, we expect the composition of our workforce to be significantly skewed towards knowledge workers to drive Penang’s next stage of manufacturing excellence and innovation,” Lee shared.

“Riding on Penang’s strong industry ecosystem, coupled with the emerging global trend, the State is poised to transform itself into a leading hub for entrepreneurship in Malaysia. We envisage that our income level per capita will top the nation’s list in the very near future, with high income jobs that are as good, if not better than the national average.”

“Penang’s industrial revolution will position itself as the preferred location for knowledge workers. With the pace that we are progressing now, we target to attract at least 150,000 knowledge workers to immigrate to Penang over the next 10 years,” Lee added.

Banking on the uprising demand for talent, the State will focus on initiatives to promote My Penang, My Workplace to embellish “live-work-play’ lifestyle. Concurrently, a tripartite relationship among the State government, industry players and education providers is established to formulate and implement short-, mid- and long-term strategies on talent development programs.

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About InvestPenang
InvestPenang is the Penang State Government’s principal agency for promotion of investment. Its objectives are to develop and sustain Penang’s economy by enhancing and continuously supporting business activities in the State through foreign and local investments, including spawning viable new growth centres. To realize its objectives, InvestPenang also runs initiatives like the SMART Penang Centre (providing assistance to SMEs), Penang CAT Centre (for talent attraction and retention) and i4.0 seed fund (a catalyst for the start-up ecosystem).

For media enquiries, please contact:
Yeoh Bit Kun/ Ooi Phei Wen
bitkun@investpenang.gov.my/ pheiwen@investpenang.gov.my
InvestPenang