The "2005 Euro-Malaysia ICT cooperation event", or EuroMalaysia2005, has successfully taken place from June 8 to 11, 2005 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, in the framework of the GAPFILL Project supported by the European Commission (DG Information Society and Media), coordinated by Sigma Consultants and counting in its partnership Mimos Berhad, Malaysia.
EuroMalaysia2005 was the last of the 4 main events planned in the roadmap of the GAPFILL Project, following EuroSingapore2005 (Singapore, January 2005), EuroTaiwan2005 (Taipei, April 2005), and EuroThailand2005 (Bangkok, June 2005).
The event attracted over 350 delegates (among them around 60 European participants), and provided them with various opportunities to exchange information, experience and visions, and to better evaluate the opportunities offered by the IST Programme of the European Commission to support R&D projects in the ICT field involving Malaysian and European organisations (universities, SMEs, manufacturers and service providers, institutions, NGOs, etc.).
The event programme included on June 8 a welcome dinner offered to the European participants in the heart of the renowned Petronas Twin Towers, allowing them to get together and be given last minute information on event organisation.
The core part of the programme was a conference that took place on June 9 and 10, and included:
- an opening session during which Y.B. Dato' Sri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Malaysia and H.E. Mr Thierry Rommel, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Malaysia, gave warmly opening addresses, followed by several keynote addresses setting the scene of the conference,
- on June 9 and 10, three parallel thematic sessions, allowing European and Malaysian organisations to introduce over 70 "expressions of interest to cooperate", "pre-proposal ideas", and some cooperation initiatives in an even more advanced stage, all of them receiving recommendations and guidance by "Commentators" assisting the session Chairmen,
- a plenary session in the morning of June 10 including a coaching seminar on "How to prepare an IST Proposal" presented by Mr Thierry Devars (European Commission, DG Information Society and Media), and a presentation on "ICT R&D vision and program: the convergence of opportunities" by Mr Rafee Yussoff, Group Vice President of Mimos Berhad,
- a closing plenary session moderated by Dr Tengku Mohd Azzman, President and CEO, Mimos Berhad, and Mr Roger Torrenti, President and CEO, Sigma Consultants, devoted to the vision of the GAPFILL partners (invited to a panel discussion) of the expected impact of their initiative in the short to long term. All partners first expressed their satisfaction that their efforts have been so far rewarded by a strong political support in Europe and in the 4 countries, an important media visibility in Asian countries, a far higher than expected level of attendance to all events, and quite an important number of emerging cooperation projects. They then logically expressed their confidence that the level of participation of Asian organisations in IST Calls would now significantly increase and that an even more ambitious work programme could be addressed by a new phase of the GAPFILL Project.
During the two days, delegates were invited to visit exhibition booths of leading Malaysian organisations, installed in the conference venue, and to take advantage of numerous networking moments (lunches, session breaks, and dinners).
On June 11, European delegates were given the opportunity to visit the Malaysian Handicraft Complex and to visit the administrative City of Putrajaya, part of the Multimedia Super Corridor, where a farewell lunch was offered to them.
Detailed information on EuroMalaysia2005 can be accessed through the following links:
An important reminder to conclude: organisations interested in the cooperation perspectives addressed by EuroMalaysia2005 are invited to contact the GAPFILL European Help-Desk and the GAPFILL Malaysian Help-Desk to receive support in the next phases of their cooperation initiatives and in the preparation of R&D proposals to be submitted to the IST Programme. |
