Malaysia is a rather small country in populous South-East Asia, with 29 million inhabitants, North of Singapore and south of Thailand, with a "peninsular" part and half the island of Borneo (shared with Indonesia). Malaysia has been early to invest a lot in high technology and has a Silicon Valley of its own since 1997. Is infrastructure enough to create conditions for innovation? In this presentation, we share the milestones of Malaysia as an innovation ecosystem, we identify their best practices (in particular the neat organization of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kuala Lumpur) and assess their strengths and weaknesses. Read more about us as we roam the world to explore the emerging markets startups scenes, from Iran to Chile, from China to Nigeria. Reach us at: martin@innovationiseverywhere Innovation is Everywhere

1. Malaysia’s
innovation ecosystem
Following the 4th GES in Kuala Lumpur
October 2013

2. Innovation has no place in a global world, it’s everywhere
Innovation ecosystems can learn from one another
Local context matters and should be a source for innovators
This is why…
We’re on a world tour of innovation ecosystems!
We believe…

3. History & context of
innovation in Malaysia
Two decades of government initiatives

4. A brief history of Malaysia innovation ecosystem
• 1970s: NEP policy (controversially) gives more equity to ethnic
Malays
• 1996: Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), with high-speed internet,
tax breaks, nearby airport and university/company mix
• 1997: MESDAQ (Technology companies stock exchange)

5. A brief history of Malaysia innovation ecosystem
• 2001: MAVCAP, a gov-owned VC starts operating for ICT companies
• 2003: Cradle Fund, a gov-owned agency to nurture the ecosystem
• 2008-2011: Community events (BarCamps, Startup Malaysia…)
• 2013: Global Entrepreneurship Summit and Global Youth Startup

6. Traditional business have succeeded…
• AirAsia: 135 aircrafts (352 more to be delivered), founded
1993
• Jimmy Choo: Born on Penang island, first shoe at the age of 11

7. ... and the tech field is already crowded

8. Malaysia is above Asia average
for internet & social media use
Malaysia 61%
Asia 27%

9. Tradition still a key value for Malaysians

10. Malaysia innovation
ecosystem today
Pros & Cons, Top Connectors & local best practices

11. Pros and cons of Malaysia
innovation ecosystem
• Proactive gov for 2 decades with
effective infrastructure (visa, equity, tax,
internet access)
• Existing success stories in traditional as
well as tech biz
• 4 out of 5 top listed tech companies of
South-East Asia are Malaysian-based
• Proximity of Singapore for talent,
mobility, funding
• Cheaper than Singapore, big airline Hub
for Asia and Middle-East
• Market size and too rare overseas
expansion
• Resource-based economy where ICT has
less impact than in service-based
economy
• Innovation can be more in local context
(oil&gas, religious finance…)
• Singapore seen as competitor, not as a
connector
• Lack of successful entrepreneurs turned
mentors for next generation
• Potential ethnic issues & perception of
unfairness
PROS CONS

12. Top connectors in Malaysia
Daniel Cerventus, @cerventus, Nextup
Asia founder, TEDx organizer in KL, media
connector
Dash Dhakshinamoorthy, @DashInsights,
Startup Malaysia founder, brain behind
the Global Startup Youth
Nazrin Hassan (LinkedIn) heads the
Cradle Fund, after stints in banking,
entrepreneur and gov. agencies
Khailee Ng, @khailee, serial
entrepreneur and angel, representative
for 500Startups in Malaysia

13. Top connectors to bridge Malaysia to the world
Bowei Gai, @bowei, sold his previous
company to LinkedIn, and has been
travelling for his Startup World Report
Bjoern Herrmann, @bjoernlasse, is a co-
founder at Startup Compass and the brain
behind the Startup Genome
Peter Tatischev, @tatischev, is an
entrepreneur based in Moscow, Russia,
knowledgeable about the local ecosystem
Adam Stelle, @AdamStelle, is VP of
Growth at UP Global, the umbrella brand
behind Startup Weekend and more

14. Best practices of
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
Creating an ecosystem of side events per industry/market during the Global
Entrepreneurship Summit to increase networking and discovery possibilities

15. Best practices of
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
Universiti Tun Abdul Razak co-designed a Bachelor of accounting with
the Australian CPA, 2nd largest professional association of accountants
in the world, so that students can work directly after graduation

16. Best practices of
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
Inviting 250 youth from 100 countries and team up with 250 Malaysian
youth to foster creativity and bring new solutions to the world’s
problem. Teams are pre-selected to mix skills & nationalities

17. What’s next for Malaysia?
Recommendations to push forward the innovation ecosystem

18. Next steps for
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
Evolution of the role of the government, from leader to feeder
• Government must learn to withdraw when useful
“David Rose at #GES2013 "you don't pay someone to be an entrepreneur" talking of gov
agencies #ecosystems #government”
• Improving wages for developers in web technologies
".@bjoernlasse at #Ges2013: a dev in #Malaysia gets $2000/month. developed countries
make their growth on tech co's: bridging the gap”
• Improve diversity within the Malaysian ecosystem
“Nazrin Hassan, VC in #Malaysia at #Ges2013 : innovation ecosystems need a diversity of
people, networks. Do not build with local people only”
• Make universities investors of their students’ projects
“Universities backing students projects: #stanford got $336M back from Google, Univ. of
Florida got $150M #GES2013 #edu #edtech c/ @annelalou”

19. Next steps for
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
The energy of the community can address new challenges
• Identify local strengths and key economic industries
“NY is the capital city for finance, for advertising, and many other industries. An ecosystem is anchored
locally, and must take advantage of the existing entrepreneurial base“ (David Rose)
• Do a startup to address an issue, not for the lifestyle
“Too many people do their own thing for the sake of doing their own thing. They're not thinking of
solving a problem #GES2013 @501Awani (@Cherish_Leow)”
• Bet on local communities and make them entrepreneurs
“Empower rural, women and religious communities to find your ‘Blue Ocean’ of innovation and expand in
SEA and Middle-East rather than duplicating the Silicon Valley”
• Improve the storytelling capacity of Malaysia as a startup Hub
“M'sia need to market better its plenty of success startup stories to inspire. One M'aia startup sold out to
google for 70M USD. #GES2013 (@airaniss)”

20. Next steps for
Malaysia innovation ecosystem
Start local, go global (global does not mean “Silicon Valley” only)
• Stop benchmarking against the Silicon Valley
“Benchmarking against the Silicon Valley makes no sense for #Malaysia #ecosystem : would you
benchmark against Lionel Messi? #GES2013” (David Rose, NY)
• Open Malaysia to the world
“In the Silicon Valley, half the founders and 70% of PhD are foreign-born immigrants. Israel is ranked
highly in entrepreneurs’ minds also for its capacity to link with New York, the Silicon Valley or Europe for
its own startups” (Bjoern Herrmann, Startup Genome)
• Using Singapore as a Hub for talent and mobility
“If Malaysia was really bold, they could create a free zone for startups in Johor Baru to offer Singapore-
based innovators easier visa, cheaper costs and same access to a global hub”
• Create bridges with like-minded countries where local Malaysian startup can sell the same service
“There’s a copycat syndrome too in Tanzania, but we push people to work on rural issues, which are key
in other countries, even in Asia, where there is a great divide between urban elite and rural populations”
(George Mulamula, CEO of Tanzania incubator DTBi)

21. Eager to learn about the
other innovation ecosystems?

22. Documenting innovation through key events
Hot posts, interviews, live-tweet, Google Hangouts
Identifying key connectors on & offline
Discovering alternative and emerging innovation ecosystems
Beyond the Silicon Valley, local innovation hotbeds
Tech, Social impact, Education, Life Sciences…
Increasing mobility of innovators and ecosystem enablers
Connecting doers and thinkers through monthly Hangouts
Offering innovation ecosystem enablers to learn and exchange from peers
About our project
A world tour of innovation ecosystems

23. About our team
Analysis, community & network
Martin Pasquier
Entrepreneur in
Singapore (social
media agency), long-
time traveller
Mixes economics,
politics and travels to
analyze ecosystems,
reports on innovation
Anne Lalou
CEO of Innovation
Factory & Web School
Factory in Paris
Transfer knowledge of
ecosystems to new
generation and to a
network of top French
companies
Nicolas Loubet
Serial entrepreneur
in Paris
with 3 companies,
growth hacker
Manages and
nurtures creative
communities
on & offline

24. A world tour of innovation: 2013-2014
SUPPORT US! Travel & time of exploration isn’t free 
 Custom reports on emerging markets & trends
 Workshops, talks on innovation trends
 Connection to key local players for VCs, brands, tech communities

25. Links & resources to know more about
Malaysia innovation ecosystem

26. • Our video to wrap-up the 4th Global Entrepreneurship Summit
• Our blog to find more about the Summit, top keynotes and interviews
• The Bluenod mapping of the top Twitter account during the Summit, to crawl top connectors
• Follow us on Twitter: @martpasquier, @nicolasloubet, @annelalou
• Support us for our world tour, get reports on-demand and more!
The RockmyEcosystem project
About

27. About
Sources on internet
• 4th Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Kuala Lumpur, Oct 10-11, 2013 (official website, our blog)
• Global Startup Youth, by Startup Malaysia (site)
• World Startup Report (site)
• Startup Genome (site)
• 45 Year Review Of Technopreneurs In Malaysia Start Up Camp KL Gewmalaysia (Slideshare)
• Top & Popular E-Commerce Sites in Malaysia (E-milo)
• Malaysian Startup Life in 10 Slides (Slideshare)
• Indonesia: Into The Hearts and Minds of Generation Asia 2013 (Slideshare)
• We Are Social’s Guide to Social, Digital and Mobile in Asia (2nd Edition, Oct 2012) (Slideshare)

28. Thanks!
Martin Pasquier, for Innovation is Everywhere
martin@innovationiseverywhere.com