Digital Economy

Our Prime Minister said on 19 October 2011 that it was undeniable the next wave of economic growth would come from knowledge-based economy with digital technologies as a key driver of progress.  This was delivered at the launch of the 23^rd MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting.  Nonetheless, he mentioned that Malaysia needs a solid push and a clear framework to build a digital economy, which will be an important enabler for the country’s economic transformation program. He had made similar announcement earlier this year at the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council Meeting in New York, whereby he mentioned that Malaysia is constructing an innovative digital economy framework that would serve as an additional enabler for its transformation.

The fact that he emphasized on Digital Malaysia to be seen as a pillar of the Transformation Program and the positioning of Digital Malaysia in the National Transformation Policy should be something that should cause surveyors to stand-up and take note -  in particular the land surveyors and valuers. The part which involves the land surveyors is obviously the aspect of collecting and managing geospatial information.  In this regards, it has now become common knowledge that as much as 80% or more of data collected has a spatial reference and that almost 80% of decision making in government needs spatial information.

How can this then be related to it being a contributor to the economy? From researches made, it can be summarized that there has been an increasing emphasis on geospatial data whereby organizations worldwide maximize and exploit geospatial information and technology across their enterprises. This include increased geospatial development and capabilities from large Internet providers like Google, MSN and Yahoo.  In addition, there has been sharply increased use of technologies such as GNSS, RFID, wireless LAN/WAN, intelligent sensors and cellular networks. Increasing systems and data integration focused on spatially-enabled enterprise information systems too comes into play in this area of digital technology.

The economic value of geospatial information in particular has been researched by some authorities. For exemplification, it’s noteworthy to consider referring to the one carried out in the United Kingdom, whereby the value of digital geospatial information in local public service delivery in England and Wales had been scoped for the study. This is in consideration of the fact that digital geospatial information is deemed an enabler of improvements in the local public service delivery, including in designing and managing services and infrastructure, monitoring local conditions and change, evidence-based decision making, and locating customer needs. Obviously, there are many other innovative use of digital geospatial information across other services as well.

The outcome of the aforementioned research shows that the creation and use of digital geospatial information had contributed £353 million (RM 1.6 billion) to the GDP for England and Wales in 2009 and that it would double up in 2015. We have to bear in mind that this study is scoped into applications confined to the local authorities. There are obviously many more other applications in other areas, which certainly is bountiful.

From another perspective, it was reported that Europe’s digital economy has grown in strength. In fact, it had spread throughout all sectors of the economy - reaching into all areas of their lives. It was said that ICTs have driven half of the productivity growth in Europe over the past 15 years, and that 6 out of 10 Europeans regularly use the Internet. And it was pointed out that if Europe wants to fully exploit the potential benefits of the digital economy, it must step up and provide faster broadband, improve citizen’s skills and encourage even more ICT innovation. Additionally, it is clear that the Internet has huge potential in the on-line market through e-Commerce / e-Business.

Malaysia would evidently be following suit in the aforementioned exciting developments. So, let’s go with the flow and pounce on the opportunities available, apart from contributing to Malaysia’s digital economy.