Chamber News

Shaping Malaysia’s Digital Future with UK-Southeast Asia Tech Week 2026

Posted by admin1689

As part of the Kuala Lumpur leg of UK–Southeast Asia Tech Week 2026, held from 11 to 13 February, BMCC was proud to collaborate with the UK Government, HSBC Malaysia, MDEC, Informed Solutions, Arm and iProov to convene a dedicated segment at HSBC’s Kuala Lumpur Main Office in Menara IQ, TRX on 12 February 2026.

The three-day programme reflects the UK’s clear ambition to deepen digital and technology collaboration with Malaysia and the wider region. Across the week, UK technology companies engaged Malaysian policymakers, regulators, investors and industry leaders to explore practical partnerships in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech and sustainable data centres — areas that sit at the heart of Malaysia’s digital transformation agenda under the 13th Malaysia Plan.

Our session welcomed more than 150 senior UK and regional leaders, enterprise representatives and ecosystem players for a substantive exchange on how to translate national digital ambition into enterprise reality.

The programme opened with remarks from His Excellency Ajay Sharma CMG, British High Commissioner to Malaysia, who underscored the shared ambition between the UK and Malaysia to build trusted, innovative and sustainable technology ecosystems. He highlighted that UK–Southeast Asia Tech Week is not simply a showcase of capability, but a platform to deliver real-world solutions in AI, digital transformation and emerging technologies.

Martin Kent, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, reinforced the UK’s long-term commitment to Southeast Asia’s digital growth. He emphasised that as ASEAN advances towards a trillion-dollar digital economy, the UK stands ready as a trusted partner — bringing regulatory expertise, deep-tech innovation and commercial scale to unlock new opportunities between UK and Southeast Asian businesses.

The event also marked the launch of the ASEAN–UK TradeTech Lookbook, a practical tool designed to help governments and companies across Southeast Asia identify UK technologies that can support ASEAN’s digital integration and trade modernisation agenda. The Lookbook positions the UK as a strategic partner in enabling secure, interoperable and future-ready digital trade systems across the region.

Datuk Azman Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Nasional Berhad, delivered a special address on building a commercially viable AI and data infrastructure ecosystem for Malaysia. He spoke to the importance of resilient connectivity, strong governance frameworks and coordinated public–private collaboration to ensure Malaysia’s AI ambitions are underpinned by robust national infrastructure.

CK Tseng, President of Arm ASEAN, followed with a keynote on the foundational role of advanced semiconductor design and energy-efficient compute architecture in enabling scalable AI deployment. This was particularly timely given Arm’s growing role as a strategic AI partner supporting Malaysia’s National Semiconductor Strategy — a clear signal of the depth of UK–Malaysia digital collaboration.

A defining feature of UK–Southeast Asia Tech Week 2026 is the participation of 10 UK companies specialising in AI, cybersecurity, cloud and data technologies — including Civo, Cyber Trust, Darktrace, EkkoSense, HoloMem, iProov, Ipsotek, MyCena, Speechmatics and tomoro ai. Collectively, UK partners and delegates involved in the programme employ over 30,000 people worldwide and represent a combined valuation exceeding £100 billion, anchored by global leaders such as Arm and unicorns including Revolut and Darktrace. Beyond the headline names, the scale-ups and deep-tech SMEs alone represent over £360 million in enterprise value, showcasing the breadth and maturity of the UK’s US$1.2 trillion technology ecosystem.

BMCC also marked a significant milestone with the official launch of our Digital and Technology Network by our Executive Director, Farhan Zamri. The Network will serve as a structured advocacy and collaboration platform for members across the digital value chain, enabling industry players to exchange knowledge, surface regulatory challenges and provide coordinated recommendations to policymakers — strengthening industry-government dialogue as Malaysia advances its digital ambitions.

The first panel discussion, “From National Strategy to Enterprise Reality: Building Trusted AI for Malaysia’s Digital Economy,” was moderated by G. Saravanan, Chief Transformation Officer for ASEAN at Informed Solutions. The session brought together Dr Maheshwara Rao Appannan, Head of Digital Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia; Calvin Woo, Director, Malaysia Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution; Dr Stuart Redshaw, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer & Co-Founder of EkkoSense; and Noelle Tan, Manager AI & ML, Digital Technology Solutions, Sunway.

The discussion explored how trusted AI frameworks can move from policy documents into operational deployment. Panellists examined healthcare innovation, sustainability considerations in AI-enabled infrastructure, and the governance mechanisms required to build public confidence while maintaining commercial agility.

The second panel, “Ethical AI and Trust – Building Confidence in Intelligent Systems,” moderated by Amanda Cham, Vice President of Bullhound Capital, featured Chee Mun Foong, Chief Executive Officer of YTL AI LABS & Chief Product Officer of YTL Digital Bank Berhad (Ryt Bank); Albert Phelps, Co-Founder of Tomoro.ai; Germaine Tan, VP and Field Chief Information Security Officer at Darktrace; and Paolina White, Senior Director, Strategic Accounts at Speechmatics.

This session placed ethics, cybersecurity and transparency at the forefront of AI adoption. Speakers stressed that trust must be engineered into systems from the outset — through robust identity verification, strong data governance and clear accountability structures — if AI is to scale responsibly across financial services, healthcare, government and beyond.

The programme was further enriched by expert presentations addressing critical enablers of digital growth:

  • “Securing Identity in the Era of Deepfakes” by Milko Radotic of iProov, highlighting the urgent need for resilient digital identity solutions in an age of synthetic media.

  • “From Pilots to Production: Why Scaling AI and Talent is Hard” by Michael Heaney of Ernst & Young Consulting, examining organisational and skills barriers to AI deployment at scale.

  • “Building a Sovereign AI for Malaysia’s Digital Economy” by Chee Mun Foong, outlining the strategic importance of developing domestic AI capabilities aligned with national priorities.

  • “The AI Data Centre Boom – Balancing Growth, Sustainability, and Resilience” by Andy Hodgson of ARUP, addressing how infrastructure expansion must be balanced with environmental sustainability and grid stability.

Beyond CPTPP, the discussions throughout the week also signalled the potential for deeper digital trade cooperation between the UK and Malaysia, including the prospect of a future bilateral Digital Trade Agreement. This builds on an already robust partnership — from Arm’s strategic role in Malaysia’s semiconductor ambitions to growing two-way investment in R&D.

Overall, UK–Southeast Asia Tech Week 2026 demonstrated the scale, seriousness and strategic alignment underpinning UK–Malaysia digital cooperation. BMCC was honoured to play a central role in delivering the Kuala Lumpur programme, reinforcing our commitment to facilitating meaningful partnerships and ensuring our members are actively engaged in shaping Malaysia’s digital and technology future.