UTM International Business School (UTM IBS) has currently arrived at the 3^rd phase of our proudly acknowledged program, the Swiss Innovation Challenge Asia 2017. Among a line-up of networking events arranged to foster new industry-academia relationships and future collaborations, UTM-Swiss Malaysian Business Association (SMBA) Networking Event, which specifically aimed to network UTM with the Swiss-Malaysian Business Association (SMBA) and the participants from various industries/students/research institutes from all over Malaysia and Switzerland, was successfully held at UTM Kuala Lumpur on 20^th July 2017, at 6.30pm. We were proud to have His Excellency Michael Winzap, the ambassador of Switzerland to Malaysia, and Prof. Dr. Nordin bin Yahaya, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) of UTM, to grace the historic event.

The event started with a welcoming speech by Prof. Dr. Nordin. In his speech, he highlighted the fact that Swiss Innovation Challenge (SIC) Asia 2017 is not just a challenge that focuses solely on rewarding innovative ideas, but also serves as a platform of championing national agendas and making the world a better place to live and evolve by nurturing such innovative ideas. Also, as the Swiss Innovation Challenge is a non-profit initiative, he sincerely hoped to be able to garner financial support by raising at least RM 500,000 per year to cover the costs for promotions, expertise, event management, prizes, and operating expenses for the project. By then, the Swiss Innovation Challenge initiative will be able to sustain itself and in turn benefit new businesses as well as expand the Swiss-Malaysian legacy that has been persistent since 1887.

Next, His Excellency Michael Winzap gave a greeting note to the audience. His Excellency was delighted to be invited to UTM for the third time and looked forward to come again. His Excellency also stressed the essential role of the embassy in bringing two countries closer and establishing cooperation and knowledge sharing in different sectors that would immensely benefit both countries, with SIC Asia 2017 being one of the best testimonials of such cooperation and unwavering friendship. After the speech, Mr. Chris Meyer, President of the Swiss Malaysian Business Association (SMBA), was invited to the stage to give an introduction to the organisation to the audience from Malaysia as well as different regions.

A sharing session by Laurent Maillefer, business unit manager at ABB Malaysia which is the leading company in power and automation technologies, was conducted. His informative speech in this sharing session revolved around the theme “How Connectivity is Changing the Face of an Industry” from the entrepreneurial perspective. He highlighted ABB’s ambition in unlocking the digital potential in the industry, which is in line with the ideas of industry 4.0 that are evolving the landscape of all industries more rapidly than ever across the globe.

After that, another sharing session was conducted of which Dr. Rahmat Shazi, the Director of Strand Aerospace Malaysia was invited as the speaker. Strand Aerospace Malaysia (SAM) is the leading aerospace engineering services player in Malaysia. It is also the strategic engineering services provider to Spirit Aerosystems Malaysia and has supported manufacturing and engineering for Spirit in the UK and Europe. Being an experienced academic and an entrepreneur, Dr. Rahamat presented his speech titled “Industry 4.0: Academic & Industrial Synergy” by sharing with the audience the key concepts of Industry 4.0 and the movement of this revolution around the world, as well as how a tertiary institution can be the propellant of industry 4.0 in order to transform the current industries to become highly integrated based on cyber-physical production systems that combine communications, IT, data and physical elements.

After the sharing sessions, the Swiss and Malaysian entrepreneurs as well as the SIC participants had fruitful interactions and networked with each other over dinner. The live band charmed the guests with their celestial music by performing several songs including well-known Raya songs in conjunction with Hari Raya season, as well as English songs and Hindu songs. The event ended at 8.30 pm.

SIC team is very proud to have successfully organised the international level networking event that served as the platform to establish and strengthen friendships and future collaborations between the two counterparts.