KUCHING: Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) won gold for the Premier’s Digital Economy Award at the Digital Economy Awards 2022 (DEA 2022) in conjunction with the International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (IDECS) 2022 yesterday.
They took home cash prizes worth RM20,000.
In addition, they also won the Digital Technology Transformation Award, with their project entitled ‘Bridging the Digital Gap: Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN)’.
The Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) Sarawak brought home RM15,000 cash prizes after winning silver for the Premier’s Digital Economy Award.
The department also won the Digital Government Award with their project entitled ‘Digitalisation of Water Supply in JBALB Sarawak’.
Bronze for the Premier’s Digital Economy Award went to Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, which brought home cash prizes of RM10,000.
They also won the Digital Inclusivity Award, with a project entitled ‘People Accessible Network for Digital Empowerment & Inclusivity (PANDei)’.
Other award winners were the Forest Department Sarawak, which won the Research and Development and Commercialisation Award category, with their project entitled ‘Seed Bombing For Greening Sarawak Campaign’, and Neuon AI Sdn Bhd (Entrepreneurship and Startup Award) with a project entitled ‘RoadPlus — AI Powered Road Asset Management Platform’.
Meanwhile, IDECS 2022 chairperson Datuk Dr Sabariah Putit in her welcoming remarks said the goal of DEA 2022 is to find the best transformation strategy, sustainable model, holistic and inclusive framework and implementation strategy that contribute to high impact outcomes for Sarawak Digital Economy development blueprint for 2018-2022.
“In addition, we want to recognise, acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of many players and innovators.
“This year, we had 94 applications in total where the submissions were from a variety of organisations, including the public and private sectors, industry, universities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals,” she said.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg presided over the event, which was held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
She added the public sector and government-linked corporations (GLCs) accounted for 61 per cent of the total number of participants.
“Universities accounted for 17 per cent of the total participants, followed by 12 per cent (private sectors and industries), six per cent (entrepreneurs) and four per cent (NGOs and individuals),” she said.
In her speech, Dr Sabariah also thanked the participants for their strong support in promoting the state’s digital transformation development over the last five years, in preparing Sarawak for a future high-income state with a high standard of social wellbeing, and, most importantly, in ensuring that any development is environmentally sustainable.
