Recently, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak expresses his wish for the Smart Community (iComm) system to be expanded to more areas.
Kampung Padang Rumbia is the first rural community in the country to benefit from this initiative.
To begin with, Smart communities usually have several similar threads -sustainability, resilience, liveability, transparency. They also accept contemporary approaches to collecting information, boosting collaboration, streamlining processes and studying trends.
iComm is a social innovation initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and is managed by its research and development agency, MIMOS. The system comprises a close circuit television (CCTV) network, river level monitoring equipment and an internet-based mobile communication platform.
This initiative will provide a platform for a community communication that is efficient and affordable because it can be operated with existing smartphones. Other noteworthy features will include its real-time remote monitoring capability which will aid in increasing security levels.
“The system would enable better monitoring of remote locations for safety purposes, apart from its more popular usage, which is for quick communication and as a business platform,” Minister Najib said.
Moreover, as the world evolves, countries worldwide are in a race to generate their economy based on knowledge, also known as K-Economy. Of which, one of the fundamentals of a K-Economy is the ability of the people to construct an economy that is not reliant on natural resources.
“To be a developed nation, the people must have knowledge in all trades – not only in business and finance management, but they must also be able to use science, technology and innovation (STI),” said Minister Najib, while launching the iComm project at Kampung Padang Rumbia.
In line with the Malaysia Commercialisation Year 2016, MOSTI aspires to see Made-in-Malaysia technology products and services advance further and subsequently commercialised by the private sector and government agencies.
Image courtesy of MIMOS