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Malaysia to consider appointing chief data scientist
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government was considering appointing a chief data scientist in view of the rapid deployment of MSC Malaysia and digital sector in the country.
He said the recommendation would be made to the Cabinet for a possible appointment very soon.
“Advancing the Malaysian digital economy is a path we must take and a challenge we must exuberantly embrace in moving the country rapidly towards achieving Vision 2020,” he said in his closing remarks at the 26th MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting here today.
MSC Malaysia is Malaysia’s national information and communications technology (ICT) initiative designed to attract world-class technology companies while grooming the local ICT industry.
In order to overcome the skills gap in terms of data scientists available in the country, Najib said the government had made the decision to direct scholarship agencies such as Public Service Department (JPA), Education Ministry and Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to provide scholarships.
“It will enable Malaysians to be trained as data scientists at the degree, masters and PhD levels and this will be done immediately because we want to scale up to overcome the skills gap.”
Najib announced Malaysia would be hosting the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in 2020 to be co-organised by MDeC and PIKOM.
The selection of the host was announced at the WCIT 2014 in Guadalajara, Mexico recently.
This will be the second time Malaysia has been given the honour to host the WCIT, after successfully hosting the 16th series in 2008 in Kuala Lumpur.
