Propelling Technopreneurship

SECRETARY General of Ministry of Finance and Chairman of MaGIC, Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah recently launched the Sunway Innovation Labs (Sunway iLabs) together with Founder and Chairman of Sunway Group and Chancellor of Sunway University, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah.
Sunway iLabs will function as a start-up incubator as well as run accelerator programmes, acting as a micro-ecosystem, which will encourage the development of the start-up ecosystem within the country.
The unique not-for-profit smart partnership concept will see Sunway University, Sunway Group and Sunway Ventures work together in a triple helix innovation model, combining the strengths of stakeholders across academia, industry and government within a collaborative space to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate market-driven innovations enabling entrepreneurs to scale their business faster.
At Sunway iLabs, students from Sunway University will be able to apply their talent and technical expertise to growth-hack Sunway Group's 12 business units. Sunway Ventures, the venture arm of Sunway Group which was set up last year to drive the organisation's future growth will fund viable startups that are synergistic to Sunway's businesses.
Sunway iLabs will also sync with the wider start-up ecosystem in Malaysia and abroad through collaborations and strategic partnerships to enable entrepreneurs to scale their business faster.
Prior to the launch, panel sessions featuring 20 speakers from academia, venture capital firms, successful start-ups and government agencies were conducted for over 300 students and young entrepreneurs. Speakers include MDEC CEO Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, Young Outliers’ Co-Founder and CEO Steve Hsia and US Market Access Center (USMAC) Co-CEO Chris Burry.