KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 60 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been selected to undergo the Readiness Assessment (RA) programme to migrate to Industry 4.0 platform, said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Dr Ong Kian Ming (pix).
He told the Dewan Rakyat that as at July 3, the 60 companies were chosen out of 475 applications from SMEs nationwide and had undergone the filtration process by the RA Technical and Steering Committee to ensure transparency and integrity in the selection.
“The selection was made based on criteria that have been set to ensure the aspiration to encourage the industry transition to Industry 4.0 can be achieved,” he said in a reply to a question from Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) on the outcome of the RA programme to-date.
Answering a supplementary question from Khoo on the lack of response to the RA, Ong said this was due to the lack of awareness on the benefits that the SMEs will get from the programme.
“The ministry has provided a fund called business intervention funding whereby all the companies that applied and undergone the RA process are qualified to apply for the fund via matching grant, that is, 70 per cent will be funded by the ministry while the remaining 30 per cent will be funded by the applicants,” he said.
He said the grant, with a maximum of RM500,000 for each application, was aimed at assisting the SMEs make the necessary investments to transit to Industry 4.0.
The RA was launched in January this year to identify SMEs which are ready to transit to Industry 4.0. — Bernama
