MDEC urges local businesses to shift from innovation to execution as AI accelerates change

• Highlights AI-driven projects delivering measurable results across sectors
• Data shows gap between innovation readiness and real-world execution among businesses

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is urging local businesses to move beyond innovation ambition and focus on execution, as artificial intelligence (AI) and other fast-evolving technologies shorten the time needed to turn ideas into market-ready outcomes.

Speaking at the Digital Economy Innovation Forum, MDEC CEO Anuar Fariz Fadzil (pic) said that while many organisations see themselves as innovation-ready, the bigger challenge is implementing, scaling and commercialising solutions quickly enough to remain competitive.

He said the issue is not a lack of ideas, but an execution gap, especially as AI accelerates the pace of change. Many businesses already have innovation frameworks in place but still struggle to turn intent into results at speed and scale.

A Securities Commission Malaysia study shows that 70% of corporates are innovation-ready, with 44% having structured innovation processes in place. However, 65% still face talent, capability or capital constraints, while the average revenue allocated to innovation remains at just 0.85%, highlighting the gap between readiness and execution.

Anuar said businesses can no longer depend on traditional innovation cycles, as AI is significantly shortening the gap between emergence and adoption. What once took years is now increasingly happening within weeks, requiring faster and more decisive responses.

Against this backdrop, MDEC is working to bridge this gap by connecting policy, industry, capital and talent to support organisations in identifying challenges, sourcing solutions, validating them and scaling them across sectors such as financial services, property, infrastructure, healthcare, utilities and technology.

According to the agency, several projects it supports are already delivering measurable results. These include an AI-enabled suicide attempt alert system deployed at high-risk locations under the Global Testbed Initiative, achieving an 86% early intervention success rate and 74% prevention outcomes, and which has since been scaled to both Penang bridges.

Another example is an AI-powered aquaculture monitoring and control system under the Digital AgTech Initiative, which has been deployed in more than 50 locations nationwide and delivered 20% productivity gains and 30% cost savings.

A drone technology project in Brazil under an MDEC business mission generated RM15 million in export sales and delivered 50% cost savings through local assembly and maintenance capabilities.

Other initiatives include AI-enabled port operations optimisation for Penang Port; cyber threat intelligence for Bank Negara Malaysia; AI-assisted EV fire detection and incident response; robotics-enabled automation of secure document handling and processing; AI-driven smart city management for Perbadanan Putrajaya; digital literacy and immersive learning for UOB Malaysia; and AI-driven digital financial literacy and education for Securities Commission Malaysia.

As a result, the ecosystem is becoming more active, with corporates increasingly leading innovation efforts while MDEC connects them with startups and ecosystem partners for deployment.

Looking ahead, Anuar said MDEC will continue strengthening its AI and 5G push through ecosystem collaboration and a joint innovation-to-commercialisation pipeline built around real-world challenges, sandbox environments, cloud resources, cybersecurity capabilities and enterprise-readiness validation.

Priority areas include manufacturing, logistics, transportation, agriculture and smart city solutions.

MDEC is also preparing to extend this approach into the public sector through a government innovation initiative focused on areas such as healthcare records, traffic management and service delivery, with AI expected to play a stronger role.