THE Penang government aims to equip 1,000 youths with digital knowledge under the Penang Young Digital Talents Programme by this year.
State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee said the goal was to reach the said target after the launching of the programme two years ago.
“As of now, we have trained up to a total of 820 youths in various digital fields, namely e-commerce, digital marketing, web design and becoming a Key Opinion Leader (KOL).
“If possible, we hope to develop another 1,000 youths in the digital fields next year.
“This initiative is a step forward to empower the youths in Penang.
“It’s important for us to grow digitally and leave a meaningful footprint in the industry.
“Thanks to Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) for their continuous effort to groom our future talents,” he said in his speech during the Penang Young Digital Talent Award Ceremony and Web Design Competition Finale at The Ship Campus in Batu Kawan today.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who was present, told the youths that there was no shortcut to success.
“To succeed, we need to put in our effort to ensure we can reach our aim.
“The goal is not only to develop Penang as a digital talent hub, but to also develop talents who have the capabilities to embrace the digitalisation era.
“In fact, we had established Digital Penang Sdn Bhd to promote our digitalisation efforts together with other relevant agencies.
“PYDC has also done a lot of hard work to promote digitalisation effort,” he said.
Chow expressed his appreciation to all the agencies, which had been collaborating with the state.
He said there would be a digital programme with the collaboration between Digital Penang Sdn Bhd, Think City and Penang Institute next week.
“We are working closely to identify key potential areas to be turned into the Creative Digital District (CD2) or CD Square, which will provide the catalyst for the state’s economic development, entrepreneurship, technology transfer and enhancement of knowledge,” he said.
PYDC general manager Dr Gwee Sai Ling applauded the participants of Penang Young Digital Talent and Web Design Competition.
“We have always been excited and keen to develop the youths and empower them.
“Digitalisation is the way forward now,” she said.
During the event, team Overcook emerged as the champions, followed by Metaverse as the first runners-up and Befour as the second runners-up in Web Design Competition Finale.
The winners took home RM2,000 while the first and second runners up received RM1,600 and RM1,200 respectively.
For the Digital Talent Award, the winners were Oh Zi Jian, Tay Wan Nee, Poh Choo Han, Ooi Si Sheng and Chuah Kai Win.
Also present were Jawi assemblyman H’ng Mooi Lye, Bagan Dalam assemblyman M. Satees, Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi, PYDC’s board of directors, PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd chief executive and managing director Datuk Seri Dr Michael Tio and Big Domain founder Henry Tye.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Muhamad Amir Irsyad Omar
Video by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis