Opening Remarks Delivered by YB Liew Chin Tong at the Bengkel Inovasi GLC (BIG) 2.0 Launch Event

Salam Malaysia Madani.

1. Today, I am representing Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Minister of Finance II, who has to be in Parliament for the Minister’s Question Time. Let me begin by thanking YB Chang Lih Kang, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), and Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, CEO of Cradle Fund, for your leadership and steadfast partnership. To the CEOs and senior leaders of our GLCs, PLCs, MOF Inc. companies, and partners from MOSTI, MITI, MDA and the wider ecosystem, welcome and thank you for being here.
2. Today’s gathering is not just about the launch of Bengkel Inovasi GLC (BIG) 2.0. It is about a question we began confronting last year, and one that has become far more urgent in just twelve months: how do Malaysian corporates move innovation from the sidelines into the core of how they operate – with speed, discipline and intent?
3. It is about whether Malaysia is ready to see itself as a technology nation and go all out about making it a national mission.
4. When we launched BIG 1.0, it signalled a clear shift. Innovation could no longer sit as isolated pilots or side initiatives. It had to be treated as a core organisational capability, owned by leadership, tied to outcomes, and built to scale.
5. In the past year, we have also seen the rapid acceleration of AI as a force that is intensifying transformation. It differentiates between organisations that can redesign how they work, and those that simply add tools onto old structures. AI is the accelerator, and it changes everything.
6. The real challenge is organisational: how decisions are made, how work is organised, and how accountability is structured.
7. The MADANI Government takes this seriously. Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim has directed ministries to accelerate end-to-end digitalisation, including beginning official correspondence with AI-generated drafts, refined through human judgement and accountability. This direction is backed by Budget 2026 and the Thirteenth Malaysia Plan (RMK-13), through procurement reform, digitalised service delivery, and investments in future-ready capabilities. The government is moving. Now corporate Malaysia must move with the same urgency – not just adopting tools but building the capability to innovate and deliver.
8. We are also strengthening the broader ecosystem, including Malaysia’s ambition under KL20 to build a globally prominent startup hub by 2030. The next phase of growth requires stronger corporate participation, through partnerships, procurement pathways, and corporate venturing that can crowd in private capital and scale real solutions.
9. But productivity gains do not happen in policy documents alone. They happen inside organisations – in how decisions are made, operations are run, and technologies are deployed at scale. That is where corporate Malaysia becomes decisive. That is where BIG comes in.
10. BIG 1.0 repositioned innovation as a leadership responsibility. It tested whether Malaysian corporates, particularly our GLCs, could adopt innovation faster with a clear focus on outcomes. Corporate teams assessed over 300 startups, evaluated 60 solutions, and built capabilities that did not previously exist.
    • CelcomDigi, for example, partnered with robotics and AI solution providers to develop 5G-powered intelligent warehouses, improving operational speed and scalability;
    • SP Setia partnered a venture builder and multiple startups to rethink construction quality and the home-ownership experience, across its value chain.
11. What mattered most was not the technology, but ownership with clear accountability and intent. That structural shift is what allows innovation to endure beyond any single programme. Many of these solutions will also be showcased later at the gallery walk.
12. The numbers reinforce this shift. From RM10.7 million in government funding under Belanjawan 2025, participating GLCs committed RM29.4 million of their own capital; real skin in the game. From eight proof-of-concepts, we are already seeing early commercialisation, including paying customers and regional market exposure. Collectively, these projects are projected to generate RM1 billion in estimated impact – nearly a 30-times return on public investment.
13. With BIG 2.0, we are now taking the next step and doing so with greater ambition, widening this platform beyond the pioneer GLC cohort to a broader group of Malaysian corporates, because the challenge before us is not confined to a few institutions.
14. Malaysia will not transform if innovation remains fragmented, cautious or isolated. We need corporates that are first movers, institutions that are adaptive, and enterprises that are globally relevant. BIG is one of the platforms through which we are making that shift – aligned with GEAR-uP and our commitment to Raise the Ceiling under Ekonomi MADANI.
15. Together, we are not just building new ventures. We are strengthening how innovation is understood, adopted and sustained across corporate Malaysia – so that as the government moves forward with reform and digitalisation, our corporates are moving with us, ready to compete, ready to scale, and ready for what comes next. We are building a technology nation, a new way of life for Malaysia.

Thank you.