SABAH PLANS TO SET UP AI CENTRE TO DRIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION - MOHD ARIFIN

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- The Sabah government plans to establish an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre as part of its efforts to support the state’s digital ecosystem, the State Legislative Assembly sitting was told today.

Sabah Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Datuk Dr Mohd Ariffin Mohd Arif said the initiative was also part of a strategic move to drive digital transformation.

“Our goal is to attract investment, nurture local talent, and foster innovation in various sectors,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2025 (Sabah Budget 2025) for his ministry today.

In the meantime, Mohd Ariffin said the Sabah government would continue to enhance service delivery through the use of information and communication technology (ICT), while also leveraging Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) technologies in the state’s administrative operations.

He said that this included the use of AI to handle repetitive tasks and daily administrative duties, enabling civil servants to be more productive and focus on more demanding and high-impact tasks.

Meanwhile, Mohd Ariffin said the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC) would continue to focus on three core areas next year, namely technology, innovation-driven entrepreneurship, and creativity.

“The main focus is on developing human capital while driving the growth of startups, particularly those involved in social enterprises and technology,” he said, adding that SCENIC had helped make Sabah the second-largest social enterprise ecosystem in Malaysia and the sixth-largest technology startup ecosystem in the country since its establishment in 2020.

Mohd Ariffin said SCENIC would once again collaborate with the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) to organise the SEWF Rural Gathering in October 2025, aiming to bring together rural social enterprises in Kota Kinabalu for knowledge exchange and networking to support rural economic development.

“Through the Digital and IoT Sandbox initiatives, SCENIC strives to improve the level of technology readiness for commercialisation. Collaboration with schools and higher learning institutions will continue to strengthen Sabah’s technology ecosystem.

“Since 2022, through this initiative, SCENIC has helped raise RM7.8 million for technology start-ups in Sabah,” he said.

Mohd Arifin said his ministry also planned to establish two additional branches of the Science Centre in Sandakan and Tawau with PETRONAS’ sponsorship, aiming to strengthen strategic cooperation between the government and industry while also fostering a culture of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in Sabah.

-- BERNAMA