By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 24: Sarawak has launched the Sarawak Business Events Analytics and Collaboration Network (Sarawak BEACON), a centralised data intelligence platform aimed at strengthening the State’s business events industry through data, market intelligence and collaboration.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the initiative marked an important milestone as Sarawak enters the next phase of development of its business events sector after two decades of building the industry.
“Because the next 20 years cannot be built on instinct alone. They must also be built on data, intelligence, collaboration and evidence,” he said in his speech read by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian at the Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) 20th anniversary celebration and the official launch of Sarawak BEACON last night (Sept 23).
He said BEACON was designed to bring together industry data, market intelligence and collaboration in one platform, enabling Sarawak to gain a clearer understanding of the business events sector and identify opportunities for future growth.
The platform would also help the State better understand and demonstrate the value generated by business events for Sarawak, he said.
“If the first 20 years were about building the industry, BEACON represents the intelligence we need to guide its next 20,” he said.
The launch comes as Sarawak seeks to position business events as more than a tourism activity, with the State increasingly linking international conferences, exhibitions and congresses to its wider economic development priorities.
Abang Johari said business events brought another “currency of progress” beyond tourism revenue, including knowledge, expertise, networks, innovation and investment opportunities.
He said these were increasingly important as Sarawak pursued its Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, including its energy transition and the development of advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, the digital economy, healthcare and human capital.
“If we want to grow our semiconductor ecosystem, our energy economy, our digital capabilities or our healthcare sector, then bringing the right international communities and experts into Sarawak can help accelerate that progress,” he said.
He said Sarawak’s objective should be to attract events that complemented the industries and capabilities it was seeking to develop.
“Greater ambition also requires better decisions. We need to understand our strengths and weaknesses. We need to connect the different parts of our ecosystem more effectively,” he said.
Abang Johari said the government, industry, associations, academia, communities and media all had a role in developing the business events ecosystem.
He also described Sarawak’s positioning as the “Legacy Capital of Business Events in Malaysia and Borneo” as more than a destination marketing statement, saying it should reflect the State’s ambition to use business events as a platform for long-term economic, social and environmental impact.
The Premier congratulated BESarawak on its 20th anniversary and said the Sarawak government would continue supporting the industry as a platform to advance Sarawak’s development priorities. — DayakDaily
