By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, March 8: Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne Sarawak) and BioTective Sdn Bhd, a digital healthcare division under Ubisson Sdn Bhd, have entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to conduct research and development works on a Next Generation Disease Resource Centre (NXDRC).
The MoA is an extension of Swinburne Sarawak and Ubisson’s partnership. In 2021, the two parties inaugurated the development of the BioTective Disease Resource Centre (DRC), a digital healthcare platform that facilitates seamless care coordination and effective communication between patients and their healthcare providers.
Through the MoA, both parties will embark on further research and development (R&D) to fortify the DRC platform’s cybersecurity system and enhance its future offerings with artificial intelligence (AI) in predictive modelling and large language modelling.
The Swinburne research team is led by Professor Patrick Then and comprises members Dr Brian Loh, Dr Vong Wan Tze, Dr Kelvin Yong and Dr Colin Tan.
Deputy Premier of Sarawak Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said the collaboration signifies a nation-building effort that will add value to Sarawak.
“I’m very happy that Swinburne is going to have its own homegrown AI programme.
“It is also important to have private partnerships with companies like BioTective where even though they do a lot of research in Putrajaya Hospital, etc, it is actually a homegrown Sarawak company from the jungle of Borneo.
“This is part of nation building where both parties will embark on AI in the context of the digital economy and green economy that will develop Sarawak up to 2030,” he said during the MoA exchange ceremony at Swinburne Sarawak campus here today.
The MoA was signed by Swinburne Sarawak Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ir Professor Lau Hieng Ho and BioTective CEO Peter Ting Yiik Pung.
Present on behalf of Lau for the MoA exchange ceremony was Swinburne Sarawak Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Dr Ida Fatimawati Adi Badiozaman.
At the same event, Dr Sim, who is Minister of Public Health, Housing, and Local Government (MPHLG), also launched the ‘Swinburne AI & Digital Empowerment Programme’—an innovative programme that aims to equip companies and the industry with the knowledge and tools necessary to harness the transformative power of AI and digital solutions.
By actively engaging with companies from various sectors, this program hopes to collaboratively design, develop and deploy technology solutions to help companies step forward into the new digital economy in line with Sarawak’s Digital Economy Blueprint 2030 and Sarawak’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030).
Amongst those present were BioTective director William Liang Tak Chiang and Hock Seng Lee Bhd Simon Lau Kiing Kang. — DayakDaily
