The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Uber and Digi are now officially collaborating to bring forth an ideation lab aimed to help entrepreneurs within the ASEAN region to grow their impactful and unique business ideas. This initiative provides aspiring startups a prime opportunity to take part in an ideation lab while also standing a chance to win an international exposure trip to San Francisco.
“We’re really excited to collaborate with Uber and Digi to launch this ideation lab. This could be a great springboard for early stage companies in the region to fine-tune their innovative and revolutionary ideas further before going into the market.
We also hope that the lab will provide the participants with a forum for education, mentorship and inspiration, leveraging on the knowledge-based economy. We look forward to your submissions and remember, there are no ideas too small,” said Ashran Dato’ Ghazi, Chief Executive Officer of MaGIC.
Interested parties may start sending in their applications for the programme from today onwards until 17 September 2016. Afterwards, a panel from MaGIC, Uber and Digi will personally choose the top 20 entrepreneurs for the two week ideation lab that will run on Digi Incub8 (A pre-accelerator programme that is part of Digi-X, Digi Telecommunications’ innovation lab) and MaGIC’s pre-accelerator curriculum, which will be conducted at MaGIC’s campus in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
Startups that are shortlisted can look forward to gaining insight on developing three key aspects for their future business—customer, product and market. These will become the stepping stones for the entrepreneurs to further fine-tune their ideas or concepts and move on to build a working prototype, preparing them for the next stage of seed investments and funding.
Leon Foong, General Manager of Uber Malaysia, added: “Uber’s story began when two entrepreneurs had an idea—to get a ride at the push of a button. From these humble beginnings, Uber today has demonstrated the power of an idea that is so disruptive, it is changing the way people move in cities today. Uber recognises the power of great ideas and we are thrilled to partner with MaGIC and Digi to discover the next big idea that will change our world.”
Once the two week lab has ended, the chosen top 20 entrepreneurs will then be given a chance to present their refined business ideas to key executives from MaGIC, Uber and Digi at the Global Entrepreneurship Community event that will happen on 2nd–3rd November 2016. The winners will then have the opportunity to meet early stage investors and other key players within the entrepreneurship ecosystem in San Francisco.
“Startups are key to our future; they have and I believe they will continue to play a big role in shaping every aspect of the way we live, work and play. ASEAN certainly does not lack talented, creative individuals with great ideas and we hope this platform will provide the right conditions for the best ideas to start up, and grow into a thriving, sustainable entrepreneurial pursuits,” said Praveen Rajan, Digi’s Chief Digital Officer.
This ideation lab is considered part of MaGIC’s Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility (CER) pilot initiative, where it strives to connect corporate leaders with entrepreneurs. Ashran Ghazi stated that the CER programme is an effort to increase MaGIC’s corporate partners’ participation in building the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
“Through the collaboration, corporates can benefit from fresh, impactful and innovative ideas from the startups while the entrepreneurs could benefit from mentorship and industry-specific experience from the corporates. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved,” said Ashran.
For more information regarding the ideation lab, visit the website here.
Feature Image Credit: mymagic.my
