To propel Brunei's ICT initiative

Prince opens e-govt Innovation Centre

WITH the establishment of the e-government Innovation Centre (eG.InC), it hopes to draw people abroad to come to the Sultanate for training, research and take the knowledge and ideas from the centre back to their own countries.

The eG.InC at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) was officially launched yesterday by His Royal Highness Prince Hj 'Abdul 'Azim, which also marked the beginning of a 14-week e-Government training programme for senior government officials.

The Prince was greeted upon arrival at UBD's Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Advancement (ILIA) by Minister of Education Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong, Minister of Energy and Chairman of Brunei's e-government Leadership Forum Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Paduka Hj Mohd Yasmin Hj Umar and UBD Vice Chancellor Dr Hj Zulkarnain Hj Hanafi.

The centre was established by UBD, in collaboration with the Prime Minister's Office and the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (Kaist).

Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Policy Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Dr Hazri Kifle told The Brunei Times that,

"It is not impossible that one day, people from outside will come to this centre for training and research, and for our expertise. We hope to make this centre become a leading global player."

Dr Hazri said the establishment of eG.InC was significant as it would serve as a centre for research, training and forum.

"It can be targeted to people of all levels in Brunei. We hope that this will develop Brunei into an information society at all levels, so everyone will be connected and become a knowledge society and meet the target for Brunei's vision 2035."

He expressed hopes that through the centre, Brunei will eventually need not rely on oil and gas, but look into other sectors such as the ICT sector.

Dr Hazri also noted that the suggestion made by Korean partners to involve graduates at the centre, to gain experience was a "brilliant idea".

"We need to learn from them (Koreans), because I think that is what they do with the young generation in Korea," he said.

The dean said the Koreans inculcated the culture of being an entrepreneur from a very young age, where they gave them the facilities, ideas and training on how they could develop ideas into business ventures.

"So that is something that we can learn from them in Brunei," he said, adding they can give the younger generation, especially graduates, training in using computers and developing basic applications.

"From there, they can develop more into techno-preneurs. The most important thing is that they can target not only the local market, but internationally as well," he said.

In his speech at the launching of the centre, Dr Hazri cited His Majesty's titah in 2000, which expressed the monarch's wish to see Brunei going into the mainstream global Information Technology and the e-government initiatives as a mean to Brunei's economic development.

"In this competitive era of Information Society, the relations between government, citizens and businesses are to be transformed by delivering innovative and integrated e-services. People are changing and ICT is evolving," he said.

Chief information officers from various ministries have started the "e-Government awareness training programme" at the centre in UBD, a 14-week course to be held every Saturday, where participants will be trained by experts from Kaist, the Asian Development Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, among others. The programme will also include "field work trip" to Korea, ranked top in the world for its e-Government, where participants can learn from and interact with public servants there, the UBD dean said during a press conference which followed the opening of eG.InC.

Remarks by Dr Hazri and Kaist Director of e-government and Green IT Research Centre Professor Soung Hie Kim, kicked off the ceremony. This was followed by a keynote address by Minister of Counsellor cum Permanent Delegation of Korea to the OECD Seoung Ju Kang.

The Brunei Times