SAMENTA Sarawak Urges Closer Government-Industry Cooperation to Lift SME Capability

An exposure gap the chapter wants closed

Speaking at the SAMENTA Hyperlokal AI Fest and Government-Industry Dialogue 2026 held at Sarawak Skills in Kuching, chapter chairman Theophilus Wong said SMEs in Sarawak face a significant gap in exposure and opportunity.

“It’s important for us to actually keep abreast and keep ourselves updated, or otherwise we will be very much left behind,” he said. “I strongly believe Sarawak has a lot more potential.”

Closing that gap, Wong said, is shared work rather than the job of any single party. “We need to work hand in hand and more closely on how we continue to build the capability and the capacity of Sarawakians and especially the SME, and continue to grow the economy of Sarawak,” he said.

Government and industry at the same table

The dialogue was officiated by Datuk Dr Ripin Lamat, Deputy Minister for Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak (MYSED), who told the room that businesses must identify where technology can create genuine value and then build the capability to use AI effectively and responsibly.

Knowledge alone, he said, is not enough — SMEs also need access to networks, capability development, markets, financing and the right partners. “For Sarawak entrepreneurs, transformation should ultimately help businesses become more productive, competitive and prepared for future opportunities,” he said.

For the chapter, the value of the format is that it is not a one-off briefing. It puts agency officers, financiers and solution providers in the same room as the business owners they are meant to serve, so that questions get answered by the people who can act on them.

A state building AI infrastructure at speed

The chapter’s push comes as Sarawak moves on state-level AI infrastructure. The state has announced the Kuching AI Data Campus at Tanjung Embang, to be developed through a public-private partnership with dedicated power and water infrastructure, AI computing facilities and digital connectivity — the intended physical foundation for an AI Grid that connects computing resources and draws on Sarawak’s renewable energy capacity.

Sarawak’s AI agenda is coordinated through the Sarawak Artificial Intelligence Centre (SAIC), supported by the Sarawak AI Blueprint 2026-2030, which is being developed to align government, industry, academia and research behind a common approach. For SME owners, the practical question is where they sit in that build-out — and how quickly state-level capability turns into productivity inside their own businesses.

What the dialogue put in front of SMEs

The one-day programme was built around the issues that decide whether a small business can compete: AI and digitalisation, workforce capability, financing and market access. Delegates were given direct access to government agencies, industry experts and solution providers, alongside the programmes, funding and digitalisation support already available to them.

From ideas to action

SAMENTA Sarawak said it intends to keep the conversation running. “We look forward to continuing these conversations and supporting SMEs in turning ideas into action,” the chapter said, thanking Sarawak Skills as its strategic partner and all speakers, agencies, partners and attendees who took part.

SMEs that want to know where they stand before their next conversation with an agency or financier can use SAMENTA’s free online Digitalisation Grader, a short assessment that maps a business against a digital maturity benchmark and routes it to a tailored improvement roadmap.