KUALA LUMPUR: Cyberjaya has long stood as Malaysia’s earliest experiment in building a technology city, a place of data centres, start-ups and ambitious policy ideas.
Malaysian Industry Government Group for High Technology (Might) president and chief executive officer Rushdi Abdul Rahim said the township is now ready for an even bigger role in becoming the intellectual centre of Asean’s next decade.
This ambition underpins the Cyberjaya Conversations Summit 2025, a new high-level platform that Might hopes will grow into Southeast Asia’s version of the World Economic Forum.
“When people hear the name Cyberjaya Conversations for the first time, I want them to understand that this is a premier top leadership platform,” Rushdi told Business Times in an interview.
“This isn’t a conference where people come, speak and leave. It brings together decision-makers across government, industry captains, thinkers and even youth voices to chart a long-term, future-ready vision for Asean,” he said.
He added that the word “conversations” was chosen deliberately to signal honest, high-trust dialogue, not one-way speeches.
While Malaysia has already handed over its 2025 Asean chairmanship to the Philippines, Rushdi said the event is meant to serve as both a reflection and a projection.
“Asean secretary-general Dr Kao Kim Hourn and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will also be there to reflect on our 12 months of Asean leadership.
“We want to look at what we’ve done and how we’ve provided the framework to move forward,” added Rushdi.
Cyberjaya Conversations positions itself as a public-private leadership platform that brings together global thought leaders, policymakers, industry heads, researchers and emerging voices to shape a sustainable, competitive and future-ready Asean.
Anchored on sustainable competitiveness, the summit seeks to elevate Asean’s position in high technology, frontier markets and innovation ecosystems.
It also aims to build a shared regional understanding of long-term competitiveness through strategic foresight, high-thrust dialogue and collaborative action, strengthening Asean’s resilience amid accelerating disruption.
Rushdi said the summit pushes Asean to rethink competitiveness in broader and more strategic terms.
“Strip away the jargon, and it’s really about ensuring Malaysia’s gross domestic product continues to grow.
“We want to be able to compete as a nation and as a region so businesses thrive and the jobs market will be expanded,” he said.
One of the summit’s most future-focused pillars is frontier competitiveness, particularly in areas where Asean can both compete and collaborate.
Meanwhile, Rushdi highlighted the space economy as one promising domain.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for Asean countries to collaborate, work together and build platforms so people can gain economic benefits,” he said.
This approach aligns closely with Might’s deep involvement in foresight.
“Foresight is about trying to anticipate what’s next in the next 10-20 years. It is a structured way of asking ‘what if’ before issues become crises,”
“It also generates ideas, snowballing into something more in the next few days, in the next few years. Then we could implement it, work together, and find the right collaborators and partners.
“Cyberjaya Conversations is part of that. We’re instigating conversations today to think about tomorrow,” added Rushdi.
Rushdi believes Cyberjaya is Malaysia’s original innovation hub that should carry the same symbolic weight as Davos or Kyoto in hosting influential global forums.
“We wanted a name that catches. ‘Cyberjaya Conversations’ has a nice ring to it, more so than if I said ‘KL Conversations’,” he said.
The summit is being organised by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and Might.
The event is supported by key partners, including Cyberview, which is instrumental in developing the Cyberjaya technology ecosystem.
This partnership is in direct alignment with Mosti’s ongoing initiatives to advance into new and emerging technological frontiers.
Rushdi added that Cyberjaya’s status as a long-standing technology cluster makes it a fitting backdrop.
“There’s something to be said about cluster development. Cyberjaya is a cluster of innovation. So how can this cluster partner with those in Indonesia or Bangkok? That’s how regional innovation ecosystems grow,” he said.
Beyond technology, Rushdi sees Cyberjaya Conversations as a place to confront uncomfortable issues that many platforms avoid.
“Asean needs to address Asean complexity, and only Asean people know Asean challenges,” he said.
With member states at different stages of development, having frank conversations is often tricky.
“How do you bring everyone together to talk about the same issues when they have different priorities and problems? That’s the challenge. But we’re going to address it here at the summit,” he added.
Looking ahead, Rushdi said the summit’s future is based on three Cs: conversation, collaboration, and co-creation.
He believes the platform could help crystallise Asean’s grand challenges that shared missions unite talent, technology and investment across borders.
“For Malaysia, a forum like this could elevate the country’s influence in frontier industries and long-term policymaking, while for Asean, it could help chart a collective strategy for resilience at a time of global flux.
“If we have the conversation 10 years from now, it will be too late. So we spark the idea now, while issues are still small, before events overtake them,” added Rushdi.
The Cyberjaya Conversations Summit 2025, themed “Achieving Asean Sustainable Competitiveness Beyond 2025”, will take place on Dec 3 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Source: nst.com.my/business/corporate/2025/12/1328518/cyberjaya-ready-lead-aseans-next-tech-decade
