KUALA LUMPUR: There are more nominees vying for the MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT (information and communications technology) Alliance awards this year than previously.

The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), which hands out the Apicta awards, sees the increase as a sign that the local ICT industry as a whole is growing in strength.

This year, a total of 383 nominees will be vying for the awards, compared to the 359 companies that were nominated in a total of 18 categories last year.

Aside from businesses, the nominees include secondary and tertiary education students.

These awards are more than just a recognition of local ICT talent, said MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

“They are a benchmark to gauge how the local industry is progressing. The number of applicants rise every year and so has the quality (of their products and solutions),” he said at a press conference on the sidelines of MDeC’s Hari Raya open house.

Badlisham said there is no limit to the ICT talent that can be found locally but many Malaysian businesses are too modest to blow their own trumpet, so it’s up to MDeC to highlight these talents via its Apicta awards.

Some of our companies, he said, have even attracted the attention of foreign investors. He said many partnerships have been formed, especially during Malaysia’s hosting of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) last year.

WCIT, held every two years, is a premier global ICT forum that brings together global leaders in business, government and the academia.

Strength to strength

According to Badlisham, many Apicta award winners have gone on to expand their businesses in other countries, as well as win international ICT awards.

He cited recruitment portal Jobstreet.com as one of these; the company has expanded its operations into eight countries.

Also on his list is content development company Les Copaque Productions Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd, which won at the United Nations World Summit Awards in Mexico recently.

The highlight of Apicta 2009 is the Prime Minister’s Best of the Best award. The winner will get to attend a week-long entrepreneurship development programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

This is the second year the prize is being offered. Last year’s winner, FSBM Net Media Sdn Bhd’s chief executive officer Michael Ta, said the opportunity to experience the entrepreneurial community at MIT helped further the development of Unos, a mobile application built by the company.

Unos is a total communications and service delivery platform designed to provide a comprehensive communication experience for mobile device users, according to its website. It is claimed to be service provider independent and infrastructure neutral.

Mark this date

Winners of this year’s Apicta awards will be announced during a ceremony at the Putra World Trade Centre here on Oct 8.

They will then go on to represent the country at the Apicta International 2009 awards, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, in December.

The MSC Malaysia Apicta awards was introduced in 1999. The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (Pikom) partners with MDeC, which is custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative to leapfrog the country’s knowledge economy, to help organise the event.

For the full list of 2009 nominees, go to www.mscapicta.com.my.