Alibaba and MDEC collaborate to unveil Malaysia City Brain initiative

Alibaba Group's cloud computing arm, Alibaba Cloud, has collaborated with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), to unveil the Malaysia City Brain initiative.Being adopted overseas for the first time, the City Brain solution is developed on Alibaba Cloud's cloud computing infrastructure, supporting Malaysia's digital transformation with cloud technology and artificial intelligence (AI).Malaysia City Brain acquires, integrates and analyses big and heterogeneous data generated by a variety of sources in urban spaces, through video and image recognition, data mining and machine learning technology. City Brain will allow Malaysian urban planners and city officials to upgrade their city governance and decision-making to turn the city into an intelligent one, the press statement read.The first phase will be rolled out in Kuala Lumpur for traffic management to improve mobility in the city. City Brain is able to optimise  the flow of vehicles and traffic signals by calculating the time to reach intersections, using its cloud computing and data processing capabilities. The solution can also connect with various urban management systems including emergency dispatch and traffic light control, identifying the quickest route for emergency vehicles to arrive at the scene within the shortest time frame.Meanwhile, Alibaba Cloud also unveiled the Malaysia Tianchi Big Data Program, a big data crowd intelligence platform that brings together global data experts to collaborate and compete in developing solutions for real world problems. The initiative is also supported by MDEC and aims to incubate 500 data professionals and 300 startups in Malaysia within two years."Through the program, we aim to empower all Malaysian stakeholders in both the public and private sectors with the tools to enhance efficiency, advance innovation and succeed in the digital age. For Alibaba Cloud, this is the true meaning of inclusive technology," Simon Hu, SVP of Alibaba Group and president of Alibaba Cloud, said.“The collaboration with Alibaba Group is another leap towards digitising Malaysia where knowledge-sharing and the crossover of best practices transpire. As we set our sights on the future, we are excited about the prospects this partnership will bring to our community, and benefiting Malaysians with the tangible results of digital solutions," Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of MDEC, said.Last year, Alibaba Group launched the first eWTP hub outside of China. In future, more eHubs will create the global network necessary to facilitate trade for small and medium enterprises around the world.