In line with Malaysia’s IR4.0 transformation initiative, Azimuth International, a Malaysian technology company, signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Holovis, a world leading XR technology company headquartered in the UK, to bring cutting edge XR technology to Malaysia and the Southeast Asian region.
Holovis is a market leader in immersive and multi-sensory XR solutions for industry, education and entertainment, and were presented with the Company of the Year Award at the AV Technology Awards by Installation Magazine in 2020.
They have developed many industry-leading IPs of their own across the enterprise and entertainment sectors and count the likes of Jaguar Land Rover and Merlin Entertainment, among countless others, as their clients. Azimuth International will setup a local joint venture company with Holovis (Azimuth Holovis) to meet the rapidly growing demand for XR content and technology in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
“Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), as the lead digital economy agency for Malaysia, lauds the partnership between both companies, which will bring to the table essential next-gen technology which will power the growth of our tech ecosystem and industry. UK has been a long-standing and important trade partner for Malaysia and we welcome further effective collaborations to positively transform and accelerate the growth of our digital economy, in line with the aspirations of Malaysia Digital which seeks to establish an innovative digital nation,” said Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC.
Holovis is also a primary technology partner for the Warwick Manufacturing Group’s Centre of Excellence. WMG is an academic department at the University of Warwick and is a leading international role model for successful collaboration between academia and industry, and the public and private sectors, driving innovation in science, technology and engineering.
“Holovis are pleased to announce our strategic partnership with Azimuth. Malaysia and the wider ASEAN region present significant opportunities in the Immersive Technology space across Holovis’ key sectors, specifically Experiential, Simulation, Training and Visualisation. Partnering with Azimuth and working with MDEC provides a catalyst for Holovis to accelerate our growth strategy in the region and support the wider collaboration between our two countries in knowledge and skills transfer, and in helping bring next-gen technologies and solutions to Malaysia, as well as our planned innovation centres of excellence, these will in turn help create significant new jobs and opportunities in each region,” said Holovis CEO, Stuart Hetherington.
The contents of the agreement include setting up an XR content creation and digital engineering team in Malaysia that will initially help support Holovis’ current big-ticket projects in the Middle East and America, but, in time, will develop content and IPs of their own to export worldwide. Content and technology will be engineered for the 3 pillars of XR technology: Industry, Education and Entertainment, for both the consumer (B2C) and enterprise (B2B) segments.
In its 5-year plan (2022 to 2026), Holovis will commit to a Transfer of Knowledge and Transfer of Technology to the local workforce, to be fully transitioned by 2026. This advanced technology transfer is designed to make Malaysia a hub and resource for XR content creation and digital engineering talent. This talent will be nurtured and developed by Amuse, an entertainment XR studio owned by Azimuth Holovis (to be located at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara) and the Azimuth Holovis Centre of Excellence, whose focus will be on XR content and technology for applications in industry and education. Azimuth Holovis will invest over RM80 million to build this ecosystem and is projected to generate an income of USD1 million per annum for the local workforce by 2026. There are also plans to develop AI and robotics capabilities locally, integrated with these XR technologies.
XR technology will change the way we experience life. It is the disruptive technology of the IR4.0 era, alongside blockchain and the Metaverse. The market in XR technology is expected to increase to close to a staggering USD300 billion by 2024 from USD31 billion in 2021. Becoming a hub for XR talent, engineering and technology will help make Malaysia a high-value, high-technology economy, for a more sustainable future.
Words and imagery supplied by Holovis
Elsewhere, Holovis appoints George Walker as Vice President of Creative Development.
