Oleh/By  	:	DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue	:	MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL, 
			KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date	:	29-03-2001
Tajuk/Title 	:	THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE 
			MSC-LUCENT BELL LABS 
			TECHNOLOGY FORUM
Versi 		:	ENGLISH
Penyampai	:  	PM 


       I  wish  to  thank the organisers, the  Multimedia
   Development Corporation and Lucent Technologies (M)  Sdn
   Bhd,  for  inviting me to officiate the opening  of  the
   MSC-Lucent Bell Labs Technology Forum here today.
   
   2.    The  MSC-Lucent  Bell Labs Forum  idea  was  first
   mooted  during Mr Ben Verwaayen's visit to  Malaysia  in
   March  last  year.   Ben, who is  the  Vice-Chairman  of
   Lucent  Technologies Inc, is a permanent member  of  the
   MSC  International Advisory Panel (IAP) and  is  one  of
   the key supporters of the MSC initiative.
   
   3.   In my discussion with Ben, he highlighted that Bell Labs
   traditionally hold technical seminars and talks on technology
   trends and visions especially in the networking area.  We talked
   about the possibility of expanding the seminar programme beyond
   purely scientific and technical topics into the realm of its
   impact on our everyday lives and businesses of the future.  From
   this simple idea, the MSC-Lucent Bell Labs Technology Forum was
   conceived.
   
   4.   Through this forum, we hope that our local scientists and
   corporate executives could interact and network with the
   scientists and technologists from Lucent and Bell Labs on a broad
   range of technologies, particularly in telecommunication and
   computing.
   
   5.   Among other things, the forum aims to share and present
   updates  of technological developments in the  field  of
   telecommunication; in addition to providing insights on the
   direction of these developments and to outline its implications,
   and the methods of managing the visible future by analysing these
   foreseeable technological developments and trends.
	   
   6.   Malaysia will gain significantly as one of the spin-offs
   expected is the sparking and collaboration in R&D activities in
   the computing and telecommunication field among our local
   universities and business organisations with centres  of
   excellence around the globe.  One such example is the R&D
   activities in Multimedia University, which benefits from the
   Lucent Bell Labs Visiting Professorship Programme.
   
   7.    The forum will also serve as a platform for  smart
   partnerships  amongst the industry  driven  R&D  centres
   and  as  a  guide  to  assist  Malaysian  companies  and
   universities to define strategic issues, directions  and
   focus  in  their  R&D activities.  The forum  will  also
   include   dialogue   sessions  between   Malaysian   R&D
   communities and Lucent Bell Labs technology executives.
   
   8.Some of the technological developments highlighted in this
   forum  will spur the rapid growth of Internet usage  and
   application  and  the  developments  in  the  field   of
	   telecommunications into the next generation.
   
   9.   They will become the foundation and catalyst for the
   creation of Knowledge economies and Knowledge societies. The
   emergence of knowledge societies has been a central factor in
   driving the growth in international trade and contribution
   towards national wealth creation.
   
   10.  Innovation, R&D and the role of knowledge workers are
   becoming key elements in the new economic model as we move from
   commodity based trading to electronic trading. We must continue
   to focus our efforts in encouraging entrepreneur skills with
   venture fund support and ensure our graduates are equipped with
   the skills and knowledge that is in line with the changes in the
   market and the way we do business.
   
   11.  The Multimedia Super Corridor initiative has provided many
   of the enablers for K-economy to flourish such as ready pool of
   knowledge workers from the MSC located universities, world class
   telecommunications facilities, venture funding, incubator centre
	   network for entrepreneur growth and the nurturing of the ICT
   SME's.
   
   12.  The MSC will lead the way for Malaysia into the Information
   Age and K-economy.  It will help Malaysia to develop into a K-
   society in line with the Vision 2020 and towards this goal we
   Malaysians must strive forward.
   
   13.  I hope that we have all gained a better understanding and
   insight into the potential opportunities, challenges and form new
   partnerships and alliances to enable us to successfully prosper
   in the emerging K-economy.
   
   14.  In spite of all the recent changes in Lucent, I am very
   happy that Lucent has continued to show its tremendous support
   for the MSC through its various commitments.
   
   15.  I am confident that this forum will bring forth all the
   benefits that it was set out to bring to the MSC, the Malaysian
   scientific, technical and business communities.
   
   16.   On  that note, I have great pleasure in  declaring
   open the MSC-Lucent Bell Labs Technology Forum.
	

   Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri