The new evolution of the technology and innovation known as Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) plays a critical role in expediting the transition to a sustainable mode of industry digitalization. IR 4.0 has emerged as a new technology, especially on the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligent (AI), Big Data, and Cloud Computing. It focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data. In advance, it creates a more holistic and better-connected ecosystem for organizations focusing on manufacturing and supply chain management. Therefore, Malaysia must accelerate the implementation of AI strategies. Under the 4IR and MyDigital blueprints, the Malaysian government aims to increase productivity by 30 percent across all sectors by 2030, with AI serving as a critical enabler. The National Artificial Intelligence Roadmap (AIRmap) has been developed to support the nation's aspirations. The rise of unconventional data utilisations such as website data and satellite images has significantly benefited the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) as a national statistics provider to produce official statistics in assisting government in its policy formulation. Since 2016, DOSM has implemented Big Data Analytics (BDA) to produce more reliable and timely official statistics. DOSM's BDA project focused on integrating a high volume of data using fuzzy matching, modernization of data collection method using web crawling, and sentiment analysis using text mining. DOSM continues its active exploration of BDA and utilizes unconventional data sources to respond to the rapid digital transformation. As a result, DOSM publishes more granular and smaller area data such as Merchandise Trade Statistics by State, Subnational Statistics of Parliament, and State Legislative Assembly. Additionally, DOSM produces complementary statistics and insights using unconventional data and manages official statistics dissemination efficiently and effectively. DOSM also explores satellite imagery data combined with backend processing power and AI technology that potentially have a significant impact, particularly on resolving environmental issues. In the light of the future, AI needs to be seen as an entirely new ecosystem comprising new data, new tools and methods, and new actors that motivated to expand DOSM's exploration in this domain.
YBhg. Dato' Sri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, as Chief Statistician Malaysia since 2017, has steered the Department of Statistics Malaysia in strengthening and upholding the reliability, integrity and professionalism of national statistical systems at the local, regional and global levels. He graduated with a Bachelor of Analytical Economics at the University Malaya (1989), a Master of Arts (Economics) at Vanderbilt University Nashville, USA (2003) and a PhD (Economics) at the University of Sheffield, UK (2012).
Being Commissioner of Census for Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020 and succeeding in producing the 222 parliaments and 600 subnational statistics of State Legislative Assembly publications as well as 156 publications of Key Findings Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020: Administrative District. In statistical dissemination in DOSM, he started a huge wave of social media by engaging closely with young people, users, and stakeholders through statistics.
Active participation and contribution at the international level has been acknowledged through the appointment as the Chairman of the Bureau of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics (2018-2020); Chairman of the 7th and 8th sessions of the OIC Statistical Commission (2018-2019) and Vice-chair of the Working Group (WG) on the Development of the OIC Statistical Commission's New Strategic Vision (2019- 2020); Executive Committee (EXCO) members of the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS); Co-chair of the Bureau of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Committee on Statistics (2020-2022) and Chairman of the National Organising Committee for the 62nd ISI World Statistics Congress 2019 (ISI WSC 2019); High-Level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity- Building for Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); Statistical Advisory Panel for 2020 Human Development Report (HDR); and Friends of the Chair Group on the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FOC-FPOS).
He is also a member of various expert groups globally as well as international associations such as the elected member of Governing Council of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (2022-2024); International Comparison Program Governing Board (ICP GB), representative Asia region (2021-2024); United Nations Committee of Experts on International Statistical Classifications (UN CEISC) (2021); Advisory Group of the Handbook on Management and Organization of National Statistical Systems, Fourth Edition (2021); Expert of the Data Stewardship Working Group (2021); Working Group Open Data; ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS); OIC Statistical Commission (OIC-StatCom);
He was recently appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Science at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (2022-2023), the College of Law Government & International Studies at Universiti Utara Malaysia (2021-2023), the Faculty of Computer & Mathematical Sciences at Universiti Teknologi MARA (2021-2023) and the Faculty of Business Management & Professional Studies at Management and Science University (2022-2024).