KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Government is looking into making the MYHackathon — a programme in which participants co-create digital solutions to help improve the delivery of key public services to the rakyat — a recurring event.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the programme, launched in October last year, aimed at identifying the pain points of government services, as well as solutions from the perspective of the public.

"We had a long discussion when we started this... if they’re (problems) general, we don’t know what we are looking at, where the pain points are.

"We really went down... innovation has to solve the problem and we have to identify those problems first, where the bottlenecks are,” he said during the MYHackathon 2020 Finale & Showcase streamed online, today.

A total of 36 digital solutions and winners were selected for the inaugural programme, and they will be polished before being included in the public service digitalisation process.

Khairy said the Covid-19 pandemic which has swept the globe for the past year has affected various sectors and industries in the country, and this has also prompted the government to take an inclusive and comprehensive approach to ensure the economic survival and well-being of the people.

"The ministry sees that the most relevant and effective approach to ensure this can be achieved is through the use of technology and digitalisation in the civil service.

"The question is, how can we gather as many thoughtful ideas as possible immediately? We need all the ‘talent and brain bank’ available, and no one understands the people’s problems better than the people themselves,” he said.

He said through MYHackathon, the government can encourage the growth and development of the country’s ‘techpreneurs’, especially among the youth, thus reducing dependence on foreign technology and foreign labour.

It is also in line with the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTIN) 2021-2030 and the 10-10 Malaysian Science, Technology, Innovation and Economy (MYSTIE) Framework which aim to intensify the development and use of local technology in efforts to transform the country from technology users to technology developers. — Bernama