Support System for Entrepreneurial and Small and Medium Ventures in ICT Sector: Case of the Technopreneurship Development Program (TDP) Flagship of Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Project - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 233

The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Project was articulated as a cluster of
firms in the ICT (information and communication technology) sector. In August
1995, Dr. Mahathir Mohammed the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, announced
the ''Multimedia Super Corridor'' (MSC) as the centerpiece of the national IT
strategy under the Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996-2000). The goal being to enhance
the development of the ICT sector in the country and transform the predominately
production-based economy into knowledge-based one. The MSC project is a
government led development and is not in the second phase of development being
supported with various cluster oriented infrastructure and policies.
2.1 An Overview of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)
Cluster Project
In this section the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cluster—a Regional System
of Innovation for ICT Companies is described and the lacunae in this project are
identified which led to the development of the MSC Technoprenuer Development
Program Flagship. The MSC, as it is known, is like a regional system of innovation
for firms (including) SMEs in the ICT Sector in Malaysia. The following were
some reason why the MSC project was conceived:
• Recognition that Malaysia was losing its comparative advantage in its tradi-
tional economic sectors;
• Need to drive the economy toward higher productivity through technology and
high value-added economic activities;
• Information Age and converging technologies presented the best opportunities
for socioeconomic transformation.
The MSC project was modeled after the Silicon Valley and is a multibillion
dollar project started in 1995 and spans an area of more than 750 Km 2 . A policy-
driven cluster-oriented approach, the MSC aimed to develop a friendlier environ-
ment for new business development in the ICT sector and also to spur high tech-
nology entrepreneurship in Malaysia. It uses the 'regional clustering' approach
and then intends to roll it out to the rest of the country. The focus was on building
capacity in this sector and also to have applications for national development Fig. 2 .
3 The MSC Regional System of Innovation—Elements
of Support for ICT SMEs
While the MSC regional system of innovation was not developed specifically to
support SMEs only—many elements of the MSC project have been put in place to
support the development of SMEs and building their technological capacities.