Huawei’s commitment in developing innovative solutions that can assist local cities is the reason behind the setting of the Global OpenLab program which will see 15 new labs in the next three years.

Already built in Munich, Mexico, Dubai, Singapore and China, Huawei has announced the construction of a new OpenLab in Malaysia, which will serve as an open, flexible, and secure platform for joint innovation with local partners.  During an event here, Huawei’s Deputy Chairman of the Board and Rotating CEO, Guo Ping, spoke about the different stages of digital transformation, and what countries can focus on at each stage of development. Citing Maslovs hierarchy of needs, “When a country goes digital, they experience a similar evolution of needs”. The first is ICT infrastructure, which is the foundation of a digital economy. The second being security, for both the physical and digital worlds. The third layer is developing a supportive environment for industries to go digital. Building on a solid foundation of privacy protection, the fourth and highest layer is enabling broader information sharing.

Huawei will be investing US$200 million for the program with the target of 20 such labs across the globe and allocate over 1000 talents to work on the project. These OpenLabs will be facilitating joint innovation and solution launches with more than 400 partners across Smart City, finance, transportation, energy, manufacturing and media sectors.

During the event, Huawei signed memorandums of understanding  with SME Corporation Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Terengganu State Government, and CyberSecurity Malaysia, expanding cooperation across a number of domains, including scientific research, innovation, talent, smart campuses, and cyber security.