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Explore more about the Creative Digital District @ George Town

Overview

CD² @ George Town is an initiative to bring life and jobs back into the George Town’s historic urban core, and to build a new innovation district focused on digital and creative industries that will complement existing industrial and economic hubs in the state and the northern region of Malaysia.

The district will be a “city campus” for education institutions, companies, arts and cultural organisations, and talent, as well as a meeting place for the community and their ideas. It will be the hub for Penang’s digital economy, creative industries and start-ups, and a destination for lifestyle, culture and the arts, and learning.

Overview

CD² @ George Town is an initiative to bring life and jobs back into the George Town’s historic urban core, and to build a new innovation district focused on digital and creative industries that will complement existing industrial and economic hubs in the state and the northern region of Malaysia. The district will be a “city campus” for education institutions, companies, arts and cultural organisations, and talent, as well as a meeting place for the community and their ideas. It will be the hub for Penang’s digital economy, creative industries and start-ups, and a destination for lifestyle, culture and the arts, and learning.

The Story

The port city of George Town in Penang was established in 1786 by the British East India Company. It flourished as an entrepot, and for a time as the capital and commercial centre of the Straits Settlements.

After the city’s fortunes waned following the revocation of its free port status in 1969, Penang pivoted towards large scale industrialisation and was home to Malaysia’s first free trade zone aimed at attracting export-oriented manufacturing industries. Over the past 50 years, Penang has built up a reputation as the “Silicon Valley of the East”. It has attracted many technology giants such as Intel, Dell, Advanced Micro Devices, Agilent Technologies, Osram, and Motorola, which set up their regional and global operations on the island. Today, Penang is home to over 300 MNCs and 3,000 SMEs in growth industries such as semiconductors, electronics, precision engineering, medical technology, Global Business Services and IT.

Hub for Penang's Digital & Creative Economy

CD² @ George Town is the pilot project under the CD² initiative. Its aim is to be an Innovation District focusing on digital technologies, for example software, artificial intelligence, data analytics, automation, and process virtualization, as well as the creative arts. This initiative is envisaged to bring life and jobs back into George Town’s historic urban core.

Digital technologies are key in transforming Penang’s economy. For example, there is a need for manufacturers to embrace automation and digital capabilities such robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. There has also been a rapid convergence of software and hardware, and the proliferation of software-enabled services. CD² @ George Town aims to be an ecosystem of digital tech companies, both large and emerging start-ups, supported by a skilled talent pool. Similarly, Penang seeks to establish a culture and design cluster to develop creative talent, products, and services.

The nucleus of CD² @ George Town is centred at Gat Lebuh China. Within a 2-block stretch are the city campus and creative design hub of Universiti Sains Malaysia and Wawasan Open University (WOU)’s School for Digital Technology, companies from the tech and digital industries, arts and cultural institutions, as well as Digital Penang, Penang Institute, and Think City. Details of key organisations in CD² @ George Town are available in the Annex. The planning and execution of CD² @ George Town is led by the George Town Conservation and Development Corporation, a tripartite partnership between the Penang State Government, Think City, and the Aga Khan Trust in collaboration with other statutory agencies, academia, and industries.

Future Plans Call for Collaboration

CD² @ George Town will expand beyond its current nucleus at Gat Lebuh China. Plans are underway to identify new spaces and buildings that could be repurposed to meet the needs of businesses of the future. Efforts will also be put into providing amenities and supporting services for a growing CD² @ George Town community. Some examples include a greater diversity of dining options, mobility solutions within the district, recreational spaces and green areas, and modern co-living spaces. To achieve its goals, CD² @ George Town will continuously seek partners from the public and private sectors, academia and community to co-create the ecosystem.

Waterfront Development

Legend:
1. Godown 5      2. Godown 7      3. Godown 8      4. Church Street Pier      5. Simulator Centre      6. Weld Quay      7. Urban Community Park      8. Marina Building
Penang was once known as ‘Venice of the East’; a location recognised as a point where tourists would wander around the wonders of our heritage and civilisation. During its former hustle and bustle days of glory, this location was recognised by the community as a point where traders would gather – a space where social events would take place.

As part of a larger Eastern Seafront Development (ESD) consisting of multiple development phases, MPDT has signed a 30-year concession agreement to redevelop the three existing Godowns and part of Tanjung City Marina as part of Phase I of ESD. The main goal is to boost the local and international tourism economy in line with the ‘Experience Penang’ and ‘Penang 2030’ tourism campaign.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a set of 17 interlinked international dreams designed to be a “blueprint to acquire a higher and greater sustainable destiny for all”. The SDGs had been installation in 2015 through the United Nations General Assembly (UN-GA) and are supposed to be carried out through the yr 2030. They are covered in a UN-GA Resolution known as the 2030 Agenda or what’s colloquially referred to as Agenda 2030. The SDGs were developed in the Post-2015 Development Agenda as the future global development framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals which ended in 2015.
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