Group Bhd intends to establish a new subsidiary for its venture into the space industry in the third quarter of this year.Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Ir Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah said the subsidiary would manage its involvement in the new industry through capacity buildings via partnerships with various agencies and international players.
"However, as the business grows and our presence in the industry expands, we will look at the business requirements and find the best possible solution that can benefit the group to ensure the continuation of business," Mohd Karim told Bernama in an email interview.
Recently, the energy services group announced its collaboration with the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) to further strengthen the development of the space economy and industry in Malaysia.
The group said Malaysia had yet to participate in the "new space economy” despite being equipped to do so.
MYSA has taken initiatives, through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, to introduce the Malaysian Space Board Bill 2020, which was tabled for its first reading last year.
Mohd Karim said Serba Dinamik planned to venture into the space economy because it would connect the dots in terms of information and communications technology, which was one of the core competencies within the group, through Internet connectivity to the underserved and unserved areas domestically by utilising satellite technology for connectivity.
"This is required to support the group’s various initiatives on frontier technologies that require broadband and Internet connectivity to realise the utilisation," he added.
Mohd Karim noted that providing the facilities and infrastructure would open much bigger markets for other related industries under the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0).
"It also gives contribution in terms of nation building, which is the intention of the government of the day to provide connectivity to the underserved and unserved communities," he added.
Mohd Karim said MYSA's role was to give the advisory technical support within the organisation to assist Serba Dinamik to realise its objective and make a footprint in the space economy.
Serba Dinamik has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SWISSto12, a Switzerland-based private expert with the technology to manufacture components that are used in satellites via 3D printing technology.
With the MoU, it is expected that SWISSto12 will provide support to Serba Dinamik and partners in their space initiatives.
"Through this collaboration, Serba Dinamik will enhance its capability on high value engineering needed to support the space economy," said Mohd Karim.
He added that the group would also nurture manpower by providing training and education to create competent and skilled professionals in the space industry to ensure Malaysia would have the necessary workforce to support this growing industry.
"We also will look at transferring knowledge from industry players through our collaborations with the international players in this area. This knowledge transfer will help Serba Dinamik to obtain high value engineering capability that ensures Serba Dinamik can be one of the major players in the space industry," said Mohd Karim.
Asked whether the group planned to exit its oil and gas business with the new venture, Mohd Karim said Serba Dinamik would maintain its presence in the industry.
"Serba Dinamik's presence in oil and gas will continue and the space economy will come in as another core revenue contributor to the group. Serba Dinamik will grow bigger and stronger with this new division that will ensure sustainability of the group," he added. - Bernama