About 2,400 kilometres southwest of Shenzhen, China, a 3,540-square-metre factory is ramping up operations at Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang, Malaysia. Standing on the factory floor, Teoh Kee Hock watches as an automated production line, recently delivered from Shenzhen, undergoes its final commissioning checks. He is the general manager of the Malaysian plant of Shenzhen Keyto Fluid Technology Co., Ltd., and also the factory's first-ever employee.
Opening up the innovation corridor from Shenzhen to Penang takes more than technology and systems. Lee Jin Xian, president of the Malaysia-Shamchun Chamber of Commerce (MSCC), has spent years helping Shenzhen's high-tech companies establish operations in Malaysia. Lee Teong Li, chairman of the Penang branch of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturing (FMM), is equally keen to see these links develop. "China has the 'brains'; Malaysia is well placed to provide the 'body'," he says.
This November, Shenzhen will host the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, with innovation designated as one of the year's three priorities. Lee Jin Xian sees this year's APEC meetings as a "strategic window of opportunity". He plans to organise a delegation of Malaysian entrepreneurs to visit Shenzhen in November and hold an event to promote investment in Malaysia.
From Lee Teong Li's call for technological cooperation and Lee Jin Xian's cross-border network to Keyto's success in replicating an entire manufacturing system overseas, a new smart manufacturing corridor is taking shape. With APEC helping to drive it forward, the link between the "Silicon Valley of the East" in Malaysia and "China's Silicon Valley" is moving from a blueprint to reality.
Reporters: Peng Yifei, Zhang Yin, Yang Qiong
Photo & Video: Zheng Xinqia
Video Editor: Zhou Xinyu
Planning: Luo Yanjun, Wang Haijun, Hu Nianfei
