It’s Day 3 of ENGINEER & MARVEX and the learning never stops! Here’s a summary of what some of the industry experts had to say at their sessions.
Power Talk Industry: ESG Series
Speaking at the first panel discussion, ‘Integrating ESG Principles in Urban Development’ Muhammad Adam Anuar, Associate Director, Industry, Environmental, Social & Governance, Ministry of Investment Trade, and Industry, pointed out that sustainability is an opportunity for businesses to grow and for the government to achieve their ambition to be a net zero nation.
“This is a good platform that has brought in technical experts to share on sustainability and ESG. It is important that the industry is invited to these kinds of events to create awareness and get more attention towards the opportunities laid out by the government,” he added.
He found that despite the government’s assistance and incentives, buy-in, especially among the SMEs was still quite low and the adoption of the i-ESG framework for sustainability disclosure was still at its infancy.
The second panel session talked about ‘Advancing ESG in the Built Environment: Innovations and Best Practices.’ Ir. Ashwin Thurairajah Executive Director of GreenRE addressed sustainability in the property development sector, informing the audience of the importance of obtaining a Green Building certification in the industry.
“Green Building certification is particularly important in driving awareness for green buildings in the country. It helps to focus the design lens of all the stakeholders within the sector, from regulators to building designers and even end-users,” he explained.
Daniel Nuic, Vice President Global Sales, LOYTEC Electronics sees the significance of smart building technology when it comes to achieving ESG goals.
“Buildings have a huge impact when it comes to sustainability so building automation needs to look into energy consumption reduction and carbon footprint. Since we spend most of our time indoors, we also need to consider occupants’ wellbeing,” he said.
Ir. Associate Prof. Ts. Dr. Leong Kah Hon, who moderated both panel discussions, pointed out that sustainability awareness was still very low in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia.
“Perhaps being away from KL, knowledge of ESG and the importance of committing to sustainability reporting is not there. But being a part of the supply chain, this is something they must look into, or risk losing out,” he said.
Power Talk ACMV Technology Series
Experts shared their thoughts and insights regarding the future of technology in the ACMV industry at the MARVEX Power Talk Industry titled ‘Innovations in Smart and Sustainable ACMV Systems.’
Speaker, Wayne Wang, Senior Director, Product & Marketing, APAC, Regal Rexnord Corporation Management (Shanghai) Co Ltd. said, “We talked about the future trend of forecasting the next five or 10 years, and what industries are going to be embedded into new IT and AI technology,” he said.
Wang believes that smart technology, or AI technology will give a boost to performance, especially in the ACMV industry with climate change affecting temperatures, making air cooling more desirable around the world.
“We need to understand the customer’s needs, and we need to embed it to the smart technology trend, instead of chasing the hardware from 10 or 20 years ago, and if we can be that proactive, it will be very promising,” Wang added.
ACMV Regional Dialogue
The ACMV Regional Dialogue, a MACRA close door event running into its second year, brought together ACMV & R associations and industry representatives from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Philippines, apart from Malaysia.
“We came together to seek commonalities and discuss establishing universal standards in operations for instance, in the area of air-cond installation which are the same everywhere in the world,” said Peter Tan, MACRA President.
He added that the dialogue also addressed establishing a standardised skill training, to facilitate the pooling of resources towards flexibility and mobility of human capital within the region while preserving a universal learning regime that ensures all talents are taught the same curriculum.