The MoU, signed in Kuala Lumpur, sees HU taking one of its first meaningful steps towards building its reach within the ASEAN region. It does so after identifying its potential during a program run by its graduate school of technology and innovation management.

“This is a great opportunity to compare and contrast Malaysia’s initiatives with a country that has a successfully developed high-tech industry like South Korea”

“We are impressed by the level of internationalisation of Malaysian companies,” said the graduate school’s chair Jieun Kim.

“Most are looking at the market beyond Malaysia, with a very global outlook right from the beginning,”

Kim added the school’s emphasis on partnering academia with industry attracted HU to ASB, which was founded in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in partnership with MIT Sloan School of Management.

“ASB’s curriculum and relationship with MIT Sloan School of Management was a natural partner for such a joint program,” she said.

“To us, this is a great opportunity to compare and contrast Malaysia’s initiatives with a country that has a successfully developed high-tech industry like South Korea,” ASB’s assistant professor of management and political economy Renato Lima-de-Oliveira said.

“Furthermore, we had the opportunity to learn from our Korean partners about the current challenges of their innovation system and the new public policies to promote startups in a country known to be based on innovation led by large firms.”

South Korea hit a record high for international education last year, attracting more than 123,000 students, primarily from China.