Partners

Manchester Metropolitan University is the largest campus-based undergraduate university in the UK with a total student population of more than 37,000. It is a University for World Class professionals with an emphasis on vocational education and employability. The Faculty of Science and Engineering is a thriving community of over 5,000 students and staff dedicated to scholarship and learning. The expertise spans the subject areas of Health Science, Computing, Mathematics & Digital Technology, Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Environment and Geographical Sciences.

Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD) provides the structures for research in Art and Design at Manchester Metropolitan University. Focused on design and the expressive arts, it supports applied and practice-led research in the creative industries on local, national and global levels.

33 Labs is one of the leading application developers for Google’s Glass Project. With the onset of wearable devices, 33Labs’s passion lies in developing great apps that make a difference in people’s lives..

Manchester Art Gallery is one of the region’s most popular cultural destinations, attracting over 400,000 visits each year. It houses many of the city’s most important fine and decorative art works, which have been designated as being of national importance.

Taylor’s University is one of the oldest privately funded university in Malaysia. Taylor’s University is a member of the Taylor’s Education Group, which also comprises Taylor’s College, Garden International School, Australian International School Malaysia, Sri Garden International School, Nexus International School, Putrajaya and Nexus International School Singapore. Since its inception in 1969, Taylor’s has become one of Malaysia’s most successful and reputable private higher education institutions.

Digital Sense Technologies is a company specialised in signal processing, multimedia, machine vision and applied mathematics. Our company offers expertise and innovative custom solutions to problems that require significant amount of research and development. Digital Sense Technologies has a highly qualified team. Its members have large experience in research, innovation and development and have supervised and executed several innovation projects for industry, including large-scale projects. Their research has led to a large number of publications in international journals and conferences.

Smart tourism research center (STRC) will support a new theme of smart tourism and provide global trends of smart tourism in Korea and other countries and regions to adjust a new area of global smart tourism awareness, recognition, and competitiveness, and transform their traditional industry, and enlarge the boundary of current tourism to new business areas. We aim to build a collaboration network between Korea, Europe, USA, and Australia so that our research center can be globally recognized and conduct comparative research for smart tourism and service areas. Practically, while creating opportunities for publishing journal papers, we may advise the way of smart tourism for countries, regions, local cities, and private companies.

The Responsible Rural Tourism Network (RRTN) is a group of leading researchers from Malaysia and across the region in the field of sustainable and responsible tourism, who has been commissioned to carry out a RM9 million (US$3mil) programme funded under the Malaysian Ministry of Education’s Long Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS). This national project is scheduled to complete in 5 years (2011-2016). This collaborative interdisciplinary and multi-institutional study consists of a variety of stakeholders – government, universities, NGOs, and tourism professionals, who will play a holistic role in sustaining the fragile rural tourism industry of Malaysia. The programme is led by Taylor’s University, Malaysia with three other project leaders within the programme, namely Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Other associate researchers working on this project come from Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), International Islamic University (IIU), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

The Ministry of Tourism & Culture (MOTAC), Malaysia is a government ministry that is responsible in determining the policies and direction to achieve the goals of Tourism for Malaysia, in line with Malaysia’s commitment towards the United Nations. Its current minister is Dato’ Sri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz. The Vision of the Ministry is in developing Malaysia as a world-class tourist destination, with the Mission to work with all industry players to position the tourism industry as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth. The national tourism policy has been developed to transform the national tourism industry into a major, sustainable, viable and quality sector that contributes to national development. The main role of MOTAC is to formulate a national tourism policy in order to achieve the vision, mission and objectives of the ministry; to implement policies relating to the growth and development of the tourism industry; and to co-ordinate, monitor and assess the effectiveness of tourism programmes and projects.

Langkawi Geopark is Malaysia’s first established geopark located in the far north western corner of Peninsular Malaysia. It is also the first geopark in South-east Asia under the banner of UNESCO Global Geopark Network (GGN). Located in the State of Kedah, the Langkawi Geopark is unique in the sense that it comprises 99 islands that formed the legendry Langkawi archipelago. Langkawi, which has already been established as Malaysia’s premier tourism destination, jump started its development originally through the declaration of Langkawi as a Free-Duty Island in 1987. This declaration and the inception of the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) later in 1990 has brought systematic development to these legendary cursed islands and transformed them into the present day modern tourism destination. With strong support from the Federal and State Governments, LADA has placed much effort to make Langkawi an environmentally sustainable tourism destination capitalising on its rich nature diversity and recreational potential. The realisation of Langkawi Geopark is a testimony to this endless effort to make these islands a premier ecotourism destination in this part of the world.

The National Art Gallery is located along Jalan Temerloh on a 5.67-hectare land in Kuala Lumpur. The gallery has a unique architecture which is inspired by the traditional Malay architecture and incorporated with contemporary touch to it makes the gallery one of the most modern art venues in the region. Under the initiative of the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the National Art Gallery was established on 28th August 1958. The gallery had a humble beginning of only four artworks which were donated and was housed at a borrowed space at the Dewan Tunku Abdul Rahman before the gallery was located at its current permanent location. As of today, there are over 2,500 pieces of artwork which are permanently housed in the gallery. There are also rotation of exhibitions of Asian and international art at the gallery. Built with aesthetic value and practicality in mind, the art gallery creates space and opportunity for development, preservation, experimentation and exploration of various forms of art in Malaysia. It is the hub for the gathering of arts, crafts and cultural items.