He said possessing a variety of data and an orderly data management could be an edge for a particular country.
“In this age of sophistication, the way to manage data is very important, so we require more experts and, because of that, a chief data scientist is needed,” he told reporters after the 26th MSC Malaysia Implementation Council Meeting here Thursday.
At the meeting Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that the government was considering to appoint a chief data scientist soon.
The government will also provide scholarships to enable more people in the country to be trained as data scientists.
Ahmad Shabery said at present not all data pertaining to the government was secret as some could be informed to the public.
“There is data that the public can obtain, some limited, secret or classified as secret because we need to ensure it is managed and classified properly,” he said.
He said besides data scientists to develop the Big Data Analytics (BDA) industry, the country needed more data professionals by 2020.
“At present our country has only about over 1,000 data profesionals when it requires between 6,000-8,000,” he said.
— BERNAMA
