Microsoft has been a veritable partner to Malta throughout the past 16 years, enabling Malta’s economy and establishing the country at the forefront of IT adoption. Kyle Anastasi from Microsoft Malta explains how the company is now implementing an imminent shift from a focus on the ‘digital government’ to the ‘digital citizen’.
It’s been almost three years since the last memorandum of understanding with government. What has happened since then?
Yes, that was April of 2018 when Microsoft signed an MoU with the government pledging its support for a strategy that focused on three ‘Digital Malta’ pillars, namely a ‘Digital Government’, a ‘Digital Business Sector’ and the ‘Digital Citizen’.
Up to now, our joint focus has been on digital government, where we have been working very closely with MITA and together we have managed a number of important achievements.
These included a government-wide investment on a hybrid cloud infrastructure platform based on Microsoft technology, the deployment of over 23,000 government users on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams to enable more effective collaboration between teams and departments, as well as ongoing cybersecurity investments to better safeguard MITA’s technology platforms.
Of course, we also kept supporting our local start-up ecosystem and established new and exciting partnerships through which we are now planning to redefine our current Microsoft Innovation Centre model into a new set-up.
We also kept supporting our igaming customers and sustained our network of NGOs with more technology and training, a network that today counts almost 90 NGOs, 34 of which added throughout 2020.
Microsoft adopts a rather unique way of engaging with the local business eco-system. Can you tell us more about it?
True. We have been supporting businesses all throughout. We have hundreds of partners whom we support daily through our technology platforms and expertise. Technology has become such an intrinsic part of any business’s survival – something which we all got to understand and appreciate more this past year – so we make sure our partners are fully supported.
In recent years, as a major pioneer in cloud technology, Microsoft’s pledge to Maltese start-ups also confirmed our commitment to ensure that Malta’s businesses are aligned to current global trends.
Furthermore, we remained in line with the three main objectives with which we have been operating, namely: bridging the gap between academics and the industry in order to help provide the workforce with the needed expertise, encouraging the adoption of ICT among more students, as well as leveraging a stronger entrepreneurial spirit.
In fact, Microsoft has managed to carve quite a niche with regards to the start-up ecosystem in Malta…
Yes. The start-up environment here is very vibrant and as Microsoft, we have always sought to support start-ups by giving them access to our powerful technology coupled with access and collaboration opportunities with our global partner ecosystem. In fact, we are very happy to announce that in the very near future we shall be relaunching our Microsoft for Start-ups programme.
This is a free, global programme dedicated to helping B2B start-ups successfully scale their companies. Last year alone, this programme secured over a $1 billion in sales opportunities with the average deal size of over six figures.
I believe that no matter how important and meaningful the achievements are at government level; citizens need to remain at the heart of any strategy
So, what is going to change now?
Moving forward, the focus is now going to be on the public where most of the initiatives we will be running will centre around ‘Digital Business’ and the ‘Digital Citizen’. Basically, our main commitment is now going to be on how we can improve the citizen’s daily life. I believe that no matter how important and meaningful the achievements are at government level; citizens need to remain at the heart of any strategy. We feel that unless Malta’s citizens reap the benefits of Microsoft’s presence in a more tangible manner, they cannot truly appreciate the value that Microsoft has been bringing to Malta.
How does Microsoft plan to merge its past work with its future commitments?
Of course, I consider the past years as a very important learning curve. We got to network and collaborate with hundreds of entities, businesses, start-ups and educators. Together we have fostered a unique environment which at its heart lies an understanding that technology will always be the underlying driver of the future. This is why the main pillars of our work over the coming few years are going to be education, the fostering of more digital skills and AI.
What about AI? There is a lot of talk about AI but perhaps many still fail to really grasp its potential
It happens with every revolutionary new technology – it takes long to kick in. The vital importance and meaning of AI remain hard to grasp, and people will likely acknowledge this once these technologies start adding tangible value to people’s daily lives.
At Microsoft, we have already been very active on this front, especially at government level, for the last years. Already in 2018, we organised the first blockchain workshop for public sector employees, as well as investing in a number of PoCs and pilot projects focusing on a number of emerging technologies. Additionally, we hosted awareness sessions for the public sector, as well as several workshop sessions on artificial intelligence scenarios.
But the concern remains especially when it comes to privacy and security...
Yes, concern is understandable, but as far as Microsoft is concerned, we abide by a set of AI principles which are put into practice in all projects we embark on within this innovative area. Such principles include fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
For transport-related projects, our AI capabilities will seek to ease the flow of traffic; when it comes to children’s education, AI will enable us to make learning more interactive; and with regard to tourist-related projects, AI will certainly deliver a better and more tailor-made experience to tourists visiting us.
This is why we wanted to be highly involved in the drafting of Malta’s AI Strategy, which was announced in October 2019 and which established the strategy’s main pillars, that is, transportation, health, education, culture, public finance and taxation.
The aim is to assist ministries and entities to achieve their goals with regard to the use of artificial intelligence and innovative technologies with the ultimate goal of providing a better and more secure service to citizens and businesses.
Can you mention some upcoming initiatives or involvements for Microsoft?
Our aim is to keep supporting businesses, students, teachers, start-ups, stakeholders and policymakers translate the country’s digital strategy for their own tangible success. Microsoft will remain committed to Malta’s AI Strategy, we will revamp our start-up programme, will keep striving to bring our technology closer to citizens while empowering every person and every organisation in Malta to achieve more.