KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Digital, in partnership with Google, has launched its Redbeat Academy today as part of its ongoing digital transformation journey. Initially set up to upskill and cross-train AirAsia Allstars (employees), the academy has now opened its doors to the public. AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said RedBeat Academy would focus on serving five segments.
They are AirAsia Allstars, corporate and SMEs, government agencies, universities and public individuals. It is targeting at least 100,000 talents to be tapped annually to provide solutions in three main areas: skills development programme, Betabuild Labs, a programme offered by AirAsia supported Google to help enterprises incubate new digital businesses with employees, and career coaching and hiring service.
“With the mission to empower, connect and develop a sustainable tech talent pipeline, we are also proud to open the academy to the public now to provide opportunities for everyone, with the focus on mentoring the best in breed industry-ready professionals and producing problem-solvers using technology,” Fernandes said at the launch by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin here today.
Also present were AirAsia Group executive chairman Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Digital president Aireen Omar and Google Malaysia country head Marc Woo. Khairy said the concept of the academy itself signified a vital global trend in today’s digital world, which reshapes how businesses are run, workplaces are restructured and product marketing is shifted from a more traditional way to digital and consumer-centric.
“These efforts are in line with the government’s key initiative, the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox, aimed to accelerate Malaysia’s ascent in becoming a high-tech and high-income nation while generating greater social impact and strengthening the social innovation ecosystem structure,” he added.
Redbeat Academy has today signed a partnership with Malaysian Industry-Government Group of High Technology (MIGHT) to reskill a pool of talent in software engineering and high technology projects.
It also signed with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management, awarding a micro-credential to RedBeat Academy courses and acknowledging it as part of the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning. The academy also celebrated its first batch of 135 AirAsia Allstars, who graduated in their digital fundamentals course today.
This article was originally published on The New Straits Times