The Malaysian state of Johor is debuting a sprawling new innovation sandbox, bolstering its plans to build a “regional champion” alongside the border with Singapore.
The 7,300-acre development—named Ibrahim Technopolis (IBTEC)—is located within the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone, a new strategic partnership between Singapore and Malaysia meant to create over 20,000 jobs for people on both sides of the causeway. Designed to be Asia’s largest innovation sandbox, it will concentrate high-value industries like medtech, logistics, data centers and agritech.
IBTEC, formally launched on Dec. 2, will make “production smarter, supply chains more resilient and operations more efficient,” said developer JLand Group, the real estate arm of Johor Corporation, in a press statement.
The innovation park is part of a broader plan to tap Johor’s proximity to Singapore to attract investments from high-tech industry and other advanced manufacturing.
Malaysia and Singapore formally launched the special economic zone earlier this year. Part of the agreement involves measures to make it easier to travel back and forth between Singapore and Johor, already one of the busiest land border crossings in the world.
