Limkokwing sign MOU with Maxis. Proton sign with Petronas

I see today that Limkokwing University has signed an MOU with Maxis, a major player in the Mobile communications industry.
Here is a quote from the Edge article:
Under the MoU, Maxis will provide LUCT students and lecturers with Apple iPhone 3Gs bundled with special prepaid and postpaid plans to facilitate learning on the go.

"With the growth in uptake of advanced mobile devices and data services — the way we change and connect is being rapidly transformed.
This video is one of CNBC's it deals with 'Apps'. I feel sure, it has many educational possibilities...

I have used Limkokwing as my benchmark for the ONE MILLION virtual students figure I have quoted on my website below.
See page 5 on the slideshare presentation.

Motorsport University Malaysia

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I have previously mentioned that I am invited to participate at the ASLI Automotive conference (Asian Strategic Leadership Institute)planned to coincide with Kuala Lumpurs Auto Show.3-12 December 2010
Auto Show to conicide with ASLI auto conference

Last year Alex Yoong was my guest. I am hoping that this year that some Lotus high flyers will make an appearance. Motorsport is a specialised aspect of the complete Automotive industry however, given the new Group CEO at Lotus and the newly formed LotusF1 I think Malaysia would enjoy hearing from the new kids on the block!

This week Proton, owners of Group Lotus met with Petronas, Sponsors of Mercedes F1 and Yamaha MotoGP to sign an MOU for lubricant useage.Petronas are major shareholders in Proton and by default Group Lotus.
The videos below show the event.
Several people in the videos have received copies of my Slideshare/webpage presentations.

Rita Forst to head Opel Engineering... Lotus in Detroit Show

I have just read that Nick Reilly head of GM worldwide, minus North America, has moved Hans Demant over to Intellectual property head under Tom Stephens.
Rita Forst is taking his place in Opel.
During my time in Ruesellsheim, Rita was head of Powertrain.
Rita beside a powertrain



Lotus had a small area in her domain, where they provided support for Opel on the Ecotec engine they helped design when a division of GM.
Rita was at that time the highest level female executive within GM Europe. Nothing has changed in that regard!
Hans Demant was based on the same floor as me. He had just been promoted at that time to head of Engineering.
At the time I was part of the North American team on a joint design project between Opel and Saturn.
Good luck to both of them in their new positions.
While I'm at it, good luck to all the Reusselsheim people. I enjoyed my time there.
Once again I will mention the ASLI auotomotive conference. I have contacted possible speakers on their behalf.
Talking of which, I see on the Lotus enthusiasts site, that Dany Bahar is in Detroit promoting Lotus at the Auto Show. Dany for those of you who don't know is the CEO of Group Lotus.
Lotus/Morgan stand at the Detroit Auto Show

The ASLI conference will coincide with the 2010 Kuala Lumpur Motor show. 3-12 December 2010
I have been approached to participate. It is presently my intention to use my slideshare presentation as a basis for discussion.

Motorsport University Malaysia

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As I stated in my previous post, I have upped the virtual student count in my webpage to reflect those proposed by Limkokwing of ONE MILLION VIRTUAL students.
Limkokwing is one of the most successful private Universities in Malaysia, and as such is serving as my benchmark in this regard.

Asean Strategic Leadership Institute 2010 Automotive Conference

l will be helping ASLI promote their future Automotive Conference:




It will coincide with the Kuala lumpur Auto Show.
Official Auto Show logo


Proton, the Malaysian car company that owns Group Lotus intend to show their cars in the Geneva Auto show for the first time this year.
Presently, the Detroit Auto show is on. I have been many times. Not this year though!
Here is a link to the Detroit News. It is an interactive flash demo allowing you to design your own concept car! The Detroit News and Freep both give the show good coverage. Incidently, China has just become the largest buyer of automobiles in the world overtaking America. So I imagine the Shanghai show is gaining relevance.

I went to last years ASLI promoted Automotive conference with Alex Yoong as my guest. The conference did not revolve around Motorsport, and as such Alex probably wondered why he was there! We did have several chats with the Bufori representatives. Alex has done some 'Motorsport' work for them since.

It did give me some credibility and it was nice to know that Alex is sympathetic towards my project. (Motorsport University Malaysia).

If Michael Schumacher is reading this please feel free to contact me and I'll see if I can get you in this year...

I do think if ASLI want Motorsport specific people to attend they might want to organise the topics for discussion to reflect that.

I have been invited to paticipate this year. As such I will be expected to present a slideshow for discussion.

As Motorsport University Malaysia is still in the proposal stage I may use the one below for discussion purposes.

Motorsport University Malaysia

View more presentations from johnsean.

You will see some project figures for potential students on page 36. These figures add up to ten thousand virtual students. You must remember that I felt these figures made sense at the time (3+ years ago).

On my webpage, I have revised these figures to reflect the expectations of Malaysia's most successful private University, Limkokwing.
The CEO of this University is setting the bar at One Million virtual students in the next ten years.

In corporate circles we benchmark against the best, or our perceived competition, so my more recent webpage reflects the Limkokwing goal...

My benchmark for virtual students Limkokwing





“I hope that within 10 years, we will reach one million students. You can’t have one million on campus but you can have one million students if you have a lot of them doing online courses,” he adds (taken from an interview with the Limkokwing CEO published on the 28th May 2009 in the Star)

I might add that in the initial slideshare presentation, I mention my history with group Lotus, and their apparent ambivalence (uncertain or unable to decide about what course to follow; - wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn) towards the project.

Well, we have a whole raft of new management at Group Lotus, and a new entity in LotusF1 so I hope this will be reflected in their attitude to Motorsport University Malaysia.

Additionally, Petronas are a many faceted organisation. They are a major shareholder in Proton and group Lotus, as well as sponsors of Mercedes F1 among many other Motorsport teams. Perhaps they will give this project the consideration it deserves.

A Name does mean something... Why Lotus?

I hope everyone enjoyed their little holiday. It's freezing and snowy here. Sadly a lot of football matches are being postponed and travelling can be hazardous!
Talking of football... Today I commented on an article on the Crash website.
The article refers to Lotus F1.
The person after me made this comment:
Sorry to disappoint all you doubters, but a name does mean a lot. Take football as an example. 50 years ago a team might be made up of players all born within 10 miles of the ground. Now a Premiership team can be made entirely of overseas players and run by a far-east consortium, yet the fans still believe it's their team.

Chelsea and Man City are foreign (not British) owned or managed. So does the same apply to Formula One?
For some people Yes and for others No.

Certainly, Mercedes F1 are not German based or managed(Ref Ross Brawn)...

Did having Brawn and Scumacher at Ferrari make the team any less 'Ferrari'

Ross and Michael doing their version of the Italian job


Many feel Valentino Rossi should ride for Ducati. Yamaha and Honda before them felt otherwise...

I have written to a few influencial people regarding Motorsport University Malaysia. So lets hope the vision soon becomes reality...

To quote Bob dylan 'The time they are a changing!'