THE growing aerospace, medical devices, and light emitting diodes (LED) industries in the global market are some of the new business opportunities that small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in Penang should tap into.

InvestPenang general manager Loo Lee Lian said in her presentation that Malaysia, for example, had an approximate 10% market share of LED products worldwide.

“The global LED market is expected to grow on a compounded annual growth rate of 24%, reaching about US$14.9bil in 2013, fuelled by the demand in general lighting, and trendy consumer electronic products such as mobile handsets and notebooks.”

Opportunities in the medical devices sector are in packaging and invasive medical devices.

“As for the aerospace industry, we are getting more investments from avionics-based multi-national corporations into Penang. This requires support from our local SMEs,” she added.

Loo was speaking at the forum on the development and financing for SMEs, which was officiated by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Some 300 SMEs representatives attended the forum.

Loo said the state government planned to start an SME Village in Batu Kawan within the next three years.

“The SME Village is to showcase SMEs’ capabilities and to develop clusters of supply chain to meet industrial needs and global supply demands.

“The rental rates will be subsidised,” she added.