MALAYSIA: Promoting technology-based innovation

Malaysia has launched a scheme for promoting universities-industry alliances as well as accelerating national innovation and commercialisation activities. These include the inauguration of a nanotechnology association and the establishment of a National Innovation Centre along with a network of centres of innovation excellence.

The launch came at the third annual nanotechnology conference, Energy, Health and Environment, Nanotech Malaysia 2009, held in Kuala Lumpur last month. It was organised by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Academy of Sciences Malaysia and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The nanotechnology association was first proposed in 2007 and was finally officially registered in September 2009. The association will be a communication platform for scientists, researchers and industry players as well as facilitating networking with the local community and international counterparts.

One of its main activities will be organising an annual Nanotech Malaysia Conference and Exhibition which was started in 2007 as the highlight of Malaysia's national nanotechnology initiative launched in 2006

The NIC will assist innovators speed up development and use of innovations that will benefit the production and industrial sectors by enabling young entrepreneurs to innovate, develop their business idea and do research. The goal is for them to come up with a product and commercialise it.

The centre of innovation excellence will be set up to ensure that innovation activities are better coordinated and provide the push for commercialisation of new products. It will inculcate technology-based innovations and help commercialise them through an enterprise, conduct research as well as training and develop educational material on topics related to innovations and their evolution into viable enterprises.

"These initiatives for supporting infrastructure and network resources to commercialise innovations indicate the government recognises nanotechnology as one of the growth engines of the new economic policy as well as the innovators and idea generators under the 9th Malaysia plan," said Hassaniddeen Abd.Aziz, dean of postgraduate studies at the International Islamic University Malaysia.