Malaysia Needs “Big Innovation Purpose” To Stay Ahead An ambitious purpose on innovation, a synergised ecosystem, and a

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Malaysia Needs “Big Innovation Purpose” To StayAhead
An ambitious purpose on innovation, a synergised ecosystem, anda ‘bridge’ between research and commercialisation – these are amongthe elements needed for Malaysia to pull ahead in the region andachieve its ambition to be among the Top 20 most innovative nationsby 2030 in the Global Innovation Index. Malaysia is currentlyranked 36, and correspondingly, GDP growth is currentlysignificantly lower than its potential output level with a gap of49 percent.
According to the Malaysia Knowledge Economy Study, every 1percent increase in innovation capacity increases a country’s GrossDomestic Product (GDP) per capita by 0.36 percent. For Malaysia, anincrease in innovation production could translate to USD 1.21billion (RM5.06 billion) additional to our GDP of USD336 billion,even as the 12th Malaysia Plan has outlined innovation as a keyenabler in economic growth.
In the first of a series of industry discussions aimed atfostering tighter synergy in the ecosystem, initiated by the newlymerged entity, Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology andInnovation (MRANTI), panel experts say that Malaysia has incrediblepotential, but it needs tighter collaboration within the innovationecosystem that will support its success. Furthermore, a strongtechnology transfer office mechanism between academia, governmentand investors to accelerate innovation to commercialisation isneeded.
Challenges in the Labs
As much as 80 percent of research in Malaysia today is beingconducted in our Higher Learning Institutions. According to WIPOdata, just over 9,000 patent applications were made in Malaysiabetween 2013 and now. However, this is a fraction of the 120,000research publications Malaysia has produced in the same period.
“To be absolutely candid, our ecosystem is still fragmented. OurReturn on Ideas, or ROI, is not yet where it should be. This is whywe need to ask ourselves some hard questions: Why aren’t weinnovating enough? And even though we have so much talent, theprivate sector is still not investing enough in R&D – why?”said Dzuleira Abu Bakar, CEO, MRANTI.
“As an ecosystem, we have come a long way, but there’s so muchmore that needs to be done. True innovative spirit most cannot beunleashed by an inaccessible and fragmented ecosystem. Lack offunding access, limited resources including skilled talent, andpolicies that have yet to catch up to potential are just few of themany areas that need to be urgently addressed.”
“Many of our research and higher education institutes produceamazing discoveries every year. They publish many research papersand discover great inventions in their labs and R&D facilities.We have some amazing talent in our academia,” she added.
But that’s where they stay, Dzuleira pointed out. Many do not goon to commercialisation, because they do not have access to fundingor expertise to scale, and many struggle to file patents, which canbe complex and take years.
Currently, Malaysia’s commercialisation rate is only at anestimated 5 to 10 percent, compared to some highly developedeconomies like Japan or the USA, where commercialisation rates areas high as 60 percent.
Prof. Datin Paduka Dr Teo Soo-Hwang, Chief Scientist Officer,Cancer Research Malaysia, said that the critical infrastructure toenable success in commercialisation is not yet fully-developed inMalaysia.
She added that many of the world’s most esteemed educationinstitutions not only have great academic units, but alsocommercialisation units, expertise and funding that enable them tocommercialise their research.
“It is this confluence of manpower and funding that weabsolutely need in Malaysia,” she said. “Cancer Research Malaysiaand other research institutions have already shown that we canproduce cutting edge research, some of which is ready forcommercialisation, but we need more support in order tocommercialise.”
Furthermore, she added, Malaysia needs its “big innovationpurpose”, and to be clear as to what innovation areas to work on,and Malaysia can offer on the world stage in order to attract thetalent, investment, and recognition it needs to achieve itsambitions.
Eluding to Malaysia’s value proposition being our niche, ProfDatin Paduka Dr Teo said, “What do we do well above the rest thatwill allow us to stand out? For example, Cancer Research Malaysiahas focused on research in Asians and in that way, we have broughta value proposition to an international platform – it is clear thatwe need to continue to be clear about how we are unique and excelin these areas.”
Prof Dato’ Ir. Dr Mohd Hamdi Abd Shukor, Vice-Chancellor,Universiti Malaya, said, a lot of academic research is for thepurpose of fundamental discovery. These do not necessarily need orcan be commercialized. However, he said, “where more work needs tobe done is in applied and industry research, where problems can bemet with solutions.”
Researchers often have difficulties in wearing the many hatsneeded in the commercialisation journey. “What we’re askingprofessors to do, when they have a patent, is to ‘spin-off’ intodifferent roles, opening up a company, for example. And I’ve seenthis end in failure a lot. Sustainability is an issue. It’s clearthat this method is not working,” he said. “Researchers are notalways businessmen, and they should be building capacity inresearch. Taking the patent through into the business world shouldbe done by the experts in the business.”
Prof Hamdi said, the professor cannot be the researcher,entrepreneur, and venture capitalist at the same time. “We need tolook at the entire value chain again (to better mark out roles andresponsibilities),” he added.
An initiative like MRANTI is much needed, said Thomas G Tsao,founding partner of venture capital firm Gobi Partners. “As aventure capital firm, we welcome any initiatives that encouragemore collaboration and communication. We welcome partnerships. WhatMRANTI is doing here, bringing together stakeholders who weren’tnecessarily talking to each other in the past, is fantastic.” Gobihas invested in 27 early-stage startups in Malaysia, and also hasits ASEAN headquarters in Malaysia.
Source:https://www.businesstoday.com.my/2022/0 ... tay-ahead/
(a) With reference to the above case, discuss three stakeholdersinvolved to accelerate innovation process in Malaysia.
(15 marks)
(b) Discuss two (2) methods researchers could use to justifytheir innovation project’s budget to obtain external financing suchas government grants or external investors.
(10 marks)
(c) Most current research suggests that firms that aresuccessful innovators utilize multiple sources of information andideas. Discuss three (3) sources of relevant information and ideasresearchers can obtain to start their innovation projects.
(15 marks)