SALUTATION
Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Zakri bin Abdul Hamid
Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia
 
Professor Graham Kendall
Vice-Provost of Research and Knowledge Transfer
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus,
 
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Good morning. To all our guests, a warm welcome to today’s Conference.
 
MIDA is pleased to once again collaborate with the University of Nottingham Malaysia, in our aggressive pursuit of further promoting and developing the R&D sector across all industries in Malaysia. I would like to thank all our speakers especially to Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Zakri and our supporting partners, namely EUMCCI, BMCC, MABC, MCBC, MDBC, and SMITA for their invaluable contributions and support in making this conference possible.
 
The theme ‘Funding Research on a Changing Landscape’ is very relevant and timely in the face of today’s market demands, emerging technologies and rising competition. It underscores the criticality of intensifying and improving Research, Development, Commercialisation & Innovation (R,D,C & I) in Malaysia to create economic growth and quality jobs for our people.
 
As research creates the basis for innovations, we need to ensure an effective balance in funding all areas of innovation including strong basic research, application oriented and industrial research, as well as research on societal challenges. We seek to avoid a situation whereby the best researchers withdraw from doing research in Malaysia due to limited financial means.
 
Thus, for this two day conference, we are proud to feature prominent speakers from diverse backgrounds to share insights on extensive collaborative research between academia and industry. There will also be exciting exchange of ideas, knowledge, and development on local and international sources of research funding.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
Over the years, renewal and reinvention have sustained the vitality of Malaysia’s growth and have diversified our economy. The Malaysian Government continues to come up with innovative plans and strategies to drive the country’s growth forward. Among such efforts include developing an economy that is driven by knowledge, creativity and innovation.
 
Under the 11th Malaysia Plan, the focus is on translating ideas or inventions into goods or services. We aim to do this by strengthening relational capital to foster stronger linkages, collaboration and trust among stakeholders. Stronger relational capital will break down silos and reinforce collaboration between research institutions, the government and industry.
 
This will lead towards an improved national innovation ecosystem that enables Malaysia to bring creative outputs to the market and share resources. The Government is also instituting action plans to enhance human capital development, particularly by nurturing interests in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or STEM, amongst our future generations.
 
Currently our R&D intensity (GERD) is 1.13%, which is a relatively low figure when contrasted with the top 5 most research-intensive countries i.e. Korea (4.29%), Israel (4.11%), Japan (3.59%), Sweden (3.16%), and Finland (3.17%). This shows that we have not spent enough for R&D activities.
 
In the face of the tremendously changing industrial landscape, it is more crucial now than ever for companies to reassess and realign their business strategies to adapt to the current challenges of doing business. Intensifying innovation through strategic collaborations in R&D activities is one of the key components that would enable businesses to remain competitive and sustainable.
 
We acknowledge that companies may face challenges to increase their productivity through R, D, C & I. This includes the mismatch between research undertaken by universities and the requirement of the industry. There are also challenges in getting experienced Malaysian design engineers, insufficient capital investments, lack of R&D collaboration between the public and private institution, and inadequate support for a design innovation culture within the community.
 
As such, MIDA is stepping up our efforts to drive stronger R&D linkages between the industry, and tertiary & research institutions. Our focus is not just about absolute value of investments, but the expansion of the ecosystem as well. By strengthening the innovation ecosystem, we will develop a conducive environment to foster trust among all stakeholders. This in turn will contribute to higher value R&D activities and increase R&D spending. It will ultimately cement Malaysia’s position as the high technology hub for R&D, design and development (D&D) testing and technical support centre and Centre of Excellence (COE).
 
To complement these efforts, MIDA offers R&D incentive programmes that can be enjoyed by manufacturers with in-house R&D facility or research service providers. Under the 2016 Budget, the Government has introduced a new incentive for the establishment of Independent Conformity Assessment Bodies (ICABs). This incentive aims to broaden the manufacturing ecosystem sector towards producing more high-value, diverse and complex products. Local and foreign companies intending to explore potential business opportunities and undertake ICAB projects in Malaysia are welcome to discuss further with us.
 
As to date, MIDA has approved 167 R&D projects with total investments of RM2.27 billion. These comprise of 72 Contract R&D, 54 In-House R&D, 26 approved R&D companies and 15 R&D Status companies. They are mainly in pharmaceutical, chemical, healthcare, machinery, electrical & electronics, automotive, energy, medical devices, palm-oil and food production industries. These projects have created about 5,355 quality job opportunities, which are mostly in the science and technical fields.
 
These R&D projects have brought innovative technologies to the industries in Malaysia. Notable projects include the service on tele-radiology in tele-medicine for the healthcare sector, formulation of active pharmaceutical ingredient for generic pharmaceutical, and the development of integrated nano-layered stretch films for industrial packaging materials.
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
This conference is one of MIDA’s initiatives to bridge the gap between academia and industry. I hope that all participants will reap the maximum benefits of this Conference.  I am optimistic that collaborations made here will lead to higher research value integration, which will be translated into commercialisation. This in return will contribute towards the development of indigenous R&D capabilities in Malaysia. On that note, I wish you all a productive session and success in your future endeavours.
 
Thank you.
 
Source : Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: 
Name : KHAIRUL AMIR ALAIS 
Information and Communications Division
Malaysian Investment Development Authority
Tel : 03-22673505 
Fax : 03-2274 8470
Email : khairulamir@mida.gov.my
Web : www.mida.gov.my

--BERNAMA