
An ambitious purpose on innovation, a synergised ecosystem and a ‘bridge’ between research and commercialisation are among the elements needed for Malaysia to pull ahead in the region and achieve its ambition to be among the Top 20 most innovative nations by 2030 in the Global Innovation Index. Malaysia is currently ranked 36, and correspondingly, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is currently significantly lower than its potential output level with a gap of 49%.
According to the Malaysia Knowledge Economy Study, every 1% increase in innovation capacity increases a country’s GDP per capita by 0.36 per cent. For Malaysia, an increase in innovation production could translate to USD $1.21 billion (RM5.06 billion) additional to our GDP of USD $336 billion, even as the 12th Malaysia Plan has outlined innovation as a key enabler in economic growth.
In the first of a series of industry discussions aimed at fostering tighter synergy in the ecosystem, initiated by the newly merged entity, Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), panel experts say that Malaysia has incredible potential, but it needs tighter collaboration within the innovation ecosystem that will support its success. Furthermore, a strong technology transfer office mechanism between academia, government and investors to accelerate innovation to commercialisation is needed.
Challenges in the Labs
As much as 80% of research in Malaysia today is being conducted in our Higher Learning Institutions. According to WIPO data, just over 9,000 patent applications were made in Malaysia between 2013 and now. However, this is a fraction of the 120,000 research publications Malaysia has produced in the same period.
“To be absolutely candid, our ecosystem is still fragmented. Our Return on Ideas, or ROI, is not yet where it should be. This is why we need to ask ourselves some hard questions: Why aren’t we innovating enough? And, even though we have so much talent, the private sector is still not investing enough in R&D—why?” said Dzuleira Abu Bakar, CEO at MRANTI.
“As an ecosystem, we have come a long way, but there’s so much more that needs to be done. True innovative spirit most cannot be unleashed by an inaccessible and fragmented ecosystem. Lack of funding access, limited resources including skilled talent, and policies that have yet to catch up to potential are just few of the many areas that need to be urgently addressed.”


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