NEWS: Govt pushing Malaysians to innovate

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has earmarked 2010 to be the Year of Innovation and has launched its Malaysia Innovative 2010 (MI2010) campaign.

The campaign aims to celebrate and encourage innovation among Malaysians. It will also serve as an education platform for people to hone their innovative and creative skills.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said an ecosystem needs to exist for innovation to flourish, and that proper support and education is an important component.

“Education, incentives, research and development, as well as proper funding channels, need to be put in place in the process of culturalising innovation,” he said at a press conference after launching the official logo of the MI2010 campaign here.

Ongkili said innovation will help the country achieve its aspirations of building a high-income economy.

“We need to innovate and remain competitive. At a macro-level, our economy is trapped in the middle-income bracket. We need to move up the value chain and innovation can help us do that,” he said in an interview with In.Tech after the event.

MI2010, he said, is one of the ways to encourage more Malaysians to be innovative and his ministry hopes to use the campaign to get everyone involved, not just those in the science and technology industry.

“We want to demolish the belief that inovation can only exist within that industry,” he said, adding that the activities arranged under MI2010 will be relevant to the entire strata of Malaysian society.

Bridging it

This goal gels well with one of the objectives of the campaign, which is to narrow the “digital divide,” that gap between the technology haves and have nots.

Ongkili said the activities for MI2010 have the potential to contribute to the societal well-being of the less previleged.

Innovative minds will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas at the various exhibitions and events held during the year and some of them may even be picked up by the private sector for commercialisation.

“Not only will this contribute towards the country’s economic growth, it will also help elevate the social standing of the innovators,” Ongkili said.

He said his ministry will be working with several parties in the private sector to tap the potential of these innovative Malaysians and help commercialise their inventions.

MI2010 will be officially launched by the Prime Minister on Jan 27.

At the end of the campaign, Ongkili said, the Government hopes to show that information and communications technology is available to all Malaysians, including the underprivileged.