KUCHING: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) is restructuring its two agencies to create a new technology commercialisation agency in accelerating Malaysia towards becoming an innovation-driven economy.
The ministry said in a statement today, that the new mandate was approved by the Cabinet.
“The synergy will bring together the best of both Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) and the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (Magic).
“This is the only 4th generation technology park in Malaysia with physical incubators and tech infrastructure, while Magic has played an important role in cultivating technology start-ups and innovation ecosystem with a wide range of interventions ranging from regulatory facilitation, market access support as well as capacity building,” it said.
The initiative aims to prepare Malaysia to tackle issues such as low commercialisation rates; low gross domestic expenditures on research and development (R&D) (GERD), low R&D spend by the private sector, and overlapping of roles between government agencies.
“Its main mission is to accelerate the creation, development and commercialisation of technology and innovation.
“By building a pipeline that encompasses the entire value chain, from start-ups in incubation to high growth technology companies, this will allow the country to strengthen and unlock value in the technology and innovation ecosystem,” added.
TPM chief executive officer Dzuleira Abu Bakar will head a joint task force comprising TPM and Magic. She has relinquished her position at Magic, which will oversee the establishment of the new agency.
Last year, Malaysia was ranked 33rd out of 131 economies in the Global Innovation Index 2020, improving two rungs from 2019.
Malaysia also ranked second among 37 upper middle-income group economies, and eighth among the 17 economies in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania.
