Business

Friday November 20, 2009

Local universities, research culture and start-up activities still weak

By IZWAN IDRIS


PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia lacks innovation hotspots to propel the development of homegrown technology, says World Bank expert on development issues Dr Shahid Yusof.

Dr Shahid, also World Bank economic adviser, defined innovation hotspots as urban areas that are a rich source of technological findings and has the entrepreneurship to convert some of these findings into commercial innovations.

He said despite huge investments over the years to create such centres like Cyberjaya and Iskandar Malaysia, Malaysia has yet to produce these innovation hotspots.

“Local universities, institutes, research culture and start-up activities are still weak,’’ he said at a seminar organised by National Economic Advisory Council yesterday.

National Economic Advisory Council secretary Prof Normah Mansor accompanying Dr Shahid Yusof to the seminar on Industrialisation In The 21st Century: Preconditions, Drivers and Policies.

So, can such an innovation hotpot be created? The short answer is “yes”, Dr Shahid said, but it would probably take five to 10 years to achieve.

It would also require strong political commitment from the Government, raising the quality of education and a generous research funding policy. “Foreign direct investment can help, but thus far spillovers have been weak,’’ he said.

A key ingredient to develop hotspots is to have centres of basic and applied research that generate surplus ideas and entrepreneurial talents to commercialise them.

Such centres can be a combination of top-class universities, research institutes or firms with major and diversified research activities.

Another pre-requisite requirement is an urban environment that is open, amenity-rich, affordable and with high connectivity.

What Dr Shahid espoused can be summed up as an utopia for nerds and technology geeks. “If you don’t have nerds, then you won’t get very far in technology,’’ he said.

But to build this dream place isn’t always straightforward. Dr Shahid said in most places, such innovation hotspot grew from “the bottom up” without too much direct involvement from the government.

“It is an urban culture that is open to new ideas and highly supportive of technological changes,’’ he said.

There is also a need for multiple source of fundings to turn these ideas into commercial realities, with a good base of supporting business services.

Dr Shahid believes that the high-tech road may not promise rapid economic growth rates, but the alternative can be stagnation and gradual de-industrialisation.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story