Malaysia Capitalising On Innovation To Move To The Next Step - PM Najib

From Siti Hawa Othman LONDON, May 18 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Razak says the challenge for Malaysia now is to move on to the next step of development by growing through innovation, increase in productivity and more effective use of knowledge for greater economic and social development. "We need to find better ways of producing goods and services, and delivering them more effectively, and at lower cost, to a greater number of people," he said when delivering his address on "Global Competitiveness: Malaysia's Aspirations" at the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC)-Khazanah Distinguished Lecture Series here, Tuesday. For Malaysia to become a developed, high-income status nation and able to compete with the best, regionally and globally, Najib said it would need the transformative power of science and technology. "And we need the dynamism of entrepreneurs, innovation and creativity to propel both public- and private-sector performance," said Najib who is on a working visit to the United Kingdom. Hence, he related the launch of the Science 2 Action, or S2A, initiative in 2013 with the goal to intensify the application of science and technology for the development of industry and for the well-being of the people. "We want to reinvigorate all aspects of science in Malaysia so that it contributes to generating new ideas and game-changing strategies that will create sustainable wealth and jobs for our people," he added. Najib said during his visit to east Malaysian state Sarawak recently, he had stated that for the redevelopment of rural schools using the industrialised building system, there should be an additional six classrooms with science laboratories. Part of the S2A initiative was the establishment of the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, a joint initiative between the Malaysian and British governments. It has already created new opportunities to enhance bilateral relationship, and for scientists from both countries to work together on potentially life-changing research and innovation initiatives. Since the fund was started in 2014, seven main collaborative programmes have been established to look at areas of human capital development, research and development and - most importantly - the translation of research outputs from the laboratory to the market. Najib said Researcher Links and Institutional Links programmes had already started building strong network linkages between Malaysia and the UK, and was looking forward to further developments and successes from this farsighted partnership. --BERNAMA