PM TO LAUNCH M'SIAN CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION YEAR 2010 ON JAN 27

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 (Bernama) -- The launch of the Malaysian Creativity and
Innovation Year 2010 by Prime Minister Najib Razak, scheduled for Jan 27 at the
Putrajaya International Convention Centre near here, could not have come at a
better time, said a university don.

Professor Dr Mohamed Shariff Mohamed Din, director of Universiti Putra
Malaysia's (UPM) Innovation and Commercialisation Centre, it would help produce
more inventors, especially among the younger generation, towards realising
Malaysia's vision 2020 goal to be a developed country by that year.

"When we talk about innovation, we must think of something new... we
must improve ourselves, then we can make our life simple, more effective,
more efficient.

"If we do not change now, our country will be left behind in various
aspsects. Look at the developed nations like Japan, Korea, United States and the
European countries. They progressed because of innovation. If we are not
innovative, we will be left behind," he told Bernama Thursday.

He said the country had many commodities which could yield more products
through innovation, like, for example, it now exported palm oil but many more
products could be made from the oil palm.

"We should not be happy with just one invention like oil...there are
actually many other things that we can produce," he said.

He said it was never "too late" to start this transformation (innovation and
creativity) process because the most important thing was to inculcate the
innovation culture right now.

"We must start from somewhere. Even if we don't achieve 100 per cent by
2020, at least we have the culture to innovate and create. Maybe by 2030...it
has to be continuous process, very-very important to be successful,"he said.

Mohamed Shariff said innovation and creativity could also be inculcated in
the country's learning system so that students would be able to think out of the
box.

To transform the society into an innovative and creative lot, efforts to
educate individuals on its advantages must be stepped up, he said.

The society must understand that in the face of globalisation and stiff
competition among countries, only the innovative and creative countries would
progress in terms of technology, he added.
-- BERNAMA