MALAYSIA SHARES GTP & NEM AT WORLD ICT MEET IN AMSTERDAM

From Siti Hawa Othman

AMSTERDAM, May 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s government transformation
programme as well as its New Economic Model are being shared with the rest of the
world at the just-concluded World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT2010).

In his keynote address on “Transformation of A Nation” on Wednesday, Minister of
Science, Technology and Innovation Dr Maximus Ongkili spoke on the key role that
innovation was playing in the development of Malaysia.

“Innovation and creativity are the way forward towards Malaysia becoming a high
income economy from its current middle income status,” he said.

The minister said the country needed a major push but it was ready to move into
the innovation field as plans have been laid out for the sectors concerned.

They include the National Innovation Model (NIM) developed by his Ministry which
calls for both technology-driven and market-driven innovation.

Technology-driven innovation initiatives include boosting basic science
research, technology development and commercialization via the provision of
incentives such as research and technology grants, as well as multi-stage
funding.

The market-driven innovation, meanwhile, focuses on identifying market niches
and putting in place the necessary incentives and programmes to enable Malaysia
to tap into those specific markets.

In his address, the Minister also announced that Malaysia would be holding the
Kuala Lumpur Innovation Forum from Oct 25-26, of which the highlight would be a
Ministerial Dialogue on Innovation Policies.

The event features innovation thought leaders and captains of industry from
Malaysia and around the world.

Dr Maximus was leading a 20-member Malaysian delegation to WCIT 2010 which
includes top officials from MOSTI, the Malaysian Embassy in The Netherlands,
MDeC, MATRADE, MIDA, MIMOS and Cybersecurity Malaysia.

The Malaysian delegation has been involved in government-to-government
discussions and business meetings with key European companies to promote MSC
Malaysia and enhance the potential for new foreign investments in the national
ICT initiative at WCIT 2010.

MDeC officials have also held discussions with European Commission
representatives of its Digital Agenda.
-– BERNAMA