R&D ORG LOOKS TO BUILDING A MULTI-BILLION RINGGIT LED LIGHTING INDUSTRY

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- SIRIM Bhd, a premier industrial research
and technology organisation, hopes to turn Malaysia into a key international
light emitting diode (LED) lighting production player.

SIRIM president and chief executive Ir. Yahaya Ahmad said a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) had been signed with local company, Avenion Greentech Sdn
Bhd, to collaborate in research and development as well as commercialisation of
LED lighting.

The joint-project will be able to create a RM25 billion LED industry within
a 12-year period.

SIRIM will work closely with Avenion Greentech in areas of new product
development, standards benchmarking and commercialisation projects.

"To achieve our aim of turning Malaysia into a key international LED
production player, it is critical for us to choose a collaboration partner
already in the business of producing and marketing high quality products,"
Yahaya said in a statement here, Friday.

Avenion Greentech and its sister companies are involved in projects in
Malaysia and Japan to supply multinational corporation (MNCs) and customers
like Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

SIRIM Bhd is a wholly-owned company of the Malaysian government under the
Minister of Finance Inc.
-- BERNAMA