INNOVATION AND FUNDING
WHERE’S THE MONEY? INNOVATION IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia is moving quickly forward to become an innovation economy, as Oon Yen Yen and Lim Eng Leong explain.
Innovation generates wealth but wealth is needed to generate innovation. Malaysian innovators are no strangers to this Catch 22 scenario. As any innovator would attest, the fi nancial hurdles involved in taking an innovation from laboratory to market are not for the fainthearted.
As a nation, Malaysia is briskly moving towards being a knowledge-based economy and its funding infrastructure, within which innovation is so carefully nurtured, is a strong testament to this. Funds have been made available throughout the length of the innovation value chain, from conception to commercial fruit.
Besides the Ministry of Finance’s (MOF) Cradle Investment Program, funding for innovation is primarily made available through the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI)
and the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC). Funds have also been made available via other channels such as the Ministry of Higher Education, Ministry of Communication and Multimedia and the Ministry of Agriculture.
MOSTI encourages commercially viable innovation and nurtures its evolution from laboratory to marketplace by funding short-term applied research projects in priority technology clusters. IP, specifi cally patents, is a prerequisite for funding with proof of patentability a must, and procurement of a granted patent a key milestone. MOSTI’s Science Fund provides grants of up to MYR 500,000 ($154,000) for lab- scale research to institutes of higher learning and research institutes. Grants of up to MYR 3 million
88 World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013
($920,000) are available for pre-commercial activities such as development of prototypes and pilot plants, and clinical trials through its Techno Fund. Individuals or small (and micro) enterprises involved in grass-roots innovation may obtain grants of up to MYR 500,000 ($154,000) through its Inno Fund.
While MOSTI mainly funds pre-commercial technology, MTDC on the other hand is tasked with turning newly commercial innovation into income generators. Registered IP is an eligibility benchmark for funds under MTDC stewardship. Fund recipients are carefully nurtured by MTDC for a period of up to fi ve years beginning from the early stages of commercialisation. T e commercial progress of the recipients is closely monitored throughout the duration of the
www.worldipreview.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196