44 Per Cent Of 4,474 R&D Projects Under 10MP Completed

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 (Bernama) -- Forty-four per cent or 1,971 of the 4,474 research and development (R&D) projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) have been completed, with 1,052 intellectual properties filed or registered.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said 352 or 18 per cent of the completed projects had been commercialised with sales clinched worth RM3.2 billion.

"Within the same period, 10,148 scientific publications were produced, comprising 9,040 at the national level and 1,108 at the international level," he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara Monday.

He was replying to a question from Senator Khoo Soo Seang on the incentives offered by the ministry to encourage R&D activities and innovations to raise the quality of Malaysian products.

Ongkili said under the 9MP, the government had set up 18 special funds to encourage R&D activities, with allocations amounting to RM2.9 billion to finance 4,474 projects.

He said his ministry had also implemented the innovation support programme which focused on strengthening the commercialisation facility by providing a business matching platform with the coooperation of business associations.

"There is also cooperation between research and higher learning institutions and the industries to ensure that the research outcomes could be exploited by the industries."

Ongkili said the government would also continue to emphasise on human capital development based on an innovation-led economy and techno-entrepreneurship by undertaking various initiatives.

He said the initiatives included offering human capital development programmes and strengthening the 'Brain Gain Malaysia' programme by targeting the participation of 1,000 scientists, researchers and innovators to contribute to national development and steer the Innovative Malaysia Programme 2010, aimed at making creativity and innovativeness a culture in Malaysian society.