SME INNOVATION DAY 2026: AI-POWERED EIP PLATFORM STRENGTHENS COOPERATION BETWEEN USM AND SMEs
PENANG, 6 August 2026 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) continues to enhance its role in supporting the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through SME Innovation Day 2026, which serves as a platform to strenghten the relationship between the university and industry through the matching of expertise, technology, and innovation.
According to the Head of the SME Cluster, USM Graduate School of Business (GSB), and Project Director of SME Innovation Day 2026, Dr. Jeffrey Cheah Sau Seng, the main objective of the programme is to bridge the long-standing gap between the academic and industrial sectors to help SMEs gain access to the expertise they need.
He mentioned that USM has many experts, research facilities, and laboratories that can assist the industry. Therefore, SME Innovation Day 2026 was organised as an initiative to close the gap between academia and the industry by matching SME needs with the appropriate expertise at USM.
He also explained that the launch of the Enterprise Innovation Platform (EIP) is one of the main initiatives introduced to expedite the collaboration process between SMEs and university experts. According to him, EIP is a new digital platform powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that allows SMEs to input issues or problems they are facing, such as financial issues, talent development, operations, and others.
“As soon as the problem statement is entered into the system, AI technology will identify and match the problem with the expertise available at USM.” After that, the system will automatically send an email to the relevant experts before they contact the respective SME to discuss the appropriate solution,” he explained.
Dr. Jeffrey hopes that the EIP platform can be utilised by the SMEs in the future so that every problem faced can be resolved more quickly through collaboration with researchers and university experts.
“Our goal is to see more SMEs in Malaysia grow as a result of more efficient and effective matching of expertise through this platform,” he said.
He also shared that SME Innovation Day 2026 successfully gathered more than 150 participants from over 80 SMEs along with representatives from the Responsibility Centres (PTJ), Deans, and Deputy Deans of Research at USM.
He hopes that the relationships that were established will not end after this programme, but will continue to build a sustainable innovation ecosystem between the university and the industry.