PUTRAJAYA, 24 June 2015 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has moved beyond its activities in knowledge transfer and research after being recognised by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) to work together in developing the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia.

The four states in the Northern Corridor which are Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak will be the main focus of USM and NCIA in strengthening the development programmes, which include boosting the talents in entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Professor Dato’ Dr. Omar Osman said, USM is truly honoured to be entrusted by NCIA to be the link to several programmes that have been identified for the development of the northern region.

"Among the focused areas are capacity-building, training and developing potential talents in entrepreneurship and innovation especially at the Master’s and Doctoral levels," said Omar.

He explained that USM too would assist NCIA in steering income-generation projects for the community via the "Community Innovation Centre" involving 11 projects which have been identified to be implemented in the four states.

The Vice-Chancellor said this after attending the MoU documents exchange ceremony on Northern Corridor development programmes between USM and NCIA, that was witnessed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia YAB Dato' Sri Najib Bin Tun Hj. Abdul Razak.

Also present was the Director of USM Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Professor Dato' Dr. Mokhtar Saidin.

Added Omar, the researchers at USM too would seek the best approaches together with NCIA to broaden the involvement of high-impact research in the fields of electrical and electronics engineering.

"I hope that research partnerships, which include collaborations with industries and communities involved in income-generation would continue to have positive effects not only to USM and NCIA, but also for the overall targeted communities to thrive.

Also at the ceremony, the Chief Executive of NCIA, Dato' Redza Rafiq Abdul Razak said, his office has a clear understanding of USM capabilities in research and development (R&D), and added with NCIA sound commercial strategy, it would provide a boost to the economic growth of the community in the near future.

"We will identify the relevant elements involving technology and innovation from USM to be absorbed into the community, in order to raise the overall economic and living standards of the targeted groups," said Redza Rafiq. - Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin/Text and Photos: Mohd Azrul Mohd Azhar