JOHOR BARU, October 2014 - Research Universities (RUs) introduced under the government’s initiative in 2006 managed to generate an income of RM3.6 billion through research and development (R&D) programmes between 2007 and 2013.

The universities given the RU status were the Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Education Minister II, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said that most of the RUs can now generate income through R&D activities, some of which reached tens of millions of ringgit.

He said that the Malaysian researchers have made many discoveries including research that have an impact on the socio-economic development of the country, besides boosting the commercialisation of local products.

“This are the success stories that we want people to know about. During the period, Malaysian scientists have produced a total of 1,153 research products, 1,650 intellectual property (IP) rights, and also had 77 companies established to market the universities’ new products.

“We expect at least 80 companies would be set up each year after Malaysia achieves its Vision 2020,” he said.

Idris was present at the Media Event Showcasing Research Universities' Success Series 4: Commercialisation Wealth Creation through of R&D at UTM, here recently.

“We also see the universities in this country have improved much as can be seen in their world ranking in particular. During the next two years we expect our universities to emerge among the top 100.

“Efforts to strengthen and transform the university take time. RU is the best example where the progress occurs slowly but gradually over a period of time, and we will try our best to maintain it,” he said.

In another development, USM has shown excellence in driving innovation and to date the second oldest university of the country has recorded a generation of RM98 million total gross income through several major branches that are closely associated with R&D activities.

Other than the RUs achievements, USM as the first university to be designated as the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX), has produced a total of 406 R&D products and of that total, 58 products have been developed to the point of commercialisation.

For the record, from 2006 to 2014, USM has won 505 awards at the local and international levels, where of that total 75 percent had won gold medals in competitions participated within and outside the country.

USM which focuses on researches that are capable of solving socio-economic problems of the society’s bottom billion has also won numerous special awards internationally based on sustainability, community networking and entrepreneurship. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Text: Marziana Mohamed Alias​​/Photo: Nor Rafizah Md. Zain