Innovation and commercialisation industry applauds gov't initiatives

Industry players have applauded the innovation and commercialisation initiatives to transform the nation into a start-up hub, as announced in Budget 2015 today.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in tabling the budget said the government would allocate RM1.3 billion to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to develop several innovation and commercialisation related programmes.

"The development of many Asian nations, including Malaysia, is underpinned by the creativity, progressiveness and dynamism of its industry.

"This has become increasingly evident in the application economy, where everything is enabled by software," Vice President, Asia South, CA Technologies, Chua I-Pin said in a statement.

He said retail, news, banking, government, and communications are among the examples driven by a connected, mobile, application-based world where consumers are far more likely to interact with the government, organisations and businesses through a software application rather than with someone face-to-face.

In this landscape, companies are realising that development of innovative and quality applications is core to their future success, he added.

Chua said those who invest in new innovation and develop capabilities are growing revenue at more than twice the rate of those who don’t, thus creating an application divide in the marketplace.

"Companies thriving in the application economy are embracing technology as a business enabler, deploying software to manage their information technology investments more strategically and aligned with business goals.

"It is clear that enterprises of all sizes, in all markets, have to survive and thrive in the application economy, and as such, they need to place software development, innovation and delivery at the centre of their business strategy," he added.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Software Testing Board President Mastura Abu Samah said the board sees the proposed public private research network initiative, under the purview of the Ministry of Education in collaboration with Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, to be an effective platform to encourage collaboration between the private and academic sectors, particularly the area of applied research.

"We also see that the Research Incentive Scheme for Enterprise is a good move to encourage private research and development initiatives in high-tech, information and communication technology and knowledge-based industries, thus complementing the Research Network initiative," she added.