Malaysia needs more tech-savvy companies to move STI forward - Dr Adham

He said through a public-private partnership model, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) aimed to work closely with relevant ministries, government-linked companies and large local companies in creating five home-grown unicorn companies in the next five years to enhance Malaysia's economy especially through job creation.

Speaking at the launch of the Science Outlook 2020 Report held online today, he said the ministry would also launch the MyStart Up Roadmap to strengthen the start-up ecosystem with hopes of developing more indigenous technology and nurture brilliant world-class technopreneurs towards becoming a competitive start-up nation.

Dr Adham said STI must go in tandem with socio-economy without compromising the natural resources of the environment to give rise to impactful outcomes and better return of value for the rakyat.

"For Malaysia to re-claim our space globally, we must adopt the whole-of-nation approach towards developing collaborative strategies for knowledge intensive outcomes and impacts for a harmonious, prosperous, progressive and sustainable Malaysia," he said.

In the efforts to transform Malaysia from technology users to technology developers in becoming a high-tech nation, Dr Adham said 10 science, technology, innovation and economy (STIE) leap programmes had been formulated.

Among them are the Technology Commercialisation Accelerator, Malaysia Science Endowment and National Technology Innovation Sandbox.

He said the government had also approved the establishment of the National Vaccine Centre.

The Science Outlook 2020, the third edition of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia's flagship report, provides the reality check of the STIE progress over the past three decades and puts forth strategic recommendations to move into the future.