Green Plus Issu 14

ENERGY
UNESCO and Panasonic
partnership
Educational support programmes for next generation launched in off-grid
communities in Myanmar
Malaysia has long realised
the potential of
Science, Technology and
Innovation (STI) as the
driver in attaining the
Vision 2020 goals, more
so in the current global challenges of addressing
Urbanisation and Climate Change.
As a developing nation, rich with biodiversity
and resources, STI plays key role in ensuring sustainable
solutions to these global challenges and
it is implemented through the national Science to
Action (S2A) Initiative.
Clean technology or green technology has been
identified as one of the effective ways to improve
and minimize destruction to the environment
through sustainable consumption and production,
leading to the growth of Circular Economy which
is a more competitive resource-efficient economy.
Malaysia’s forthcoming Eleventh Malaysia Plan
2016-2020 highlighted the importance of pursuing
Green Growth for sustainability and resilience.
In support to this intention, The Malaysian
Cleantech programme was launched in 2013 in
Kuala Lumpur known as The Global Cleantech
Innovation Programme (GCIP) by MIGHT
(Malaysian Industry-Government Group for
High Technology) in collaboration with UNIDO
(United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation).
In his keynote address during GCIP’s An
Evening with Cleantech Champions 2015, Dato’
Mah Siew Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Department (as well as Minister in-charge of
MIGHT) congratulated the top five finalist of
GCIP 2015 competition.
He said: “GCIP can definitely bring our emerging
economies to the global market. Malaysia
needs new and creative companies to stimulate
the growth of High Tech SMEs as not only it
benefitted us economically but also socially and
sustainably.”
He emphasized on the need for Malaysia to be a
Cleantech Innovation hub with competitive global
Donation of 500 units of “eneloop solar storage” to
schools around the Ancient City of Bagan
status companies delivering solution to mitigate
climate change and environment degradation.
These initiatives fit the Science to Action (S2A)-
Science for well-being and Science for industry
objectives as part of the Science transformation
agenda by the YAB Prime Minister.
The final round of the GCIP 2015 saw five top
winners from nation-wide participants, namely
Eclimo, ReneonTechnologies, WaveEnergy, Eco
Clay and Zymeratics. These five finalists, including
the national champion who represented Malaysia
in the Cleantech Open Global Forum in Silicon
Valley, USA, received sponsored tickets to attend
the Forum. The National Champion will be pitching
to global investors jointly with other teams
from South Africa, India, Pakistan, Turkey and
Armenia.
Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, President
and Chief Executive Officer of MIGHT, who also
attended the event commented: “We support
the GCIP Acceleration Programme in scaling-up
technoprenuers towards becoming Regional and
Global Industry Champions. In doing so, we will
continue to engage both the public and private
sectors in inculcating green practices and making
them a norm among the society today, as well as
for the industry to unleash new opportunities in
the emerging Circular Economy.”
The initial market access for these technopreneurs
is supported through the National Smart
Communities Programme which targets to accelerate
the greening of Malaysian cities through
industry driven projects. This Smart Communities
Programme is also a platform to commercialise
new technologies into the market in areas of
Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Waste to
Wealth and Mobility.
GCIP Malaysia is a collaborative programme
between Malaysian Industry-Government
Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Global
Environment Facility (GEF), the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO)and the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment (NRE) that enables the
scaling up of Cleantech start-ups through GCIP
Technopreneurship Pathway towards providing
support ecosystem in areas of technology development,
technopreneurship development, syndicated
funding and capacity building.
2015 also marks the establishment of integrated
ASEAN Economic Community which targets
in transforming ASEAN into a region with free
movement of goods, services, investment, skilled
workers, and free flow of capital would benefit
the participating cleantech companies in building
economies of scale, market and the pool of skilled
workers.
GCIP will be expending its role in supporting
the expansion of this program into ASEAN, in
collaboration with UNIDO, to develop an integrated
and vibrant Cleantech Innovation in the
region through the ASEAN Cleantech Innovation
Network Program.
This effort will commence with the forum on
“Opportunities for ASEAN in Clean Technology
Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Inclusive
Growth” on 21st Nov 2015in conjunction withthe
One ASEAN Enterpreneurship Summit (1AES)
2015 from16-22 November 2015 organised by
the Ministry of Finance Malaysia (www.1aes.my).
70
Greenplus TM MARCH 2016