chapter 6 - Malaysia Productivity Corporation ( MPC)

To achieve the innovation stage of development, it is fundamental to attract new investment and
encourage expansion into high value-added activities through strategic collaboration between
the Government and industries. This will be complemented by creating a supportive ecosystem for
innovation activities in the entire value chain. Furthermore, it is imperative that technological adoption
and readiness need to be enhanced at the firm level.
Business sophistication and innovation need to be enhanced by creating innovation opportunities and
incentives for companies to invest and innovate. It is pertinent to have strong collaboration between
the academia and business sector. In this regard, the close collaboration could enhance R&D activities,
commercialisation of research findings into marketable products and processes.
Among the countries which had been identified as innovation driven economies by the World Economic
Forum are Hong Kong, The United States of America, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. Their
characteristics towards innovation is shown in the table. These economies are characterised by having a
healthy, well-educated and trained workforce who are able to adopt the latest technologies.
Hong Kong for instance, has an outstanding quality of infrastructure that provides a conducive
environment for innovative activities, supported by openness to foreign ownerships and low trade
barriers. The presence of high quality scientific research institutions in the United States provide extensive
collaboration in research between universities and industries. Meanwhile, Singapore strongly emphasises
on education and skill enhancement among its labour force. Sweden is known as the world’s leading
innovator while Switzerland provides an excellent capacity for innovation and has a very sophisticated
business culture. These characteristics ensure a better alignment with the changing requirements of
firms and also to accelerate the creation of new markets for innovative products and services.
In essence, to be an innovative and competitive nation, it is imperative for Malaysia to continue its
efforts in enhancing the nation’s competitiveness performance and to benchmark and deliberate on the
characteristics being practiced by the leading economies. Going forward with the initiatives introduced
by the Government coupled with efficiency initiatives being implemented by businesses, Malaysia is
poised to become one of the innovation–driven economies.
46 Productivity Report 2011/2012