Why Malaysia has to be innovative?

Why Malaysia has to be innovative?

Often we hear the instructions to turn to more innovative, think outside the box and be more creative. But in reality, only command instructions. Because there is no real direction for realizing the aspiration.

Moreover, so far we do not have an institution that highlight skills innovation students in the field. This makes it difficult for us to apply the field of innovation for developing countries.

However, in line with the transformation program, introduced the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who wanted the area of ​​innovation in line with the transformation of the country, a body established operators to drive this innovation field.

Special Innovation Unit (Unique) was established to 'recruit' young talents who are creative and innovative capabilities to translate themselves in a program called Genovasi, which refers to the generation of innovation (Genovasi).

What is innovative? 

According to businessdictionary.com, Innovative can be define as:-

The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.

To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers. In a social context, innovation helps create new methods for alliance creation, joint venturing, flexible work hours, and creation of buyers' purchasing power. Innovations are divided into two broad categories:
(1) Evolutionary innovations (continuous or dynamic evolutionary innovation) that are brought about by many incremental advances in technology or processes and
(2) revolutionary innovations (also called discontinuous innovations) which are often disruptive and new.

Innovation is synonymous with risk-taking and organizations that create revolutionary products or technologies take on the greatest risk because they create new markets.

According to BloombergBusinessweek, the innovation level in Malaysia:

No. 21 – Malaysia

Overall score: 1.12  
Innovation inputs score: 1.01  
Innovation performance score: 1.12
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $397.5 billion  
Foreign Direct Investment: $50.1 billion

“Like many export-dependent Asian countries, Malaysia has been hit hard by the global recession. On Mar. 10, the Malaysian government announced a new $16.2 billion stimulus package that will include $1.35 billion for infrastructure projects that could help the country's manufacturers become more innovative. The projects include the expansion of airports in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and a high-speed Internet network.”

We can see, Malaysia government very supportive to make Malaysia more innovative which invest a lot of dana as stimulus package. This happen because government want to achieve Vision 2020, Malaysian Ideal introduced by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad during the tabling of the Sixth Malaysia Plan in 1991. The vision calls for the nation to achieve a self-sufficient industrialized nation by the year 2020, encompasses all aspects of life, from economic prosperity, social well-being, educational world class, political stability, as well as psychological balance.

“Many East Asians in the tropical region used to live a comfortable life almost entirely focused on the here and the now. Nature and the climate made it possible not to worry too much about the future. We were able to harvest several times a year and did not have to accumulate food to survive bitterly cold winters. Buildings were wooden and not very durable – it sufficed if they served immediate needs, why build something that would last a hundred years? Although this was, by modern yardsticks, a poor life, most people knew nothing else and were quite satisfied. Poverty is always relative and often it is only when the money economy arrives that people suddenly awake to the fact that they are ‘poor’. This life ‘in the present’ was suitable for a rural nation with only insignificant relations with the surrounding world. But today, with nations participating in a fiercely competitive global economic game, living merely in the present will no longer do. There has to be long-term visions and planning, a goal to move towards to give people a sense of direction.”
Mahathir. [Somun 147]

Innovation is important on different levels and is also important for different reasons. For Malaysia, innovation is an important driver of economic growth and improvement.

The Economist Intelligence Unit undertook a survey in 2007 which noted that “long‐run economic growth depends on the creation and fostering of an environment that encourages innovation. Innovation is considered an important driver of long‐term productivity and economic growth. It is argued that countries that generate innovation, create new technologies and encourage adoption of these new technologies grow faster than those that do not.”   

  

Innovation is essential to the Malaysia future economic prosperity and quality of life. To raise productivity, meet the challenges of globalisation and to live within Malaysia environmental and demographic limits, the Malaysia must excel at all types of innovation. 

McKinsey is of the mind that competition is key.  We have documented at length how competitive intensity (ideally coupled with robust demand) is the clearest driver of innovation within companies and sectors.  Factors other than competition can and do play a role.  

Many programmes government doing to create environment that encourages innovation. This is why the government has made Innovation and Transformation as the key thrusts in our way forward. Through bodies such as Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, the government is revamping the necessary elements of innovation to ensure that all groups in society, including academia, industry, the rakyat and government itself, collaborate and move in the same direction.

To enable innovators to get their creations to the market, we’re looking at making funding more accessible and streamlined. With more emphasis on deliverables and results, grants and loans given come with more accountability. We’re introducing innovative thinking skills in the education system to produce an innovative workforce that can satisfy future industry needs. Initiatives such as the i-THINK programme will produce students who have critical, analytical and creative thinking skills, a skill set needed in an innovative society.

Malaysia are fostering more collaboration between businesses and the research community to encourage industry-driven innovations that create wealth for all the players as well as the nation. Malaysia are also identifying areas with high national strategic impact potential and formulating strategies to reap the benefits in terms of wealth creation and societal benefits.

However, the government cannot do this alone. It can only provide the framework, direction and policies that facilitate and motivate change and collaborations in industry, academia and the population. True impactful transformation can only happen when the private sector takes the lead in innovation. New ideas, initiatives and alliances must naturally originate from those who know their own areas, and stand to benefit the most from the innovations.

Malaysia is also reaching out to talented Malaysian overseas to encourage them to share their knowledge and expertise with their counterparts in the science and technology sector at home. This to make Malaysia not depend for foreign workers or expertise.  The talented Malaysia overseas can come back to Malaysia with their knowledge and expertise to spread and sharing their knowledge with local. As we can see, government prepare enough facilities to adapt with latest technology to improve innovation culture in Malaysia. 

To be innovative infers that nations and organizations must keep on changing with the environment and time. New or novel products, services and concepts will have to be invented in the shortest possible time in the light of the stiff competition, more so in the global market.

If an organization is complacent with whatever products or services that it produces or provides for, then the “creative destruction” mechanism will disadvantage it or at the extreme, kill its products and services. So Malaysia will have to be innovative in order to survive in the tough competitive environment to remain relevant.

We have to survive and grow economically. The way forward is to be innovative in policies, production and services to stay relevant, if not ahead of other nations in this region.
 

In conclusion, the implementation of this innovation program much to the advantage of the young, thus can realize the dream of being a driver of innovation nation.