Innovation in Malaysia

rdf:langString Innovation in Malaysia

rdf:langString CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

rdf:langString UNESCO Publishing

rdf:langString UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030

rdf:langString Innovation in Malaysia describes trends and developments in innovation in Malaysia. In 2015, the Najib Razak coalition government estimated that 6% annual growth would be necessary to reach high-income status by 2020. It's more than the average for the previous decade and average for 2016-2019(4.8%), according to the World Bank. Malaysia's National Transformation Policy 2050 (2017) assigned a greater role than previously to science and technology in all sectors and mandated a shift towards the use of ‘green’ energy, such as solar, biomass and wind, to drive the country's economic transformation to 2050. To deliver this agenda, the government developed an action plan for science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and medicine as part of its 2018 budget. The incoming administration in 2018 did not change this overall policy direction. Since 2018, the administration has acted on its predecessor’s recommendations to raise the number of students enrolled in STEM courses and foster uptake of Industry 4.0 technologies like nanotechnology. Over 2016–2019, the direct contribution of nanotechnology to the economy was estimated at MYR 3.5 billion (ca US$ 800 million). The volume of scientific publications on nanotechnology rose by 14% over the 2012–2019 period. Malaysia contributed 0.64% of global output in this field in 2011 and 0.67% in 2019.