INNOFUND, TECHNOFUND, SCIENCE FUND AND THE FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME

11.2 INNOFUND, TECHNOFUND, SCIENCE FUND AND THE FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME

InnoFund is created to spur productivity, economic growth and welfare-enhancing projects that uses

a combination of technologies. The goals of InnoFund are not limited inter alia by the creation of new products but also by the recombination, fusion, and integration of technology augmenting processes and services which leads to innovation and efficiency enhancements. There are two types of innovation funds: i) Enterprise Innovation Fund and ii) Community Innovation Fund. The Enterprise Innovation Fund is to increase the participation of micro-businesses, individuals in innovative activities and encourage technological innovation of new or existing products, process or services for commercialisation. Whereas the objective of the Community Innovation Fund is to assist community groups in translating knowledge and ideas into products, processes or services that improve the socioeconomic standing and quality of life of the community.

InnoFund has exhibited inclusiveness in areas of cross sectoral and intergovernmental cooperation, and addressing (matching) social needs. The main area of improvement is in the collection of data and documentation of the process in planning the policy. Document analysis and interviews with MOSTI provided a clear understanding that the distribution of fund is very much subjected to “needs-based” rather than “specific group-based “considerations. One has to take these considerations while using EquIPP as the instrument for inclusiveness analysis. InnoFund focuses on the following research areas which include Life Sciences; Computer Sciences and Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Agriculture Sciences/Agricultural Engineering; Environmental Sciences; Advanced Materials Science; Chemical Sciences; Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Engineering; Medical and Health Sciences; and Social Sciences and Humanities.

TechnoFund is a grant scheme which aims to stimulate the growth and successful innovation of Malaysian enterprises by increasing the level of R&D and its commercialisation. The scheme provides funding for technology development, up to pre commercialisation stage, with the commercial potential to create new businesses and generate economic wealth for the nation. In order to strengthen social inclusion in MOSTI Techno Fund document, there is the need to address current socioeconomic problems and the best solutions possibly rather than the emphasis for commercialisation of new/innovative technologies and new IPs. Data sharing could benefit a larger audience and realize the outcome of research collaborations.

As it is, objectives and priory areas of TechnoFund do not reflect a balance between natural sciences and social sciences, let alone those outside the academe. Most of the requirements and outcomes tend to support natural sciences education, research and innovations as outlined in the beginning of this Report. It is therefore very important to review the database on successful applicants and the outcome of each project to evaluate the impact on the society at large.

TechnoFund covers the acquisition of technology (foreign and/ or local). Applicants should provide the acquisition agreement or if such an agreement is not in place, applicants shall provide details of the technology to be acquired; the up-scaling of laboratory-scale prototype or the development of commercial ready prototype; and pre-clinical testing/clinical testing/field trials. There are 123 research priority areas in these eight main research priority areas as far as TechnoFund and Science Fund are concerned. This fund seems to have special emphasis on engineering science since seven out of eight priority areas recognise engineering sciences as priority area. One of the main reasons might be due to the objective of this fund that focuses on applied science and innovation. There are various research priority areas that are directly and indirectly related to vulnerable groups in Malaysia especially in life sciences, agriculture sciences, medical and health sciences, environmental sciences, social sciences and humanities. For example, in social sciences and humanities, there are research priority areas on community development and gender studies.

Science Fund is a grant provided by the Government to carry out R&D projects that can contribute to the discovery of new ideas and the advancement of knowledge in applied sciences, focusing on high impact and innovative research. Science Fund covers preliminary research leading to laboratory proof of concept or towards the development of new products or processes. The quantum of fund approved will be determined based on the merit of each application. The quantum for each project is up to MYR500,000.00 and the project duration is up to 30 months. There are two main objectives of Science Fund are (i) to support research that can lead to the innovation of products or processes for further development and commercialisation and/or (ii) to generate new scientific knowledge and strengthen national research capacity and capability.

The Flagship Programme is a special top-down grant scheme managed principally by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), steered into priority areas considered critical for the sustainability of current Government initiatives in the context of the development of science, technology and innovation (STI) as aligned with the New Economic Model (NEM). The nine research priority areas of the Flagship programme were identified by the National Science and Research Council (NSRC) which comprises biodiversity, cybersecurity, energy security, environment and climate change, food security, medical and healthcare, plantation crops and commodities, transport and urbanisation and water security.

More than 500 research areas were considered for the Flagship Programme, based on its attractiveness to the national economic outlook and feasibility. The resulting nine priority areas chosen represents the interplay of three broad impact dimensions – Science & Technology enablers, solutions to national concerns and mitigation of impacts of global issues.

11.3 EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN POLICY PROCESSES (EquIPP) ANALYSIS OF THE VARIOUS PROGRAMMES BASED ON NINE THEMES We have so far avoided using ranking as data indicates low scores when ranking are used, for instance

Flagship Programme scores 54% and InnoFund scores 48% (see Table 4 in Chapter 10) (aided by the Anjung Framework – see Chapter 14 for explanation of this framework). Assessment based on 9 themes as provided in EquIPP, on the other hand, produces better results (with aid of Anjung Framework). See Figure 6 below for outcome of selected MOSTI Grants using EquIPP analyses.