NPSTI: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The NPSTI should be commended for its intention to bring STI closer to all Malaysians. The policy is

5.4 NPSTI: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS The NPSTI should be commended for its intention to bring STI closer to all Malaysians. The policy is

also laudable for its intention to promote gender equality. The policy aims to “…enhance meaningful, effective and equitable female participation in STI at all levels and in all sectors …” (p.13). Similarly, the

policy encourages social, consumer driven bottom up innovation, which has the potential to benefit a variety of vulnerable groups (p.16).

The NPSTI does not, however, identify any vulnerable groups, whom given their position in society may not be in a position to benefit equally under this policy. The following vulnerable groups have a

potential stake in STI and should be referenced under the NPSTI: “women headed households”, “aged”, “youth”, “ethnic minorities”, “displaced populations”, “living away from services”, “disabled”. Many members of these vulnerable groups should benefit from access to STI, but may face particular barriers to their access; the means by which they can be given the possibility to join the talent pool in STI should be outlined. Similarly, the outputs of STI investments could potentially contribute to the inclusion of vulnerable groups in a variety of domains. This potential and the means of achieving it should be further explored in the NPSTI.

Additional vulnerable groups as they exist in the Malaysian context should be identified and referenced in the NPSTI. “Prisoners”, “indigenous groups” and “street children” were identified as priority groups

in the UNESCO-IKMAS W orkshop on “Promoting Social Inclusion through Public Policy” held in Putrajaya on 8-10 June 2015. It was also recognized that a category of “Other Vulnerable Groups” might for instance include members of the LGBTI communities. Evidence should be compiled to confirm their status as vulnerable groups in the Malaysian and STI contexts. Equitable access to STI for vulnerable groups may be an important facet of empowering them, allowing them to realize their civil rights (for instance of association) in ways that mainstream society is not yet comfortable with.

The core concepts of capacity building and access are mentioned most frequently. Vulnerable groups, however, are unlikely to be included in the talent pool and access to STI services unless the policy identifies them as beneficiaries or important contributors under the NPSTI. The policy could be more inclusive if it linked capacity building directly with access to vulnerable groups. This should be supplemented with references to the core concept of (non-)discrimination. Vulnerable groups should not be discriminated against on the basis of their distinguishing characteristics, in terms of accessing STI. Similarly the policy does not highlight the potentially useful contribution of vulnerable groups to the scientific advancement of the nation.

In terms of “entitlement”, NPSTI could further specify specific benefits relevant to them. Similarly, the core concept of “capability based service” could be incorporated into NPSTI to promote the leveraging of existing capabilities to access STI to promote the uptake of any STI related services amongst particular groups and the Malaysian population more widely.

The Malaysian NPSTI seeks to embrace STI for national development. In order to promote sharing the benefits of development by all sectors of the population, the policy should identify which vulnerable groups may currently be at a particular disadvantage in terms of accessing STI and how barriers to their access may be addressed and overcome, monitored and evaluated.

While the NPSTI covers an impressive range of relevant core concepts, the explicit intention to implement and monitor concrete actions associated with these Core Concepts is not sufficiently clear. The inclusiveness of the NPSTI could be further improved by incorporating additional core concepts along with definitions, actions related to their implementation and expressions of intention to monitor relevant concepts.

5.5 EXTENSION OF THE EQUIFRAME ANALYSIS: INCORPORATING THE EXTENDED NARRATIVE It is recognised that MOSTI interprets social inclusion from the perspective of the inclusive innovation

concept as promoted by the World Bank. In this regard, inclusive innovation is defined as “…innovation that causes inclusion and refers to the use of technological or non-technological that leads to an affordable access on a sustainable basis of safe, quality goods and services for the excluded population including the bottom of the pyramid (40%) with a significant outreach …” Prior to the introduction of the NPSTI, the promotion of inclusive innovation was mooted in the tabling of the 2013 National Budget with an allocation MYR30 million with MOSTI carrying the primary responsibility of delivering

the initiative. This is seen to be the precursor of the HIP6 programme under the SME Master Plan, in which a MOSTI agency, the Malaysian Innovation Foundation (YIM) was a given the lead role to carry out this strategic initiative. It is within this extended narrative that is explicitly mentioned five target groups: children, youth, women, rural populations and people with disabilities. An indirect target

group also mentioned is the poor, evident through the term “pro-poor strategy” as to describe one of the core elements of HIP6: “Grassroot innovation”.