Jump-starting technology
GONE are the days when we could depend on our comparative advantage in cheap labour and the past practice of borrowing skills through technology transfer to grow the economy. In order to develop indigenous industrial technology, greater resources have been channelled into raising capacity in market-driven research and development and building a critical mass of scientists and engineers in areas such as biotechnology and green technology in university-industry clusters. As climbing the ladder of the value chain requires capitalising on the commercial potential of the emerging technologies, this has also necessitated creating a special breed of technopreneurs able to develop their original ideas, market their innovations and start their own businesses.
In this respect, though turning innovations into cutting-edge business products is decidedly difficult, as big a challenge has been to finance the entire life-cycle of the process from the incubation of the ideas to the commercialisation of the research to establishing start-up technology companies as the conventional financial system is risk averse. Over the years, grants through the Malaysia Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) have supported the incubation and commercialisation of the ideas. At the same time, financing for early, developing and late-stage technology firms have come from the likes of MTDC and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd. However, though the venture capital market has grown, as there are young start-ups that neither meet their investment requirements nor the conditions of bank loans, raising funds for these fledgling ventures remains a problem. This is where the RM100 million Business Start-up Fund launched by the prime minister on Thursday can help to jump-start the technopreneurs. As collateral is not needed, payments are flexible and the repayment period stretches to eight years, it is certainly more supportive and less punitive to home-grown budding technopreneurs than commercial loans.
In the same manner, the Resident Pass that took effect from yesterday is a vast improvement over the Employment Pass, as it allows enterprising expatriates to live and work in this country for a longer period, at more than one workplace. If we want to become technology innovators and not technology borrowers, we have to develop a nurturing environment that is conducive to new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. For this reason, we cannot afford to be inward-looking but tap talent from all over. Certainly, we cannot expect highly-qualified foreigners to relocate to this country, or Malaysians with scarce skills to return home, when they get frustrated with waiting for work permits or visas or citizenship status for their families.
In the same manner, the Resident Pass that took effect from yesterday is a vast improvement over the Employment Pass, as it allows enterprising expatriates to live and work in this country for a longer period, at more than one workplace. If we want to become technology innovators and not technology borrowers, we have to develop a nurturing environment that is conducive to new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. For this reason, we cannot afford to be inward-looking but tap talent from all over. Certainly, we cannot expect highly-qualified foreigners to relocate to this country, or Malaysians with scarce skills to return home, when they get frustrated with waiting for work permits or visas or citizenship status for their families.
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