UKM News Official Portal

By Abdul Ghani Nasir

BANGI, 15 JUNE 2010 -- A total of100 researchers from various universities and research agencies are taking part in a “Capacity Building Programme  in Innovation, Technology Transfer and University Start-up” programme, an intiative of UKM and Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) of the United States of America.

The programme focuses on the ‘Science of Business and Start-Up Development’ as well as ‘Implementation of Business’ aimed at giving them pointers on how to commercialise their findings and the resultant products developed.

The participants are from various public universities including UKM, public reserach institutions, government agencies and entities. Among the institutions taking part are UM, USM and UPSI as well as Mardi, other reseach institutuions and goverment agencies. The five-day programme conducted through three modules, was officially launched on 6th June 2010 at the Equatorial Hotel, Bangi by Tan Sri Datuk Dr Zulkefli A Hassan, Secretary General of Ministry of  Higher Education .

Seven facilitators from SIT including Dr Lex McCusker, the Associate Dean of the Wesley J Howe School of Technology Management; Profesor Dr Christos Christodoulatotos, Associate Provost for  Academic Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Environmental Systems and Mr Malcolm Kahn, Vice President for Enterprise Development and Licensing are helping UKM to conduct the programme.

Economic development has now become part of the mission of UKM and with that having a role in technology transfer without compromising its primary mission of teaching and research.

Without doubt the university’s technology transfer and commercialisation activities are impacting local and national economies. Since 2005 UKM has filed more than 180 intellectual properties and is in the process of spinning-off some new technology based start-up companies.

In line with this, UKM has set up the Centre for Collaborative Innovation to help in streamlining its efforts to realise the commercialisation of its R&D products through the University’s Start-up (STU) companies, licensing and joint venture with industry partners. UKM is also partnering with the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Malaysian Biotech Corporation and Malaysian Venture Capital in carrying out the technology transfers and commercialisation.

A technology transfer company, UKM Technology Sdn Bhd was also formed as part of the commercialisation framework to spearhead and expedite the commercialisation process.

For a start ten UKM R&D products which will enter commercialisation stage via the STU have been selected while efforts to instill, promote and strengthen the entreprenuerial skills of students will be done under the UKM-MTDC Symbiosis Graduate Entrepreneurship Programme.

The university’s technology transfer effort is a complex process as various factors could affect the university’s ability to transfer and commercialise its research.

Besides the research base, other factors including incentives and rewards, entrepreneurial climate, the availability of seed capital, laboratory and incubation space, legal assistance, management capacity-building resources and networking opportunities form part of the infrastructure needed to support the university technology transfer efforts.

In addition, the university also needed to draw up a business plan, competitions, practicum with start-ups and mentoring by successful entreprenuers. Early-stage capital is also a critical ingredient in the launching of university start-ups.

There is, however, no quick return for technology transfer initiatives. Most technology transfer and commercialisation efforts at successful universities and the resulting entrepreneurial and economic development phenomena have taken decades to accomplish. Moreover the technology transfer field is still relatively new and evolving.

However, by leveraging R&D and entrepreneurial resources new opportunities for academic excellence and economic growth could be created.  In fact UKM and the industries can work together to identify, strengthened and leverage their resources that enchance innovation-based economic opportunities.

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