The outlook for foreign and domestic direct investment in Malaysia remains positive with trends indicating that local companies are expanding, despite an economic downplay among certain quarters.

“We (Malaysia) will have a respected investment figure (for 2017), as market dynamics are in progression,” said Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Chief Executive Officer Datuk Azman Mahmud.

He said MIDA, as the government’s principal agency to spearhead the national investment agenda of the country, has been promoting investments in research and development for many years, and has been aggressively promoting and developing the sector across all industries.

“To encourage these efforts, MIDA offers tax incentives for R&D that can be enjoyed by manufacturers with in-house R&D facility or research service providers,” Azman told reporters after launching Monash Malaysia R&D Sdn Bhd here today.

He urged companies to innovate and collaborate with research entities to be relevant to market needs, as companies falter because their products were no longer competitive, engulfed in stiff market conditions with the emergence of new products.

“There is widespread agreement that strong collaboration between academia and industry are vital for creating and sustaining economic growth.

“We believe that bringing together the best of researchers with the best of industry players will foster the right environment for innovation and game-changing ideas,” said Azman.

For universities, he also said the joint efforts would enable them to focus on challenging problems towards finding new solutions while pushing the frontiers of knowledge.

“Likewise for companies, such collaboration will enable them to secure originaltechnologies that are instrumental to their continued progress and future growth,” he said, adding that 4.0 industrial revolution has seen the emergence of new and disruptive technologies reshaping the way business was being conducted around the world.

Azman also said as Malaysia aspired to become an innovation-driven economy, it should bench marked itself against countries that were doing well and emulate their best practices.

Saying that Malaysia’s strong manufacturing industry base was under pressure to move up the value chain in order to increase competitiveness, he added that collaboration with R&D institutions were important and necessary.

By New Straits Times

https://www.nst.com.my/business/2017/12/312400/malaysias-investment-outlook-remains-positive-mida

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