KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The IdeaXchange programme has successfully gathered the views of experts and stakeholders in strengthening the policy, governance and ecosystem of science, technology and innovation (STI), as well as formulating the country’s science, technology, innovation and economy (STIE) strategy.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the platform has also created STIE’s focus areas including the 10-10 Malaysian Science, Technology, Innovation and Economy Framework (10-10 MySTIE), the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy as well as the National Biotechnology Policy.

"Most of the views from IdeaXchange will be included in policy papers and reinforced with data and analysis so that relevant inputs can be presented directly through research by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) as the think tank for this ministry and other ministries based on evidence and facts.

"At the moment, in line with the ministry’s effort to mainstream STIE in every initiative and programme at the national level, ASM provides inputs on STI to over 14 ministries, state governments and agencies. Through IdeaXchange, more than 800 ASM experts have contributed their ideas based on the current STIE topics.”

He said this when launching the 35th IdeaXchange entitled Building a Resilient Nation: STI as the enabler of the 12th Malaysia Plan, which was held virtually today.

According to Dr Adham, all proposals and views from the studies conducted by ASM since 2015 were monitored and to date, almost 80 per cent of the proposals had been accepted and approved by the government.

The IdeaXchange programme is a platform for the scientific community as well as members of the ASM expert network to exchange ideas and discuss issues related to STI.

In the meantime, Dr Adham hoped that more researchers can produce more focused and high-impact studies in order to achieve the mission of making Malaysia a high-technology and resilient country.

To this end, he said all researchers should have the characteristics of a world-class researcher who is able to bring about change, excels in creating opportunities and successfully conducts transformative and impactful research and projects.

He added that based on ASM’s Science Outlook 2020 report, the large number of researchers were in higher education institutions with 79.92 per cent, followed by the industrial sector (15.85 per cent) and government research institutions (4.14 per cent). — Bernama