R And D And Its Importance

R & D AND ITS IMPORTANCE

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R&D 1. Different motives • Organisations – to make better profits • To solve practical problems • To satisfy curiosity • To improve the lot of mankind (health or riches) • Maintain defense of the country • Improve the environment • To support a desire for prestige – personal, corporate, national It has become a big business in recent years In Great Britain, R & D absorbs > 2% of GNP Recent pressure built up for universities and polytechnics to make available courses based on the principles involved 2

University Research 2.

Importance Importance of university research to an R & D organisation outside the university: • Can give the initial indications of what are likely to be important scientific ideas worthy of eventual development and application • People also can present knowledgeable but fresh minds to the problems of an organisation • More research meant more and more productivity and profitability for organisations

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Technological innovation, often fueled by governmentled R & D has been the driving force for industrial growth around the world The best opportunities to improve living standards – including new ways of reducing poverty – will come from science and technology. Countries unable to access, generate, and apply relevant scientific knowledge will fall even further behind. Technological base – the availability of skilled human resources, – the number of scientific and technical articles published, – the competitive edge countries enjoy in hi-technology exports, sales and purchases of technology through royalties and licenses, – the number of patent applications filed, and – trademarks issued. 4

3. Malaysia’s Vision 2020 and R & D l l

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Malaysia aims to be a developed nation by 2020 using its own method Currently efforts are made to narrow the ethnic income gap through: – Creation of opportunities – Closer parity of social services and infrastructure – Development of appropriate economic cultures – Full human resources development Need to double GDP every 10 years, with average annual growth of 7%

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Need for competitive economy l

able to sustain itself over the longer term, dynamic, robust and resilient. Meaning …. • A diversified and balanced economy with a mature and widely based industrial sector, • a modern and mature agriculture and services sectors; • an economy that is able to quickly adapt to changing patterns of supply, demand and competition; • an economy that is technologically proficient, fully able to adapt, innovate and invent, that is increasingly technology intensive, moving in the direction of higher and higher levels of technology; • an economy that has strong and cohesive industrial linkages; 6

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To integrate the MSC into the Malaysian economy, various ‘flagship’ projects were established to demonstrate the benefits of linking up with Malaysia’s IT hub. These flagship projects were: • The development of a multipurpose card • The development of telemedicine • The beginning of electronic government • Building a research and development cluster • Establishing smart schools • Promoting a worldwide manufacturing web • Borderless marketing.

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• In December 1997, the MSC launched a scheme that provided MSC Status to local and foreign institutions of higher learning. • On application, and with the approval of the Malaysian government, MSC status could be conferred on local tertiary institutions provided that their mission included significant IT training, would encourage a growth in the supply of local IT knowledge workers and contribute to the development of Malaysia as an IT educational hub.

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4. R & D in the Medical Sector • The focus is usually on problem-oriented research directed at finding ways to fill gaps between knowledge and its applications in solving persistent health concerns.

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5. Activities of a Typical R & D Establishment • Pure research – to understand basis of certain activities of organisation (eg. distillation in an oil firm) • Explanatory research (and mission oriented research) • Discover new products within the framework of the organisation’s responsibilities • Test the feasibility of practical use of a discovery • Improve the efficiency of an organisation’s existing operations • Change the base of an industrial or other efforts (eg. Petro-chemical, atomic explosives) • Solve the problems of raw material shortages, energy restrictions, pollution from the firm’s operations. 12

• Development – for bringing to fruition or optimising any of the objectives of technological research • Application of existing scientific knowledge to the problems of the organisation • Extra-mural activities • Research carried out at universities, research associations, sponsored research institutes • Research taken in from outside organisations • Maintaining contact with research associations, universities, consultants, government departments.

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6. Cost of Research • Cost of research – varies from government research, industrial research and research associations • Extent and sophistification of facilities and research aids, number of assistants (technical and industrial), and overheads involved.

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7. Problems • Scarcity of science graduates • Severity of questions of the costs of research (nationally, and individual organisations) • Application and technological research is not sufficiently fast or effective to meet the needs of a technological society – creates doubts about the correlation between research and inventions and about research as the road to industrial growth. • Allocation for research is still low • Research publications in SCI and SSCI use only English as medium, reducing further the knowledge divide • Lack of continuity in life-long learning efforts • Lack of knowledge of importance of R & D among young graduates 15

Source: World Bank (2002), World Development Indicators World Bank (2003), World Development Report: Sustainable Development ina Dynamic World.

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