Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 Report

REPORT

Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 Injecting Soul Into R&D

Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 REPORT Injecting Soul Into R&D

Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 Report Š Academy of Sciences Malaysia 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

The views and opinions expressed or implied in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.

All requests to extract information or reproduce content from this document in whole or in parts should be submitted to: Academy of Sciences Malaysia Level 20, West Wing, MATRADE Tower Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Phone: +603.6203.0633 Fax : +603.6203.0634 www.akademisains.gov.my

Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 Report ISBN 978-983-2915-20-1 1. Technological innovations. 2. Inventions. I. Akademi Sains Malaysia.

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CONTENTS MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION MALAYSIA i

MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION MALAYSIA iiii FOREWORD iii PREFACE iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS

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FORUM 1

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FORUM 2

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FORUM 3

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FORUM 4

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FORUM 5

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CONCLUDING PANEL SESSION

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THE WAY FORWARD

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SPEAKERS’ PROFILES

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FORUM PROGRAMME

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 108 ABOUT ASM

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MESSAGE FROM THE MINISTER OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION (MOSTI) MALAYSIA Science, Technology and Innovation or STI plays an important role in shaping the future that we desire. Knowledge translated into relevant and beneficial technologies can be life changing and help solve socio-economic problems such as poverty and diseases. Recognising this, a National Policy on STI was approved to be implemented by MOSTI. This policy emphasises the strengthening of STI governance, research, development and commercialisation; development of talents in STI; the energising of industries to boost the private sector involvement in R&D, as well as the formation of strategic alliances with the international development of the community. Thus, it is hoped that this policy will be able to drive the nation’s growth towards achieving our aspiration of becoming a developed nation by 2020.

The benefits of STI need to be more far reaching to impact the bottom billion. As such, issues such as governance, technology mobility and accessibility as well as financial constraints must be addressed in creative ways. We need to overcome these barriers to accelerate the diffusion of the benefits of science and technology knowledge, products and services to all, regardless of their socio-economic status. We are all aware of the problems facing the world today.

Hence, there is a need for a concerted effort to resolve these problems. Although, the technologies we have today are impressive and mindblowing, we should focus our efforts more towards investing a similar level of energy and resource to develop solutions for the bottom billion.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) believes that purpose-driven investment in R&D is a key to elevate the bottom billion. This initiative, however, needs a diverse and strong global partnership. To further investigate, we need to look at ways to boost economic growth that is equitable and inclusive as well as encourage the growth of new innovative financial mechanisms to tackle funding problems. Innovative technologies must be made affordable and accessible to all.

We need to apply our entrepreneurial skills to solve social problems, change our revenue-based mindset and build lasting solutions for all. No doubt, it involves hard work and a paradigm shift but we all share a collective responsibility to humankind to start acting and injecting ‘soul’ into our R&D work now.

YB Datuk Seri Panglima Madius Tangau

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MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARYGENERAL OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION (MOSTI) MALAYSIA The theme “Injecting Soul into R&D” carries a vital message of socio-economic inequality. Sadly enough, the world faces a huge cost due to the failure to take immediate action and commit to a large-scale global endeavour. Indeed, what is much needed here is a prompt response to reduce the world’s equity divide in terms of health, education, economic opportunity and access to new technologies.

With the world’s greatest minds in the Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015, I hope this Forum has opened many doors to aid the bottom billion and serve as a platform for more global involvement in reducing their burden and hence, increase their chance to be able to improve their quality of life.

Up to the present time, there have been many efforts and initiatives proposed by various governments, interest groups and private sector organisations to develop and find solutions to these grand challenges faced by humankind such as poverty, illiteracy and climate change. Nevertheless, without a concerted and unified effort from these parties, the desired impact will fall short.

Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd. Nur

The problem of the bottom billion is serious, but it can be managed. However, like most serious problems, it is complicated. The complexity is emerging because of continuous changes in the world. Change is going to have to come from within the societies of the bottom billion, but our own policies could make these efforts more likely to succeed, and so more likely to be undertaken.

Hence, the process of change can be considered as a blessing as well as a challenge. It can strategically position us to where we can view the world as opportunities to build a better future for ourselves.

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Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali FASc President, Academy of Sciences Malaysia

FOREWORD Academy of Sciences Malaysia supports good science — and when good science is concerned, we endorse such activities to promote engagement, understanding and literacy in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). While innovating for the poor is a noble endeavour, it is also challenging, complex and requires an interdisciplinary collaborative approach. Therefore, there is a need for the scientific fraternity, business leaders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to work together to address the needs of the bottom billion. The R&D governance also needs to be open and transparent enough to take views from people from diverse backgrounds.

Hence, the aim of this Global R&D Leaders & CEOs Forum is to forge the agenda of science and technology stewardship. The Forum provided a strategic platform for all partners in the Quadruple Helix (public sector, academia, corporate sector and the people) to discuss, deliberate and exchange opinions about the issues surrounding R&D to benefit society at large. I hope the proposed recommendations from this Forum will result in positive, forward-looking ideas and concepts that can be used to shape a sustainable future for all.

Let us work together to steer the R&D agenda to champion the needs of the bottom billion. All we need to do is to champion their cause with one voice. Let us be heard.

I take this opportunity to thank the Sarawak State Government and all our strategic partners and sponsors for being part of this event. This Forum would not be possible without your generous support.

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Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail FASc Chairperson

PREFACE The world’s population will soon reach an unprecedented level where there will be a shortage of resources to sustain life. Earth will no longer contain enough resources to sustain the current demographic needs.

Doing good science alone is not sufficient anymore to address the grand challenges because R&D today is very much motivated by commercial gain. Fresh water, food and energy will be expensive. The impact will widen the gap between the have and have-nots where people from the poorest countries will suffer the most.

It is high time that we create a platform for enlightened R&D leaders and CEOs, visionaries and changemakers to come together to pave the way forward to address the needs of the bottom billion.

With the commitment to forge the agenda of science and technology stewardship, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia has taken the initiative to organise the inaugural Global R&D Leaders & CEOs Forum with the theme “Injecting Soul in R&D”. The theme of the Forum is premised upon the thinking that it is time to move R&D beyond the pressures of commercialisation and business.

We believe investment in the right R&D is a key to developing possible solutions faced by the bottom billion. Therefore, we would like to initiate a movement to pursue R&D not just to cater to the usual objective of wealth creation but more to develop and find solutions to resolve much of humankind’s many challenges that directly benefit people, regardless of income, social status and gender. This Forum is the key catalyst to enabling R&D to achieve its highest aspiration towards meeting humanity’s needs.

Together, we will inject “Soul in Global R&D” to translate the R&D ethos into impactful actions towards achieving socio-economic transformation and sustainable development goals. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our partners and sponsors for supporting this Forum.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Despite the impressive advances in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) that have shaped the 21st Century, many grand challenges affecting humanity and potentially its existence remain unaddressed. Currently, Research & Development (R&D) is fundamentally knowledge-driven and has led to countless discoveries and applications.

Nevertheless, ‘soul’-guided R&D has had little attention and support. Its specific mission is orientated towards using discoveries to serve humanity and to also positively impact the quality of life for the world’s population. To discourse on this neglected issue, The Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015: Injecting Soul into R&D was held in Kuching, Sarawak from 5th to 6th August 2015. Premised within the forum was the thought that it was time to move R&D beyond commercialisation and business considerations.

Instead, it was necessary to inject a focus on the ‘soul’ and ‘conscience’ to ensure that the realities facing humanity and the global challenges of today and the world of tomorrow are suitably addressed.

The outcome is expected to generate benefits for all of humankind within the context of a sustainable environment.

Delegates overwhelmingly concurred that the importance of injecting a ‘soul’ into R&D is especially pertinent to generate solutions in order to overcome the challenges faced by the marginalised and the world’s 1.47 billion people who constitute the “bottom billion”. In many developing economies, the poor comprise the largest fraction of the human resource in the country. To ignore them is tantamount to unpardonable wastefulness. Inaction can only result in very little opportunities for them to improve their lives and consequently the inability of an otherwise able segment of the population to contribute to economic growth of the nation.

The multitude of challenges that these marginalised communities face was extensively

discussed. Of importance is the inadequate ecosystem that has stifled efficient translation of the numerous R&D discoveries towards improving the lives of these communities. It was felt that within the current R&D model there is a lack of harmonisation along the stakeholders’ value-chain - from the R&D platform to the community. Taking the healthcare sector as a representative example, the following scenarios were exposed: 1) product unavailability in unprofitable markets, 2) inaccessibility of products due to poor infrastructure and resources, 3) unaffordable products and 4) poor cultural acceptability due to a lack of community engagement to buffer the social impact from new innovations.

A paradigm shift in the existing R&D model was advocated, drawing from the insightful pronouncement of Nobel Laureate, Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Instead the model supported by the Forum experts requires that the human conscience or ‘soul’ becomes an integral part of the R&D mission for the ecosystem.

This would accelerate the translation of R&D discoveries to communities that most need them.

To prepare an effective development of this model would require a mindset change, along with full engagement from the key stakeholders of the Quadruple Helix, namely the community (inclusive of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Researchers (inclusive of Academia), Industry and the State.

A shared collective purpose drawn from a deep consideration for humanity should unify these key stakeholders and match their individual expectations with the collective output, i.e. to create a synergistic model. This shared framework of values can be expected not only to help unite competing interests Injecting Soul Into R&D

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but also to furnish new opportunities for all parties to leverage the power of market-based competition for economic benefits, while also respecting social values. It was also emphasised that working within silos would not achieve these goals. No single unit in the Quadruple Helix would be able to address or solve the increasingly complex social problems of society. Multiple organisations or entities from different sectors would have to abandon their own agenda in favour of a common goal. Unlike collaborations or partnerships, collective impact initiatives should have a centralised infrastructure with dedicated staff whose role is to help these organisations shift from “acting alone” to “acting in unison”.

The recognition of the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has resulted in many companies identifying social problems as a core part of their corporate strategies. The Forum was told how some companies have even built their business model to place the social mission together with their business mission, which benefits business and helps the company to achieve a good balance between profitability and social responsibility. For this balance to be achieved all parties in the social enterprise have to be viewed as essential, if not equal partners.

The Forum highlighted that in low resource settings such as in most developing countries, there is limited research funding and thus the current R&D paradigm or model is not suitable to inject a ‘soul’ into R&D. It was expressed, for example, that R&D allocation for humanitarian aid was very limited. The present model is based on Key Performance Indices (KPIs) that are primarily rooted in commercialisation and publications in high-impact journals. So researchers in developing countries continue to pursue a catch-up act with the research conducted within the high-resource settings of the developed world. In so doing problems that affect the bottom billion in their own backyard, such as neglected tropical diseases are left unaddressed. A Blue Ocean Injecting Soul Into R&D

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Strategy was therefore advocated at the Forum.

Such a strategy could support research programmes that focus on understanding and resolving problems to help marginalised communities in resource-poor countries. Not only would this create a positive impact for communities that most need it but it would also provide opportunities for researchers to learn from the bottom billion and marginalised communities. They could work with NGOs and the government in a not-for-profit model that is driven by the public sector and thus raise awareness of the need to conduct research and develop applications for programmes that fall outside the scope of marketdriven R&D. To achieve all of this, researchers on their part would need to collect empirical evidence that can be used to convince policy-makers, funders and other stakeholders to support their R&D programmes.

Among the marginalised community, attention was specifically drawn to the challenges facing women in the work-force. Evidence from developed countries has shown that empowerment of women is key for successful transformation of companies. To obtain such information, it is essential to use data that is not gender bias. Yet in the current R&D Model as observed in developing countries, an analytical framework for gender analysis is often non-existent.

Gender-disaggregated data has great importance in helping policy makers understand the economic case for allocating developmental resources specifically to address gender aggravated problems faced by women.

Focus was also drawn to lessons drawn from communities in slums and refugee camps. There is substantial evidence of how refugee camps and slumps can stimulate amazing innovations that impact the quality of life of the community they harbour. It provides the environment for yet another R&D model for researchers to draw from.

Instead of imposing their own pet innovations on the marginalised community they could derive

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immense benefits from working and learning from the community.

Attention was also drawn to the advent of social media, and how the human desire to share information could be beneficially harnessed to shed light and create awareness on specific community or humanity-based issues that were normally neglected by mainstream policies of existing R&D models.

Crowd-sourcing for example, has opened up a new source for R&D funding that is more flexible and could help researchers answer research questions in niche areas that would not have been funded otherwise. Crowd-sourcing is another valuable resource as it provides researchers with the ability to organise or to be involved in multidisciplinary research initiatives that harness talent that transcends geopolitical boundaries.

In all of this, technology sharing is a key enabler that benefits people directly and changes the world.

More importantly it helps to narrow the income gap.

However, a key area that needs to be addressed is the accessibility and diffusion of these technologies.

The Blue Ocean Strategy mentioned earlier when combined with the use of technologies such as social media could open up opportunities for local researchers to develop excellence in niche areas that may one day have a significant global impact.

Technology sharing also democratises the innovation space, and enables grass-root innovators to create innovations that better manifest availability, affordability and accessibility.

However, in advocating a paradigm shift there is a need for the rights of the researcher to be recognised. Advocating scientific excellence is paramount and must not be compromised by the new model. Advocacy and awareness of the potential benefits from injecting ‘soul’ into their R&D objectives would need to be pursued. Researchers should be encouraged to develop a social impact dimension

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within all their research programmes. This would entail incorporating elements that are demand-driven and service-based while aiming ultimately for valuebased solutions. The development of Key Intangible Performance (KIP) indices incorporated into R&D policies, aimed at celebrating the social impact of research initiatives and valued on par with the established institutional KPIs, would be a giant step forward. It would go a long way towards ensuring a comfortable buy-in by researchers. For this to happen, units in the Quadruple Helix have to align individual missions to a collective vision that diffuses beyond institutional ranking and commercial returnon-investment indices, to ensure better governance and stewardship within the R&D ecosystem. In many developing countries, the political will to shape the R&D mission to generate a social impact remains hindered largely because the bottom billion and marginalised communities are viewed as a burden rather than presenting opportunities - as beneficiaries rather than customers. Thus very little research is devoted to realise value creation for these communities. Without doubt, the Government plays a crucial role in facilitating an ecosystem that focuses on people-centric growth. It has the ability to enhance inclusivity, raise equity and maintain sustainability for value creation. Governments carry out this role by establishing good governance and robust STI policies, alongside the required enabling mechanisms.

The Forum proposed that the Government could move forward this ‘soul’-driven R&D model by providing the mandate and legitimacy to a few key coordinating bodies to spearhead the effort.

These bodies would be tasked to champion the STI required to provide for the basic needs of the population - to enhance the quality of life as well as to catalyse wealth creation and industrial competitiveness through good governance and greater transparency even in public-private partnerships. In addition, to ensure sustainability of Injecting Soul Into R&D

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the R&D model, it would be imperative to nurture and groom R&D leaders who are creative and have entrepreneurial skills.

In concluding, the Forum emphasised the importance of sustainable funding to ensure success of the proposed ‘soul’-driven R&D Model. New models for financing R&D would be required. For instance, some examples to emulate are the New Economic Model of Malaysia and The Bank of Bangladesh Central Bank Model that has devised unique ‘soulful’ financing for the bottom billion.

Government agencies and banks need to innovate to provide impactful solutions to solve problems of the people by implementing new models for financing R&D, through engagements in smart partnerships within the Quadruple Helix.

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS PROFESSOR TAN SRI DATO’ (DR) DZULKIFLI ABD. RAZAK FASc PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES (IAU), PARIS

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There are four parts to the ‘soul’-searching journey in injecting ‘soul’ into R&D in the 21st century. These four parts have been framed into specific questions that need to be addressed if we are serious in our pursuit to inject ‘soul’ into R&D: 1. What about the ‘soul’ in relation to R&D? 2. What do we understand about how R&D ‘lost’ the ‘soul’?

3. How do we humanise science given the element of ‘soul’ in science and R&D? 4. How do we embrace the ‘soul’ as an integral part of science?

The theme of this forum “Injecting soul into R&D” indicates that the ‘soul’ has existed before and that we have now lost it. If it is the case that the ‘soul’ in R&D has been lost, we need to know how it can be found and how was it lost in the first instance. These are the questions that need to be addressed and they can be contextualised in the Nobel-prize winning author and philosopher Albert Camus’ quote “Without work, all life goes rotten but when work is ‘soul’less, life stifles and dies.” Since our lives periodically appear to be evolving in this manner, the question of ‘soul’ perhaps becomes a crucial issue for discussion.

Everybody has their own definition of what the ‘soul’ is. Thus, there needs to be a consensus on what the ‘soul’ entails in the context of R&D. Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “The State is a soulless machine. It can never be weaned off from violence to which it owes its very existence” suggests an idea that the ‘soul’ is not confined to an individual person, but extends to the state or bureaucracy. Where, then is the ‘soul’ in bureaucracy? Where is the ‘soul’ of some of the things that we do as far as countries and nations are concerned? The conflict that may exist between the ‘soul’ of an individual and the state is captured by Albert Einstein’s quote “Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it.”

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The 18th Century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s quote “Conscience is the voice of the soul” indicates that the ‘soul’ and conscience can be considered as intertwined. In the context of R&D, the ‘conscience’ behaves like a compass as it guides researchers to do the right thing without any specific methodologies or instructions imposed on them during the process of Science and Technology (S&T) development. Conscience plays a very important role in a scientist’s great discovery and research desires. It reminds people to evaluate the impact of their action, creation and findings; either it is a great discovery that could benefit human kind or one that is designed to destroy people’s trust in science and hope for life. Hence this talk is about the ‘soul’ in the context of what conscience is all about. It is something that all of us can relate to. All of us have some sort of conscience embedded in us. Whether the conscience is highly developed or not is a different question altogether.

Since the time of the Greek civilisation, the power of ‘conscience’ in dictating our actions has been wellrecognised. The Greek tragedian Sophocles’ quote “There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us” suggests that if humans are governed by welldeveloped conscience, there is little need for any laws or rules. The 15th century French Renaissance humanist, François Rabelais’ quote “Science without conscience is the death of the soul” indicates that the search for what the ‘conscience’ and ‘soul’ was all about emerged at the point of the renaissance of the west. This is the background for the discussion about ‘soul’, and ‘conscience’ and how are these related to what science is all about.

The first atomic bomb was a product of R&D in the 1940s that was called the Manhattan Project.

It was developed by countries that were very welldeveloped in S&T. The project was led by the United States of America and backed by Great Britain and Canada. We have all recognised the terrible impact of the bomb. It was an example of how big science actually worked hand in hand with big bureaucracy. If Einstein truly embodied his quote “Do not go against the conscience even though the state demands

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it”, the bomb would not have been created in the first place. However, Einstein was only quoted saying this after the bomb had exploded. Where was conscience when the bomb was created and subsequently detonated? Where was the ‘soul’ at these crucial times? These are definitely questions that should have been asked in every step of R&D processes. The atomic bomb was quite different from any ordinary bomb. Eighty thousand people were killed instantly and everything else was pulverized into dust. No landmark was left standing and a year later, the number of people dead more than doubled.

The long-term effects of the explosion cost more than 250 thousand lives. The R&D innovation behind the making of the bomb may have been fantastic but at what cost? There is surely a need to raise the question of conscience and how we ever allowed and continue to allow such R&D to be conducted even today. The scale at which the R&D was conducted was unprecedented. In today’s dollars, USD29 billion was spent to develop the bomb. Just imagine with USD29 billion, how many people in the bottom billion could have been saved.

A total of 90% of hospitals in Hiroshima were destroyed, 90% of physicians and nurses were killed or injured and they were all left to die because there were no facilities to take care of them. Yet when we look at the archives of the Manhattan project, we see that there were people who were not really affected by the kind of devastation that the bomb created.

These were the group of scientists who celebrated the success of the bomb when it exploded. So what happened to conscience? A particular news report from Texas with the headings, “Atom bomb harnessed for destruction” suggests that although scientists knew that the atom bomb was going to destroy, yet a great deal of resources were devoted to this effort that resulted in the killing of a countless number of people for no reason at all. So where was conscience then? Where was the ‘soul’ of not only the individuals involved but also the science project itself. These are questions that we have to ask in hindsight so that we learn from this and not repeat this tragedy again. This is especially so since there are a lot more wars going on today. The Hiroshima bomb scientists perhaps did not believe

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in the ‘soul’ and God at that particular time. However when the bomb was dropped, the pilot or the co-pilot uttered “My God, what have we done?”. Suddenly the creator called God comes into the picture.

We cannot really run away from this old issue of conscience and God and of soullessness, especially if we want to talk about the bottom billion and how to save humanity from all the miseries of this day and age. On 6th August 2015, launched a biography of one of the sole Malaysian survivors who was there during the explosion. He was 1.5 km away from epicentre of the explosion. He escaped from the devastation of the bomb.

At the end of the day, Robert Oppenheimer (Figure 1.1), the lead scientist of the atomic bomb when he made his speech on the 66th anniversary of the bomb explosion, was quoted as saying, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” He quoted the Bhagavad Gita on this. He is one of the individuals who actually created the bomb together with Einstein. This speech was only made about four years ago. He suddenly realised that the science that he had promoted was not what science was all about, in terms of saving humanity. It is also quite intriguing to find out that the site where it was tested was called Trinity. This has something to do with the elements of the church and the sacredness of the kind of research that was done. Little did they know that the kind of R&D that they did was actually very

“We knew the world would not be the same. A few laughed.

A few cried. Most were silent. I remembered the line from the scripture...’Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’”

- J Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, on witnessing the first nuclear explosion Figure 1: Robert Oppenheimer against a photograph of a hydrogen bomb test in June 1957 Source: Caesar 2012

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Einstein shared similar sentiments before he passed away. He was quoted as saying “I made a great mistake in my life when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending the creation of the bomb.” Taking in these lessons of the past, those designated with responsibility and power need to be wary of what they are signing in for. They have the power to dictate actions based on conscience, and have to be firm in their decisions. This is what the value of science is all about. One has to remain neutral on this particular score. Searching for the ‘soul’ when one is on one’s dying bed may be a common occurrence but it would be perhaps too late by then. Just before he died, Einstein admitted to Linus Pauling that he had made a grave mistake by signing that fatal letter. If he had not signed the letter, perhaps there would not have been an atomic bomb. However, the signing of the letter had nothing to do with science anyway. It was motivated more for military reasons. We now know that it was about sending a strong message to the Germans, Russians and Japanese on how superior was the military power of the Allied forces was, in particular that of the United States of America. Science was just a tool for that particular mission. Science had been exploited in this particular context.

So, if that is the kind of mind set that drags on us, how do we change this mind set? What sort of new worldview do we need? What sort of new thinking do we need to create? How do we leave behind what has been done and what has been created before in the name of science and technology? This whole idea of scientific revolution is related to the industrial revolution. It is a kind of worldview that is still being promoted around the world as far as science is concerned. This involves technology development - from one that was based on trial and error to the design and development of a very systematic way of inventing things. That was the basis of the inventions

by Edison and other inventors. Then, came the Manhattan Project that involved a very linear way of thinking of how to bring a scientific invention forward for the betterment of mankind. The next big change basically occurred with computers, where we have seen a lot of other developments. This has really led to another kind of invention which is actually related to how end-users of the given scientific and technological advances can also create new inventions. Progression of scientific innovation has been driven by capitalism or economic gain, rather than what is truly good for mankind and the environment. This is because the R&D that created these innovations were devoid of ‘soul’. Technology is moved for the sake of technology rather than trying to save mankind. Many of the other noneconomic benefits are usually incidental.

Einstein also left us with another pertinent quote “The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking.” Thus, there is no wonder then that now there are more bombs, wars and military armaments than there ever was at any point in the history of man. There is more research now based on military needs than for scientific needs. This problem rests in the heart of humankind and thus we are headed for an unparalleled catastrophe. We will not see The Manhattan Project bomb again because we have learnt a lesson. However at the same time, whether we like it or not in terms of economy, ecology, social structures and the many wars that are being fought today, we are facing new catastrophes. What has this got to do with Hiroshima? It is in the context of the kind of destruction of human lives that we now see since the start of the scientific revolution.

Accordingly, before IT (Information Technology) became a big part of our lives, we thought that human beings were just mechanical robots. If the question of ‘soul’ does not come into the picture, everything becomes almost mechanical. It is very dehumanising, utilitarian, hollow, external and technically-dependent. This is how we now see the world and therefore suffer from the kind of issues that we are seeing today. Once computers came into our lives, the mode of thinking changed. To illustrate, IBM had represented the brain as being organised like a circuit with a motherboard. It was even postulated that one can buy a “computer brain” for a mere USD5. This notion is all about trying to transpose what we understand from science about the human being without considering the kind of ‘soul’ or conscience that is attached to the human person.

much in contrast with what Christianity teaches as far as human lives are concerned. So, where was conscience then?

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If you look at the historical worldview of how science developed or rather modern science developed, you will find a kind of a void, which is often referred to as either the Western Dark Ages or the Christian Dark Ages, depending on how one looks at it. It was basically a leap between the Greek and Roman civilisations right down to Modern civilisation consisting of the Renaissance and Industrial revolutions and the scientific revolution and finally modern society as we see it today. While this is one point of view, in another historical dimension, if you look at different cultures, there is a time during the early dark ages, when science flourished in a different way. Science flourished in a very holistic way.

The elements of the ‘soul’ still existed and used in a very international way; through different civilisations and cultures to build science. Whether it was Persian, Chinese or Indian, they were all built together and they were helped by different ethnic and religious groups. Science finally returned to Europe, and this movement to Europe is what helped the Renaissance and the emergence of the new science. It a very important to understand that the so called dark ages were not really dark ages. It was a scientific age with a different twist as far as science was concerned. It was science with ‘soul’. However, it then became “science without soul” because we ignored the contributions of other civilisations as far as science was concerned. If one wants to have a better understanding of this, a book written by Jack Goody, Emeritus Professor at the University of Cambridge, touches on “The Theft of History” which tells us how people exploited the knowledge from other cultures and civilisations without acknowledging it. And, from there, translating the knowledge into what suited them better - as far as economic productivity was concerned, and thus lost the ‘soul’ dimension of science.

The Numeral System is a good example of the cross-fertilisation of knowledge. Different cultures had different numbering systems. The Romans had their own numbers but they were in the form of alphabets. Thus, if one wanted to describe one thousand nine hundred and forty four, one

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would have to list at least 14 letters to describe 1944. In contrast, the Indians developed zero. It was enhanced by the Arabs to be what we now universally recognise as the Indo-Arabic numeral system. It was then taken through the medieval ages into modern times and now we have a numeral system that we use all over the world.

The good thing is that when the Indians created the initial numbering system, it was copylefted, not copyrighted (Figure 1.2). So everybody began to use it. There were no patents, copyrights and protected intellectual property. It was knowledge for mankind as it were and it was a part of the conscience and the ‘soul’.

Figure 1.2 The initial numbering system created by the Indians was copylefted

However, the moment the modern world took it and developed what we recognise as the binary system that has allowed us to do a lot of programming and computerisation, the rule of the game suddenly changed. There are now things called copyright, World Trade Organisations and patents. Thus, the whole idea of sharing knowledge among humanity, for the benefit of humanity, was somehow or other lost and no longer practiced once modernity set in. This is something again to do with the neglect of the ‘soul’ or the neglect of the conscience as such. And, therefore, we are now landed in a situation where knowledge becomes a ‘monopoly’ of certain groups, and the whole idea Injecting Soul Into R&D

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of the bottom billion people accessing knowledge becomes an issue that we face today. Without knowledge, the bottom billion will remain as the bottom billion. There are other dimensions we need to think about in trying to understand and articulate what science is even from the business point of view.

It is not just about enlightening the scientists but also the CEOs. During the Age of Enlightenment, spirituality and the value of the Church was no longer important to a certain extent. The thought was that the human mind was the only thing that was going to solve the problems of today. Therefore there was a split between what was owned by the State and that of the Church. The State was thought to create what we recognise as the materialistic world that has nothing to do with the hereafter or the Church or any other religious issue. At the same time, the religious response then was to create a different kind of a world, the heavenly world that “renders to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s”. At the end of the day, a form of ‘materialistic science’ that was devoid of ‘soul’ and sometimes without even conscience emerged. This is where we can start in trying to bring back the ‘soul’ into R&D. We still believe in God, in God we trust but the God is the greenback. There is a kind of scientific “atheism” where everybody talks about how much money we need to spend on R&D. However this money is spent for building a more “worldly world” rather than a “heavenly world”. There are “new” God(s), ethics and rules that govern science. This is what modern science is all about today.

When the solar system delineated by the geocentric model of Ptolemy was challenged by the heliocentric model of Copernicus, it was against the understanding of the Church since the earth was then no longer the centre of the universe.

Copernicus ran into trouble for this. Copernicus did not publish his work until he was on his deathbed.

The other dimension that is not common knowledge is that before Copernicus produced his work, there was another work which was similar to that was done by Ibn al-Shatir 200 years before. Copernicus, as a monk in the Vatican had access to some of the manuscripts that the Vatican kept and one of the Injecting Soul Into R&D

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manuscripts that was in the Vatican then was the manuscripts by Ibn al-Shatir. Were the similarities coincidental or was there a copyright infringement issue? When one looks at the Mercury model, it says it is almost Ibn al-Shatir’s and Copernicus did not even understand what the Mercury model was all about. So one can be somewhat suspicious of the knowledge of science that we have today. Whether it has a foundation of its own or was derived by taking it from other civilisations without understanding those cultural values and the civilisations that they borrowed it from, is a matter for conjecture. It becomes even more intriguing and confusing since Ibn al-Shatir is thoughts to have taken it from alThusi who was another scientist before him.

From a philosophical point of view, I would like to refer to a quote from Stephen Hawking in his recent book ‘The Grand Design’, despite talking about science and rationality, and that we are free to move and think what we like, Hawking stated “It is hard to imagine free will can operate if our behaviour is determined by physical law, so it seems that we are no more than a biological machine (‘human capital’) and that free will is just an illusion.” As a result, we return to the whole problem of trying to discard the ‘soul’ and of understanding spirituality because we thought we are governed by it, however, at the end of the day we are governed by another set of rules which is the physical law and we are no more than a biological robot. The word “human capital” is used because it is the cause of a major problem that is in science today. Therefore, if there was a scientific formula, if the ‘soul’ and conscience were minus from a human being, then you will acquire a biological robot [human being – (‘soul’ + conscience) = biological robot] (Figure 1.3).

But, what is human capital? And, we also ask the same question, where is conscience? For those who are really hard wired on human capital, let us quote a work done by an academic at Trinity College in Dublin. To look at Irish cases in higher education is relevant, because it is similar to that in Malaysia. If you look at our documents now, everything is about human capital. The national philosophy of education does not even talk about human capital but mentions human being instead.

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Figure 1.3 A human being devoid of soul and conscience is a biological robot

Academics need to rethink whether the word human capital is relevant to the development of education moving forward in the context of science and technology. Like us, the Irish have their own document, the Hunt Report that talks about the strategies of higher education to 2030 and it is all about moving the human capital up the value chain.

They can almost see that there is lack of conscience and ‘soul’. Hence, if you take that as a kind of an argument then how do you humanise science again?

How do you bring back the ‘soul’? How do you awaken the ‘soul’? The word awakening is chosen because there is a belief that the ‘soul’ is there but somehow it is in in a slumber and it just needs a good shake-up.

Social theorist and physiologist, Jeremy Rifkin has been quoted to say that “We were making the first step out of the age of chemistry and physics and we are moving into the age of biology.” The whole idea of mimicry for example involves learning from nature how to invent and make innovations better so that we are not going against the kind of values that nature brings. For instance, what can we learn from lizards? How can lizards stick on the ceiling without falling? What sort of a technology is that?

Is this natural? Or what can we learn from insects?

For example, currently, there is a discipline called insectronics and people are now beginning to build

models based on nature so that we do not run too far out from what nature has provided us. Although we are not probably aware of it, long before these new emerging disciplines existed, we had the IT gadget, we call a mouse. Before the mouse there was already a motherboard and now we have virtual viruses and worms. All of these are biological terms, and you can get rid of these viruses and worms by using the PC-cillin software, that is named very closely to the antibiotic penicillin. We now have artificial neural networks, artificial intelligence, and of course now everybody has got a thumb-drive.

All these terminologies are biological terminologies applied mechanically. In other words, there is now greater relevance for biology, as far as science is concerned. We are now looking at the world around us for models of what new innovations are going to be like. So biology is a platform for us to move forward and to bring back conscience because it is perhaps easier to bring the conscience back into something biological as compared to something mechanical and physical.

This major shift will be from a mechanical to an organic system - organic understanding, organic paradigm - in various fields such as biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and biocomputing. Just add the word “bio” in front and it will do! So put in bio, and you probably will Injecting Soul Into R&D

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get something else out of it rather than just the mechanical, mechanistic, dehumanising science that we have adopted for a long time. One can see as we move from one side to another of the 21st century we are moving from a mechanical world into almost a natural world. We are leaving behind all mechanistic things that have no conscience as far as human beings are concerned. This has been testified by numerous scientists, one of them is Dyson, who is also a very famous physicist, in his writing on our biotech future. He said that the 20th century was the century of physics and the 21st century is the century of biology and he gives the reasons why. Biology is now bigger than Physics as measured by the size of budgets, by the size of the workforce, by the output of major discoveries; and biology is likely to remain the biggest part of science throughout the 21st century. Biology is also more important than physics, as measured by economists for its ethical implications. As such, perhaps we have a better understanding of how to try and inject this whole idea of ‘soul’ into R&D by looking at how we can mobilise biology in the context of science and technology. So, we put into an equation that physics and chemistry is biology devoid of ‘soul’: physics plus chemistry equals biology minus ‘soul’ [physics + chemistry = biology – ‘soul’]. By bringing the ‘soul’ and conscience back into what we have done before, perhaps we can create not just human capital but human beings. These human beings in turn will then, have a calling for the bottom billion and humanity in general. Subsequently, moving forward, there would be heart and ‘soul’ as far as science and R&D is concerned. We need to now leverage on the so called “Age of Biology”. People like Steve Jobs have been saying that, “Don’t let the noises of the opinion of others drown out your own inner voice (that inner voice could be your conscience). And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” It is almost unscientific. Steve Jobs had this revelation when he studied Zen Buddhism.

For that reason, there is an impact of spirituality, as far as moving science forward is concerned.

The last part is how do you then bring the ‘soul’ back? How do you change the mind set? How do you get into the discussion of what the new science Injecting Soul Into R&D

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would look like? The way we organise ourselves now is in a pyramid model. It is very hierarchical. Man is always the better scientist as it were and it is very rigid. It is about how one moves himself or herself forward and it is also all about the competition.

Just like the atomic bomb, the question “How do I compete with other countries to make sure that they are subservient to me?,” It is almost a question of human capital. If you read the book, “Blue Ocean Strategy”, It also mentions “The Red Ocean” and almost dead ocean which represents a very arrogant mindset that thinks it is in control and knows a lot because it has the reasoning power that no other animal possesses. Therefore we have structured the way we live into the present kind of hierarchy that is now failing us.

On the other hand, people are now beginning to talk about different kinds of structures; a structure which is a network, a structure which is flexible; a structure that is about us, not you or me, a structure that collaborates rather than competes - a structure that talks about human beings rather than human capital, a structure that is sustainable, and a structure that is alive. It is alive because it has a conscience. Humanity will have a conscience once again. It will not be what it was before. More importantly, conscience also advocates a kind of balance. We cannot take science to a limit that actually destroys earth the way we are doing presently. A balance needs to be struck. It is thought that if the balance is transgressed, then science needs to be stopped or is in need of serious rethinking.

Thus, we would like to move from an arrogant mindset to one that is humble and full of humility.

This will allow us to learn and share knowledge with others rather than the current monopolistic strategy.

However, when we talk about R&D, there is a need also for an economic consideration. Nevertheless, there must be a balance between economic and ecological needs. There are also technological needs, which are also important. However what has happened now is due to an imbalance. According to Oxfam, 1% of the richest men in the world are going to own more than 50% of the world’s assets. If I’m

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that richest man, then I’m going to own half of this world or own half of this room, and the rest of you will just need to fight for the other half of the room.

And this is what science has made us, because it is all about wealth creation and not about human welfare.

As far as technology is concerned, it is getting more and more divisive. There is a signboard in Africa, which states “no tecknolegy”. They can’t even spell technology well. The divide is growing and taking different dimensions all over the world.

The disparity between the developed world and developing world, even within one country is increasing. A total of 80% of our population is currently living on less than RM3000 a month, which is unacceptable. Four billion people are living on less than USD3 per day. This leads to a lot more deaths not only because of war but suicide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has indicated that one suicide occurs every 40 seconds globally. However, these statistics do not appear in our mainstream radar. Scientists are generally not concerned about it as long as they can publish in ISI indexed-journals.

How many people have died along the way? It is not a question that we necessarily concern ourselves with. University rankings also have nothing to do with addressing this question. And so, where is the conscience setting as far as science and technology is concerned? And, to what extent is economic wellbeing taken into consideration? We have advanced the argument for science and technology as an economic driver with the focus on technology and not the human being. Consequently, the compass becomes haywire and it is almost to my mind, a kind of a ‘soulless’, senseless kind of way of conducting science around the world, and even in Malaysia.

Thus, as declared by Oppenheimer, “I am become death and I am the destroyer of the world.” If he took this quote from the Bhagavad Gita, then there must be wisdom in the scriptures around the world. How do we reacquire that wisdom? How do we bring that wisdom into science to modulate it as we progress forward. With global warming and climate change, and the wars that are going on, we will probably need to look back into the various scriptures that we

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have in order to identify and regain the wisdom that will connect the ‘soul’ back to the mind to provide solutions for global good. For that, we need to start looking at the intangibles, rather than things that can be counted all the time (output), the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). There are no KPIs for intangibles such as virtue, justice, mercy, joy, dependability and loyalty. Nobody or no one single matrix can measure these intangibles in absolute totality. There have been recent efforts to measure happiness. The reality is that the actual action of eliciting happiness is more meaningful than just numbers and percentages. Thus, there is a need to bring back the ‘soul’ to equilibrate the economic needs and the technological needs while at the same time to set the conscience as the compass. How do we achieve that?

The suggestion is that we need to talk about science in the context of balance and at the very minimum, with a perspective on sustainable development. While there are more concepts to balance against from eastern traditions, sustainable development is an important governing factor that can take science beyond what we are managing currently. There needs to be a focus on the quality of life that transcends economic well-being. There also needs to be greater discourse on spiritual well-being beyond economic poverty. There also needs to be discussions pertaining to spiritual poverty because this is the balance that requires restructuring. The humanity focus is not just a national focus. Often, governmental talk about global communities does not translate beyond rhetoric. Thus, let us be realistic about it. When we talk about humanity, let us talk about humanity per say and the bottom billion that needs to be saved. By the year 2050, there will be 10 billion people on planet earth, 60% of whom will make up the bottom billion. The world will not be able to survive if interventions are not put in place to stem this particular trajectory.

In the context of the higher purpose of science and technology, we need to return to the wisdom of the scriptures to rediscover some of the knowledge that we have lost for a long time. Only then can we begin to understand and decipher questions such Injecting Soul Into R&D

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as what is intuition? What is the inner voice? What is karma? What is fitrah? All these terminologies are alien to science but it needs to be brought back and to be reinterpreted in the context of science.

The same applies to economics. As iterated by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation and the President of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, it is important to be inclusive, inequitable, collaborative and culturallysensitive. Science is not such that one size fits all.

Science also needs to re-evaluate its own cultural norms as well as embrace all cultural values.

Technology needs to be fit-for-purpose, user-friendly, eco-friendly to ensure sustainability. It also needs to be an equaliser that reduces the current divide. It cannot be an invention that separates people or is detrimental. These inventions should be accessible, available, appropriate and affordable (4As). If the R&D technology does not have all 4As, then it becomes not as useful as intended to be. If more effort is made to ensure the achievement of all 4As, it will be easier to ensure balance and human dignity. In the context of the translation of knowledge for humanity, we can then claim that we are truly human rather than the capital of some production system. This is in line with what was declared at the World Education Forum in Incheon on May 2014,... “inspired by the humanistic vision of education and development based on human rights and human dignity; social justice; inclusiveness; protection; cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity; and also responsibility and accountability.”

Through our Eastern lens, we also understand that the seed of intellect is not confined to the mind but also the heart. There needs to be a balance between the mind and the heart. We understand that the ‘soul’ of education is the education of our ‘soul’ or heart. Unless the ‘soul’ is educated, the education will be short of what it is supposed to be. Oppenheimer’s great sense of humility shines through his quote “No man should escape our universities without knowing how little he or she knows”. In contrast, graduates from universities often think that they know a lot. As a result, they begin to manipulate and change things. This attitude

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perhaps explains why we are in the trouble that we are in today. The reality is that we know very little as we go through our university years. There are other elements that need to be put in place. It is these elements that will take us perhaps beyond just the age of enlightenment, with rationality and reason.

When we look at R&D today, at least in the context of Malaysia, it is devoid of ‘soul’. It is a reflection of what we recognise today as STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Some enlightened universities place another M to indicate medical sciences. This at least has a direct focus on biology. However since Malaysia has a tendency to go with the flow, we do not think for ourselves. When the prevailing voice says STEM, we say STEM. As far as STEM is concerned, where are the roots? It is without conscience and ethics.

Thus, “STEM” needs to be changed to STEAM”.

The first component of STEM is ethics. All scientists must be trained in ethics. It is also not limited to the philosophies of sciences.

The ‘A’ in STEAM refers to arts and aesthetics.

Steve Jobs’ talks about how he used aesthetics and arts to create the various mechanical merchandise such as the iPod and iPad. A major component in managing and ensuring a balance is governance.

Unless there is governance, science will remain unregulated and unbalanced. Better still, in the context of ‘soul’, these is something called STREAM, the R representing the religious and ethical part of it. There is a need to look at the scriptures and the wisdom of those scriptures to guide science into a more humanistic pathway, rather than a materialistic one. Renowned Chinese poet and philosopher, Lao Tzu quoted “All streams flow to the Ocean because it is lower than they are. Humility gives the Ocean a Power”. Given all the knowledge base that has been acquired, let us make science the power to move forward, but it must be rooted in humility. Since we do not know as much as we need to know, we need to be governed by other sets of rules, conscience and wisdom that science has been robbed off for many years. These components need to be reinstated into science.

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Unless we actually act now and put the various efforts mentioned into place, the status quo will be maintained. We will continue to not know where we are heading. It is timely for the Academy of Sciences Malaysia to bring this argument forward. If the academy works well in this direction, perhaps we can add another ‘S’ to represent ‘soul’ to form the new ASSM - Academy of Sciences with ‘soul’ Malaysia.

If one is still uncertain on the urgent need to inject ‘soul’ to R&D, Albert Camus’s quoted, “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn’t than live my life as if there isn’t God and die to find out there is.” Thus, let us place our stake on what is better for us, as far as moving science forward is concerned.

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FORUM 1

Finding the Soul in R&D

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FORUM 1 : Finding the Soul in R&D Moderator: Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman, FASc, ASM Founding President and Senior Fellow Speakers: 1. Sir Simon Fraser Campbell, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, Former President of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2. Professor Dr Adeeba Binti Kamarulzaman, FASc, Dean of Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya 3. Professor Dato’ Dr Rashidah Shuib, Centre for Research on Women and Gender, University of Science Malaysia 4. Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail, FASc, Vice President ASM & Director of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia

Introduction Doing good science alone is not sufficient anymore to address grand challenges. Apart from the discovery of new knowledge, there must be a concerted effort to forge mission-oriented R&D that can generate solutions to meet the challenges faced by the world’s population, particularly the often marginalised bottom billion. For R&D and business leaders, this calls for a vision beyond boosting institutional ranking and return on investment, towards asserting science and technology stewardship. While innovating for the poor is a noble endeavour, it is also challenging, complex and requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Therefore, there is a need for the scientific fraternity and business leaders to embrace the enculturation of social awareness and ethics to address this pertinent area.

The governance of R&D also has to be enhanced to allow for greater transparency and empowerment of the global citizen to voice out views. In this forum, four distinguished speakers shared their individual perspectives on the concept of ‘soul’ in R&D. They also shared their views on how Injecting Soul Into R&D

efforts can be channelled towards encouraging researchers to excel in their R&D while aiming to solve the challenges faced by the bottom billion and communities that are often overlooked by mainstream commercially-driven R&D initiatives.

Speaker 1: Sir Simon Fraser Campbell Sir Simon in opening the session stated his belief that R&D with ‘soul’ equates to an R&D environment that generates personal commitment and understanding at the individual and public levels. The identification of the ‘soul’ in R&D could be achieved through the recognition of scientific excellence at a personal and team level and should not be limited to academia but also to industry. This is especially pertinent considering more than 60% of research in the United Kingdom (UK) occurs in industry.

The speaker used the Royal Society’s initiatives in recognising excellence in innovation and translation within academia and industry as the major focus of his talk.

Sir Simon explained that The Royal Society (RS) is UK’s national academy of science. It is a self-

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governing Fellowship of distinguished scientists from all areas of science, engineering and medicine. It was founded in 1660 with the fundamental purpose to recognise, promote and support excellence in science for the benefit of humanity. Currently, there are approximately 1600 Fellows and Foreign Members from the UK and the Commonwealth, with 52 Fellows are elected each year. The speaker drew the attention of the Forum to the RS Industry Strategy 2012 to 2017, where RS set out to: • Emphasise that much innovative scientific research is carried out in industry and the public sector, as well as in academia; • Ensure that scientists in industry and the public sector are able to participate in the Society’s activities and that the Society is responsive to their needs; • Further encourage translational science and identify opportunities for securing science-based economic growth and wider societal benefits; • Develop greater public awareness and appreciation of the crucial role of science within industry and public services.

RS has recognised the historic legacy of how science and industry have worked together to translate basic research and discoveries not only for commercial profit but also with a social impact.

Sir Simon gave examples of the discoveries of Michael Faraday, James Watt and Humphrey Davy, explaining how the electromagnetic technology, the steam engine and the Davy Safety Lamp had in their respective ways all contributed immensely to the betterment of society and mankind’s progress. The impact of industry on scientific excellence needs therefore to be recognised. Accordingly, in the UK, 2013 was specifically designated as the Year of Science and Industry. A series of activities, including public lectures, scientific meetings and exhibitions

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were organised through RS and other organisations.

A Science, Industry and Translation Committee consisting of lead industrialists and academia was established to highlight effective translational science and to strengthen the communication and engagement with industry. Special awards were also instituted.

The RS has also a ‘Labs to Riches’ flagship event that celebrates its support for innovation and science, where leading figures from academia, industry and government celebrate successful translational activities in the presence of the Science Minister. To Sir Simon, the ‘soul’ dimension is evident when there is a deep understanding of the importance of a particular research and the significance of its outcomes. Thus another award, the Brian Mercer Awards was designed for PhD holders with a substantive post in a university or a not-for-profit research organisation. Its objective is to promote innovation and fill the funding gap between scientific research and the exploitation of an idea through venture capital investment with feasibility awards (max GBP30,000) or innovation awards (GBP250,000). There is also the Industry Fellowship scheme that is designed to allow scientists in industry to work on a collaborative project with an academic organisation or vice versa. For Sir Simon, these awards and schemes promote scientific excellence and cater for the ‘soul’ in R&D. Sir Simon went on to say that to ensure sustainability in the R&D ecosystem, exhibitions such as the Summer Science Exhibition were organised by RS to provide opportunities for scientists to speak to youngsters, thus helping to plant the seed for R&D into the ‘soul’ of the next generation of scientists. About 14,000 people attend these summer exhibitions. RS also organises a “Transforming our future” lecture series that presents the state of science in the UK and what lies ahead.

RS infact sees itself as the heart and ‘soul’ of the

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in helping to find the ‘soul’ in R&D since with their huge capacity, numerous activities and extensive political engagement is possible.

Speaker 2: Professor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman

Figure 2.1 The Royal Society at the heart and soul of the UK R&D Ecosystem

R&D ecosystem (Figure 2.1) that links and unites the Industry, Government and Academia.

It recognises that even in a research-advanced country such as the UK, there are many challenges.

For instance, UK’s academic culture does not facilitate translation of research discoveries effectively. There are also skills gaps in the context of quality and quantity. It is also difficult to identify scientific excellence within industry, or to facilitate the immigration of scientific excellence and even to generate public and private funds for R&D. RS has decided that the solution to many of the challenges faced by the UK ecosystem can be achieved through science and innovation partnerships and special funds.

One such fund is the Newton Fund that promotes the economic development and welfare of developing countries. These initiatives he felt help to inject ‘soul’ into the larger global R&D ecosystem. The Royal Society Newton Fund currently has agreements with Brazil, China, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey. A number of other countries such as Chile, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Columbia and Egypt are also eligible.

The Newton Fund of GBP375 million is for building people capacity, translation of science, research collaborations and long-term partnerships in the UK. It is Sir Simon Fraser’s stand that learned societies such as RS should be able to contribute substantially Injecting Soul Into R&D

Professor Adeeba as the next presenter began her talk on how economic decisions can influence the impact of R&D products on the bottom billion.

Her talk primarily focused on her experience in working on research that was directed to helping marginalised communities. She discussed the opportunities and challenges and how her research team was able to circumvent difficulties and continue to improve the life of marginalised communities while still maintaining scientific excellence.

Professor Adeeba then referred to the work of Jonas Salk, as an example of university research with ‘soul’ that has benefited millions. In the fifties, Salk developed the polio vaccine while he was at the University of Pittsburgh and went on to license the vaccine to anyone who wanted to manufacture it. He felt that since the vaccine was a natural product waiting to be discovered, it should not be patented. By today’s standards it has been calculated that if indeed Salk’s vaccine had been patented, USD7 to USD8 billion would have been generated from the use of it (Figure 2.2). However, for Salk what was more important was that his decision led to millions of lives being saved by the vaccine, an eminently true ‘soul’-based R&D effort. In contrast, the discovery and development of the newly discovered treatment for Hepatitis C although theoretically possible to cure 90% of those infected with Hepatitis C, this is not happening due to its prohibitive cost. The full cost of one complete treatment is USD80,000 to USD90,000 where each pill costs approximately USD1,000. In 2014 alone, the company generated USD12.4 billion in sales.

Although there is a generic contract it is not relevant because it excludes geographical regions where the disease is most prevalent, and where the majority of the estimated 185 million people infected with the virus reside. These people cannot afford the exorbitant price of the non-generic drug. Here was a clear example of a lack of ‘soul’ in the research output.

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Figure 2.2 The work of Jonas Salk as an example of university research with ‘soul’ that has benefited millions.

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Thus, Professor Adeeba postulated that there is a need for introspection. Researchers she felt should ask themselves “What is the purpose of the research if the end product does not benefit the people that it was meant for and really need it.” Professor Adeeba’s research group at Universiti Malaya (UM) is one of the pioneer teams working on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in Malaysia, although it is not a priority area or of national importance.

It is therefore often discouraging to researchers on such projects. She suggested that researchers themselves need to develop strategies to convince the policy/decision makers on why their research is crucially important. To prove her point, she presented a small pilot project that was initiated to generate data to convince the government on the benefits of a harm-reduction programme designed to show how the sharing of needles amongst Intravenous (IV) drug uses (IDUs) could be overcome to combat the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. The programme which provides drug users access to condoms and needles as well as methadone clinics was able to successfully reduce the number of HIV cases attributed to IDU. Furthermore, through the programme, between 2006-2013, 14,000 new infections were prevented, which contributed to a savings of RM40 million for the government. By 2050, it is expected to prevent 100,000 new infections (Table 2.1)with savings amounting to RM1 billion.

Table 2.1 Number of HIV Infections Prevented through the Harm Reduction Programme

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The data projection on return on investment (ROI) (Figure 2.3) has helped to convince the government to continue and even to increase its support of HIV-related research and community efforts.

Data generated for the work has also resulted in publications in high-impact journals. This reinforces the fact that research which addresses society’s need can also be recognised for its scientific excellence.

Another example presented was her team’s research on non-violent drug related offenders who

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constitute 60% of prisoners in large prisons, such as the Kajang prison. A longitudinal observational study was conducted to compare compulsory detention with voluntary methadone therapy in opiate-dependent persons in Malaysia. It was found that individuals that underwent voluntary methadone therapy had 7.6 times lower risk of relapsing as compared to individuals who underwent compulsory detention (Figure 2.4). The effort to convince lawmakers and enforcers on the significance of this research is still on-going.

Figure 2.3 ROI on UM’s Harm-Reduction Programme for Drug Users

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Figure 2.4 Comparative Survival Rates after Compulsory Detention and Voluntary Methadone Therapy

In summary, Professor Adeeba stressed that researches should focus on pressing societal needs.

It is the responsibility of researchers to convince the government to drive their policies based on evidence derived from rigorous science. Although research output tends to be measured usually by the number of publications and commercial value, it is imperative to look and ponder over the original mission and purpose of a university versus the pursuit of commercial goals. A university’s primary purpose is for discovery, dissemination and application of knowledge for the benefit of society and if true to these ideals, it should naturally lead to research with a ‘soul’, alongside the pursuit for scientific excellence. The challenge she saw lay in the context of governance and policies - how to convince the government to make decisions based on the evidence of research as opposed to ‘conventional’ ideologies that drive policy decisions.

Speaker 3: Professor Dato’ Dr Rashidah Shuib The next presenter, Professor Rashidah in her opening remarks concurred that a discourse on finding the ‘soul’ in R&D is indeed timely. Given the current strong push for neo-liberal, open-market economic policies, she felt that the ‘soul’ needs to be found, not just in R&D but also in all spheres involving researchers, academicians, politicians, cabinet ministers and CEOs of companies.

Professor Shuib’s presentation primarily focused on the role of R&D in the empowerment of women and her personal journey as an academicactivist in championing the need for research on women’s issues in Malaysia and the importance of establishing a gender analytical framework within the research space.

She felt that although many advances have been made in women empowerment there were still many areas where it had failed, especially with respect to the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals).

Women still die due to avoidable pregnancy-related problems and a lack of access to essentials such as contraceptives that affect more than 200 million Injecting Soul Into R&D

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women. However, as the post-2015 Development Agenda is being negotiated, such concerns have been raised amongst researchers and women activists. In addition, while public-private partnership has been identified as a good working model (at the Finance for Development meeting held in Adis Ababa, 13-16 July 2015), she felt that there are serious ethical issues linked to the drivers of the research, policies and programme agendas.

She was not convinced that there is sufficient transparency and accountability. She asked, “Will women’s empowerment take centre stage? What is the ethos of this public-private partnership funding?”

The questions raised suggest that there is need for greater dialogue on the importance of injecting ‘soul’ into R&D to ensure that there is indeed ‘soul’ in the public-private modality for development.

She went on to say that she aimed to link R&D and the empowerment of women through her perspective as an academic-activist. Her research and publications have been strongly shaped by her position as an academic-activist. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have always been secondary to her because often the areas that she researches on do not fall under the priority areas of funding agencies.

With publications, her focus is not driven by considerations on journal impact factor but more on who will actually read her work. This has affected her academic career progression, although, the speaker strongly believes that her efforts as an academic and activist are a sterling example of how a researcher does research with ‘soul’, since KPI is not her raisond’etre.

Professor Rashidah went on to explain that a good starting point in the search for the ‘soul’ in R&D would be the debunking of the dichotomous view in the world of research that separates the ‘soft and the hard sciences’. She pointed out that research in any discipline, applied and natural sciences or social sciences is all about science. Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence. Thus, whether one is doing qualitative, quantitative or experimental research, the researchers have to ensure rigour, Injecting Soul Into R&D

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reliability and validity within the particular research paradigm. Labelling research as ‘soft’ or “hard” actually stems from a biased and myopic worldview. If this division continues, it would be difficult to initiate and fund multi-disciplinary studies related to and necessary for the better understanding of the social and economic implications of sciences, engineering and technology. It would also be difficult to make Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) the basis for economic development and societal wellbeing.

Research in the natural and applied sciences is not just about producing a new technology or new products. Research is also a means to create space for a shared understanding, which can lead to social change. It provides space for the poor, for the silent voices, to speak to researchers. The data collected on views expressed should be fed back for policy and programme interventions. Thus, it is important to recognise the purpose of doing a particular research if research is to have ‘soul’.

There have been instances where research funding for derogative social groups (e.g. sexworkers) is limited as these groups are not considered worthy to be researched on by individuals that control research funding. Essentially, research cannot claim to find the ‘truth’ and produce knowledge to solve problems in society if there is evidence of bias even in selecting the population for study. Experts on the topic of gender issues maintain that women’s lived experience and their ways of gathering information are the central platforms to build knowledge and foment social change. It is through this information using a non-mainstream gender analytical lens, which also includes gender analysis and sex-disaggregated data, accurate insights may be drawn on the position and conditions of women in society. This is how ideology, activism, academic research and women’s everyday lives is linked. Thus, the existing knowledge built on popular assumptions about men and women should be challenged. What is true for a certain group may not be true for another group.

Two examples were highlighted that are closely linked to empowerment. The first was on women’s

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health research in Malaysia. In the 1990’s, women’s health was not identified as a research category under the Intensive Research Priority Areas (IRPA) programme. However, Professor Rashidah, over that period was already introduced to the concept of women’s health from various engagements with women’s health activists at international conferences and through her work with World Health Organization (WHO). It was clear that there was a need to redefine or reframe women’s health because women’s health could not be understood fully by just using the biomedical framework. At that time, activism at the global level was pushing for the need to bring in the gender analytical framework to health studies. However, because it was not listed as a research priority area in Malaysia, it was difficult to apply for IRPA grants. Fortunately, a member of the IRPA committee understood the need for it and was able to convince the IRPA committee to allow grant applications in the area of women’s health. It took strong academic-activism and the full use of networking benefits to achieve this goal.

agencies to use the data. This is an example of pushing for data utilisation in policy through advocacy. Both the examples demonstrate the politics of funding for research on women health issues. It is important to ask WHO decides WHAT to research and WHERE is the ‘soul’?

The second example is violence against women, which until recently remained hidden and unrecognised. In 1996, WHO categorised violence against women as a major global challenge to public health and a violation of rights. In 2014, there was a call for governments to promote comprehensive approaches that promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Ironically, health activists had actually brought up these issues in the Eighties. It took a long time for research institutions like the health care system, universities and WHO to respond to this problem.

• Power to build capacity, support individual decision-making, build leadership and etc.

It was only in 2005 did WHO launched the WHO Multi-Country Study on “Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women”. In Malaysia, when the Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA) conducted this survey, the prevalence of domestic violence against women was found to be 9%. The data and findings were shared with other researchers, NGOs and the public.

Despite the lack of funds, a policy dialogue with government agencies and relevant stakeholders was conducted in 2014 to encourage the government

There is a link between such research and the empowerment of women. Empowerment is essentially a bottom-up process and not top-down.

Women cannot be empowered, women should empower themselves. The role of society is to facilitate and provide an enabling environment for self-empowerment. The Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research Programme Consortium, led by the Institute of Development Studies, UK points out that empowerment has often been regarded as an endpoint and not the process.

Empowerment is about understanding power, that is, having: • Power over conflict and direct confrontation between powerful and powerless interest groups

• Power with social mobilisation, building alliances and coalitions • Power within to increase self-esteem, awareness or consciousness raising, confidence building.

There is also a need to better understand how to research empowerment. Guided by the Pathways to Women’s Empowerment Research, the following lessons have been learnt: • Research must be rooted in women’s perspectives • Research has to be multi-disciplinary and should use a multi-methods approach that will produce new data, new avenues for enquiry, a new understanding of women’s empowerment for a positive change • The need to pay attention to women’s everyday experiences Injecting Soul Into R&D

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• Examine the pathways of empowerment that women are already taking Professor Rashidah maintained that while there is a compelling case for investing in programmes that increase women’s education and economic opportunities, no single intervention is adequate.

For example, it is a simplistic assumption that micro-credit leads to empowerment because there are multidimensional constraints that exist such as care responsibilities, access to resources and lack of control of the use of income. In support of this, empirical research from the Market Systems Approach to women’s empowerment in agriculture have identified five important domains, namely: 1) Decision-making over production, 2) Access to productive resources, 3) Control over use of income, 4) Community leadership, and 5) Time allocation.

The most important conclusion from the research conducted by Professor Rashidah’s team is the recognition that formal work or work with some of the features of formality has the most consistent and powerful impact on women’s capacity for a voice.

Finally, empowerment should be viewed and studied in the context of two intertwining dimensions in women’s lives. The first dimension is at an individual level, where it is all about women’s selfworth, ability to make strategic life choices and an ability to exercise voice and influence interpersonal relations. The second dimension is a collective form of empowerment where women have the capacity to act collectively to claim their rights, to form a movement, to collectively protest and make demands or to suggest changes in laws or societal transformation.

In conclusion, R&D is critical not only for economic growth but human development. R&D will only have ‘soul’ if people are placed at the centre of its work, above profit making and KPIs. R&D must be grounded in the lived realities of women.

Undeniably, there are strong links between R&D and women’s empowerment and an understanding of the complexities of empowerment emerges

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from research findings. Thus, to ensure social transformation towards social justice, it is highly important that research in Malaysia is engendered by including a gender analytical framework and gender disaggregated data. Greater focus on research on women’s empowerment within the Malaysian context will ensure that the R&D products that are produced will lead to empowerment of women rather than to disempower them.

Speaker 4: Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail Professor Asma began her presentation with the statement that poverty is an unacceptable human condition. Nobody wants to be born poor and every child is precious and does not deserve to be living on the streets. She set the scene towards addressing the problem by declaring that the grand challenge was to get all the various components in the Quadruple Helix (researchers, industry, government and community) to align their goals and work together towards providing sustainable solutions for the bottom billion.

The current global scenario shows that 20% of the world population or 1.47 billion people are living in extreme poverty and earning less than USD1.25 per day as estimated by the World Bank. This “bottom billion” comprises people who are underprivileged and are not benefitting from mainstream socioeconomic progress (Figure 2.5). Rhetorically, Professor Asma asked why should we bother about the bottom billion? Why should we embrace the poverty challenge? She firmly believed that if nothing is done, the bottom billion will continue to have little opportunity to improve their lives and will not be able to contribute to the economic growth of a country.

A developing country cannot ignore poor and marginalised people since they constitute the largest human resource in those countries. Overcoming poverty therefore remains the single most important challenge to humankind but it does not have easy solutions.

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Figure 2.5 The current global scenario

Professor Asma went on to explain that annually more than 50 million die of cholera, enteric infections, AIDS and tuberculosis. Despite experiencing decades of epidemics, there are still inadequate vaccines or diagnostics for these diseases. This is largely because these products are unavailable or inaccessible to those who need it most: those in underdeveloped and developing countries (Figure 2.6). Companies are generally not interested in developing diagnostics or vaccines for

markets that cannot afford to pay. In many instances, even when the vaccine or diagnostic test is available, they are not adapted for countries that lack trained personnel or are unusable due to the lack of proper infrastructure, facilities or even basic utilities such as electricity. In addition, many of these products are also too expensive. Even if the solutions cost USD1 per day, for people living on USD1.25 per day, it is still economically prohibitive.

Figure 2.6 Inadequate vaccines or diagnostics products for those in underdeveloped and developing countries

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In Malaysia, overcoming poverty and ensuring sustainability is part of the national agenda due to a clearly stated political will. The government of Malaysia describes the poor as the bottom 40%.

There are 2.7 million households earning less than RM 2,537 per month and they need help urgently. The government has recently introduced the New Economic Model (NEM) to transform Malaysia into an advanced high-income nation. It is people-focused and addresses sustainability and inclusiveness to reduce the inequity divide. The move towards people growth is also addressed in the 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020) which purports to provide R&D solutions that ensure inclusivity, and also aims to reduce the inequity divide and enhance sustainability while placing a great emphasis on the 4As – Available, Accessible, Affordable and Acceptable solutions. However, with the advent of KPIs introduced by the government, there is a high stress to commercialise results from R&D and to publish these results in high impact journals. Universities are especially affected as researchers scramble to achieve set targets and KPIs. Understandably, researchers are unwilling therefore to conduct R&D that aims to provide solutions to benefit the poor. Editors of high-impact journals do not usually prioritise outcomes from such work as worthwhile information for their journals.

Compounding the problem is the fact that it is difficult to convince companies or “start-ups” to provide solutions for a market that cannot pay. These then are the grand challenges and hence the focus of the Forum.

Professor Asma, quoting Albert Einstein, concurred that: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

She went on to postulate that there needs to be a new paradigm of thought in R&D; a need to use perhaps a Blue Ocean strategy to identify how best to help the bottom billion by creating niche areas of research focused on the poor to bring the country forward. She felt that a paradigm shift will happen among researchers and institutions when they stop playing ‘catch-up’ with large established institutions such as Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge and instead

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turn around the way they do research. The needs of the 1.47 billion people in the planet living below the poverty line, including those in Malaysia have to be addressed. There needs to be greater concentration on research outcomes and technology development that will reduce inequality and enhance sustainability for those who need it. This will eventually lead to a global impact since many of the solutions will be transferrable and/or adaptable across the world.

Researchers need to perform research to provide solutions in low-resource settings. For this, they need to undergo some active real-world experience via community engagement in order to transfer solutions and know-how that would be sustainable while also helping to provide a better understanding of the needs of the community. The Blue Ocean strategy allows researchers to provide local solutions in niche areas to answer global problems. Thus, there is a strong need to nurture prominent research leaders who know how to provide sustainable solutions for humanity.

To achieve this, there are numerous issues and challenges. Researchers need to be innovative and creative with an entrepreneurial and pioneering mindset. They also need to have an understanding of the low-resource setting of their target consumers and most importantly have the passion to help the bottom billion. Another reality is of course that companies and industry need to earn profits to survive. Business plans are generally geared towards financial profits. Venture capital firms even do not usually provide funding to companies or startups that may not make money, for example, if they make products for the bottom billion markets which cannot afford to pay. Thus, there is a need to find a realistic way to balance profitability and sustainability to encourage greater investment to help the bottom billion.

Researchers should be convinced that there is a need to provide solutions that can create a sustainable change in society. To the industry, solutions provided need to be commercially viable, while successfully balancing profit and sustainability.

Governments too must be convinced to accept the

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Figure 2.7 The ecosystem required to deliver effective solutions for the poor/bottom billion

solution and finally the solution should be culturally acceptable to the community. Hence, there is a need to align and set several big forces into action before a solution can be made accessible to the poor.

These closely aligned forces are diagrammatically represented in Figure 2.7. The entire ecosystem needs to work together.

The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, is playing its part by trying to change the research landscape of the country. As depicted in Figure 2.8, the Ministry has been working on gearing the R&D roadmap towards the delivery of excellence with a

Figure 2.8 Road Map by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia that focuses on holistic people growth and innovations Injecting Soul Into R&D

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focus on people growth and an emphasis on the 3 Rs (Respected, Referred and Relevant) as well as on ‘high tech’ and ‘high touch’.

The 11th Malaysian Plan (2015-2020) and the recently launched Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015-2025) also provide game-changing opportunities for institutions and researchers to make

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an impact in globally recognised niche areas of research (Figure 2.9). Furthermore, in the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint, great emphasis is being made to drive talent excellence for creating an innovation ecosystem while developing global prominence - all of which can also help to identify solutions for the bottom billion.

Figure 2.9 The 11th Malaysian Plan and the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint (2015-2025) - Game-changing opportunities to improve the R&D ecosystem

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Professor Asma reiterated that injecting ‘soul’ into R&D really means providing R&D solutions for humanity. In short, there must be a paradigm shift in the way research is done. The focus should be on creating technology platforms for low-resource settings and creating discoveries to help or uplift the quality of life of the poor. Furthermore, the gap between the laboratory, industry and humanity needs to be bridged through a balanced business plan and an efficient platform for the delivery of solutions.

Finally, there needs to be effective knowledge transfer to the marginalised communities through delivery of culturally acceptable solutions of quality.

In concluding, Professor Asma reaffirmed a strong belief that much of the positive change desired for the bottom billion begins with the need to change and improve oneself, as wisely stated by Mahatma Ghandi, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”, and also in Michael Jackson’s lyrics in “Man in the Mirror”, “… If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”

Dialogue Session at end of Forum 1: Research on the neglected tropical diseases Professor Emeritus Datuk CP Ramachandran asserted the importance of research on the neglected tropical diseases that continue to negatively impact the quality of life of many people in the Asia Pacific Region. In response, Sir Simon conceded that there was no great scale of effort in tackling developing world diseases apart from a few initiatives, e.g. for Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.

Although there is significant research the bottleneck is that scientists have no idea on how to move forward.

Democratisation of research Tan Sri Omar suggested that most scientists, scientific institutions and businesses have realised that a missing link to R&D exists in the humanities.

However, the initiative to address the gap should not

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be confined to issues pertaining to the bottom billion.

There is also a need to relook at the role of young people, the idea of setting a new virtual humanity journal and the potential for a bottom-up research focus, since after all great innovations may come through under adverse and stressful conditions.

Meanwhile, Mr Wan Ismail suggested that there was no discussion on the association of food production and poverty and yet this was an important area to address.

In response, Professor Rashidah replied that there is a need to listen to more voices so that no one feels marginalised. Furthermore, there is more than one definition of research. She also went on to stress how the recognition that violence against women was a problem that needed to be studied took a very long time, as explained during her presentation.

Without doubt, evidence-based reasoning was essential to convince policy makers. She also reiterated that just because a piece of research was not going to contribute to one’s KPI, it did not mean that it did not need to be done. Researchers however might not have the skill sets, and as such would need to work with NGOs and the community.

Professor Rashidah went on to say that publishing in low impact journals was also fine since what was important was the expected readership.

Overcoming ideological hurdles Mr David Wood commented that some policy recommendations have not been taken up despite having strong scientific backing, and that too mainly because of ideological opposition. This problem was universal and not specific to Malaysia. In responding to the issue, Sir Simon maintained that the key determinant was political acceptability. There was a need to get more scientists into the government instead of scientists complaining that politicians do not listen.

A second response was offered by Professor Adeeba on the issue of overcoming ideological hurdles. She opined that scientists should work with various stakeholders, religious leaders and even politicians. As it may be difficult to get them to understand the science, it would be more important to get them to understand the economic benefits Injecting Soul Into R&D

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arising from an R&D programme, especially if it was for the benefit of the bottom billion. She also made reference to “the harm reduction programme” she earlier talked about in her presentation and went on to emphasise that doing good science and making a case for it was definitely the way forward.

Elitist to Egalitarian shift In response to the question posed by Professor Awang Bulgiba of whether the Forum theme - the search for ‘soul’ in R&D - favoured an “Elitist to Egalitarian shift”, Professor Adeeba answered in the affirmative and further stressed that in research it was important to involve the community.

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FORUM 2

Leveraging Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship

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FORUM 2: Leveraging Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Moderator: Dato Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd. Nor, Secretary General Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Malaysia Speakers: • Mr Karl Joffres, Co-founder & Director of Tandemic • Madam Hazami Barmada, Founder of Barmada Consulting, Washington DC • Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Writer, TV Producer and Women’s Rights & HIV/AIDS Activist

Introduction The future is very much shaped by Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). Socio-economic transformation can be achieved through the growth of four critical technologies. They are technologies for basic needs, technologies for quality of life, technologies for wealth creation and economic competitiveness and technologies for good governance. These technologies are always changing. The challenge is to make them accessible to all, including the bottom billion strapped in a poverty cycle.

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Addressing social challenges faced by the global community such as poverty, inequity, human rights and others is complex and requires creativity and commitment. However, close links between the scientific fraternity, business leaders and social entrepreneurs, whose mission it is to promote sustainability based on the 3Ps of Planet, People and Profit will accelerate the diffusion of knowledge, beneficial products and services to meet the needs of the marginalized and poor.

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Speaker 1: Mr Kal Joffres The first speaker, Mr Kal Joffres, as co-founder and director of Tandemic, a social innovation lab, informed the Forum that he had worked with various companies, governments and non-profit organisations (NGOs) to solve tough social problems through innovation. Based on his experience, he has come to the conclusion that there are three operative factors to achieve a social impact within a target population, and these are: 1. Social enterprise 2. Shared values 3. Collective impact Mr Joffres described a social enterprise as an organisation that seeks to balance its social mission with a commercial business model (Figure 3.1). In order to be self-sustaining, he argued that social enterprises have to be able to generate profits without depending on donations. Yet without money or funding, it is difficult to support innovation to ensure that the marginalised groups are not further marginalised. Some of the popular models used include: 1. Cross-subsidisation: • Affordable hospital access is made available to the poor through differential pricing, for example,

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by wholly subsidising the private hospital fees and part of the public hospital fees; 2. Design for extreme affordability: • For example, as opposed to the normal energydependent baby incubators that cost around USD20,000, innovative low cost incubators costing only USD52 have been designed. These contain polymers to keep babies warm at 37.5oC for 4 hours to ensure that in developing countries low birth weight babies can still survive.

In terms of shared values, Mr Joffres presented examples of how and why social enterprises should work with large companies to overcome operational obstacles to deliver social innovation. For instance, on 14th September 2014, when iPhone 6 was released by the tech giant, Apple, the phones rapidly reached 10 million customers globally, whereas seven months later, (15th April 2015) when the Nepal earthquake struck, attempts to provide and deliver humanitarian aid and resources to the site failed.

While one event was a tremendous achievement for humanity, the other was frustratingly disastrous due to inaccessibility.

Another example quoted was a campaign for the prevention of diabetes in Malaysia. A user-friendly, easy-to-follow mobile application software, “Meet Mon” designed by Novo Nordisk and the Ministry of Health Malaysia is being tested in the country.

Figure 3.1 Factors for Social Enterprise Injecting Soul Into R&D

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It aims to introduce behavioural change among persons at high risk of diabetes. Subjects for the study were chosen based on the fact that a person with a diabetic parent has a 30% risk of developing the disease. The wearable technology is expected to provide key behavioural insights to help reduce and control the diabetes problem in the population.

Mr Joffres also mentioned Cemex’s Patrimonio Hoy, a shared values project in Mexico where lowincome families are empowered to improve the quality of their lives through intervention in a building scheme. In this project, an anthropological research method was used. After observing how slum dwellers built their homes, Karl’s group decided to provide inhabitants access to technical expertise and building materials such as cement, concrete blocks, and steel at average market prices. The original contractors and suppliers who often overcharged and provided substandard work were thus sidelined.

With rollout of the programme building costs and waste from unused materials were substantially

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reduced. Additional support was also provided with the introduction of a savings and investment programme similar to micro-financing, at the rate of USD10 to USD15 per month. Since the launch of the programme in 2000, 350,000 homes were built, and the project became profitable from 2004 onwards.

The effect of Collective Impact was also emphasised. Mr Joffres vehemently stressed that no matter how much money is spent and how many programmes are initiated, there would be no change or positive outcome without a collective approach to improve the system. To make a social change, tremendous resources could be correctly deployed with the right kind of alignment of interest. In the education sector, for example, many governments have been frustrated due to the lack of results despite the funding provided. He blamed it on a situation where it is “programme rich but system poor”. Karl asserted the need to work collectively to improve the education system and close the gaps from “cradle to career” (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2 From Cradle to Career – through Family and Community

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The blame game he opined was totally disempowering. Instead, he encouraged the use of data collection and statistics to align programme level outcomes to community level outcomes to ensure judicious use of resources for sustainable benefits.

create a radio station using metal scrap. Arguing that the traditional models have failed, Madam Barmada asserted the need to break down silos in doing business. CSR should be part and parcel of a corporation while charities should be institutionalised and operate like a business to ensure sustainability.

Speaker 2: Madam Hazami Barmada

The speaker also supported social capital. Often local community leaders have a wide connection with the global community that is built based on trust and this resource she felt should be utilised.

Madam Barmada discussed innovation as a tool for social progress. She dwelt on how to inspire and forge collaborations between the community and society and how to translate this into impact.

She stressed that it was primarily important to know what the end goal was. In addition, she believes that sustainable social progress requires innovation. What was necessary she felt was to harness innovation to achieve new ways of thinking so as to achieve the end goal more effectively. The biggest challenge in achieving sustainability was not technology or funding, but mental rigour, especially where implementation is also defined by culture. To Madam Barmada, the lack of capacity and action is because people are unaware or do not realise that they have access to so many tools and resources.

Madam Barmada candidly observed that necessity often breeds innovation. To prove her point she referred to success stories and trendy projects arising from social innovation & entrepreneurship.

One example quoted was Uber, a multi-million dollar taxi company that operates without owning any taxis and AirBnb, a similarly successful hotel accommodation provider that owns no real estate.

In her opinion, one of the issues confounding sustainability was that technology was often limited to usage by the same group of people as a result of conversations in silo and the use of a boxed approach to address social issues. Apart from that, global citizenship implies a culture of empathy towards the needs of the bottom billion. The speaker suggested that there was a need to change the definition of the bottom billion from being viewed as “passive recipients” to “partners in innovation”. For instance, child refugees in Jordan are able to create intricate art from scrap, and a deejay was able to

In her presentation, she opined on several issues: 1) The importance of economic and financial capital to finance great ideas and inspire new ways of thinking, especially among young entrepreneurs; 2) Political capital to be used to empower young entrepreneurs; 3) To view the bottom billion as an ‘opportunity’ and not a ‘burden’; 4) The need to leverage on people’s skills, profession, mentorship, and networks in using human capital; 5) To use innovation hubs to connect and inform people; 6) To put innovations to work and not keep them boxed in; 7) To invest in the entrepreneur (people) and not the product; and 8) To devise a global mechanism to measure the social impact and outcome from funds allocated to meet societal needs.

With regards to the last point, Madam Barmada provided an example. She observed that many NGOs and governments design programmes or projects to conform to the availability of funding.

There is therefore a need to rethink how funds are allocated. She lamented that a lot of projects have big assumptions but could result in unintended consequences. For example, in a situation where women were empowered to go to school in an area where there was no electricity, or food, one should question the realism of the programme, since the end goal was to educate women.

Madam Barmada also examined the phenomenon of a technology divide in the world where in the majority of developing economies connectivity to the Internet is still far from satisfactory. She rhetorically questioned how it could be possible to leverage on available technology platforms to access critical geographical markets? The necessary tools and Injecting Soul Into R&D

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resources were already available but the challenge was how to utilise them correctly. She stressed that there was a need for collaborative partnerships between policy makers and entrepreneurs and political will to scale up social innovation. Madam Barmada concluded by proposing social engineering as a way of thinking of solutions but did not elaborate further on the topic.

Speaker 3: Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir spoke on social media and social innovation. She focused on the use of social media as an innovative engagement platform to get feedback and ideas and presented some statistics relating to social media in Malaysia.

There is 67% Internet penetration in Malaysia and 35% of Malaysians access it through smartphones.

The average time spent on mobile Internet is 3 hours and 3 minutes. With regards to Facebook trend of usage, there are 10.4 million current users and 3.5 million of them are aged between 18-24 years.

Meanwhile, Twitter has 3.5 million users, with a total of 162 million tweets as of February 2014. Active users of the social media comprise 21.8%, and these mostly follow celebrities and politicians. To illustrate, Datin Paduka Marina herself has around 90,000 followers.

The speaker also informed the Forum that WhatsApp is used by 39% of the global Internet population with Malaysia ranked third in the world in terms of total usage. As for YouTube, 80% of Malaysian Internet users stream or download videos each month with 51% of them having an active YouTube profile. While acknowledging that a lot of people use social media for different reasons, Datin Paduka Marina noted that there is currently a negative perception about social media. This is mainly because it can be used to spread negative ideologies, such as the recruitment of members by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Nonetheless, she still feels that social media has great potential to promote social innovation and social good, mainly by its ability to connect like-minded people. For example, SuryaWomen is a group of corporate Injecting Soul Into R&D

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women who connect through Facebook to promote and raise awareness on issues relevant to the workplace. Sekolah Aktivisme is an example of how Facebook is used to train young people to learn about current issues and FreeMarket is a system where goods are given away without any money being transacted.

Datin Paduka Marina also stressed that social media can be used in times of emergencies to mobilise people and to raise funds faster and with more penetration than government agencies.

For example, it has been used in Malaysia to successfully raise required funds for several children who needed prohibitively expensive surgery or recently to recruit and mobilise volunteers to help victims during the floods in Kelantan. In addition, the social media has fund-raising abilities and crowdsourcing ideas. It is also capable of disseminating or presenting topics or issues for discussion that otherwise may not be readily available in the real world. The speaker also emphasised that rather than monitoring the number of “likes” a person/ site obtains it is more important to determine who it is that “likes” the person or the site, in order to determine whether a given message will actually go viral.

The important issue of how social media could help the bottom billion was also addressed. The speaker felt that as the digital divide is getting narrower because technology is getting cheaper and becoming more accessible, it was really not a problem for even the bottom billion to avail themselves of it. Global Voices is a platform that helps to give communities access to global communication through radio and the Internet.

According to Datin Paduka Marina, it is a human instinct to share information and news. Hence, it should not raise any concern if people are sharing information through social media. She stressed that it is important to keep the online world free from government influence and thus help to build trust.

Regarding on what R&D can do to help social media, Datin Paduka Marina advocated that those who carry great influence via social media should be supported, not with money, but in ways that

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help them to disseminate good research results, especially on social issues such as the environment and health. There should be a platform for such social media influencers to increase their reach and also to build partnerships with people with lots of great ideas through appropriate R&D funding for social enterprises. Gender dimensions need to be addressed and social media should be less hostile to women so that women can have equal access to share and present their ideas. Datin Paduka Marina in concluding suggested that R&D organisations should be working hand-in-hand with NGOs or even nongovernmental individuals (NGIs), to advocate for an open environment for online media.

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Social Media To Professor Rashidah’s comment on the lack of information democratisation in Malaysia, Datin Paduka Marina concurred and suggested that this is due to fear and a lack of understanding of social media tools.

Instead of collecting information and keeping it private, what was required was a need to reach out to people and the public to get new ideas and opinions. Many controversial issues could be avoided if there was more transparency. Tan Sri Omar agreed and went on to suggest the use of social media as a platform for public debate on STI. Only with appropriate public debate will matters concerning STI get proper exposure. Madam Barmada explained that there are mechanisms such as the Twitter chat, which allows two-way communication to reach even the marginalised – an otherwise hard-to-reach group.

Crowdsourcing Mr Joffres expanded on the issue of crowdsourcing commenting that it has a great potential in the education space. For instance, crowdsourcing is used to get teachers to create curriculum and provide content through the Internet thus overcoming the need to provide face-to-face tuition, although the challenge was the human side of it. It is a fallacy to assume that once a platform is built, people will come and commit their time. In reality, crowdsourcing is a committed investment and it requires a committed community who are then rewarded for their time and effort.

Social Innovation To answer a question on whether developmental work under social innovation should be supported by the government or private investors, Mr Joffres provided an example of an innovative funding of health insurance where the end user is not the buyer.

P&G has agents selling small packets of shampoos to the under privileged. But it also hires companies to provide health insurance to agents who hit certain sales targets. Madam Barmada added that successful social innovation models require support from both the government and the private sector. A humanistic approach is needed to create solutions that are people-centred.

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FORUM 3

CO-PRODUCING VALUES-BASED SOLUTIONS

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FORUM 3: Co-Producing Values-Based Solutions Moderator: Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim, Deputy Secretary General (Science), MOSTI Speakers: 1: Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Founder of Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY) Malaysia 2: Mr Jean-Michel Piedagnel, International Board Member, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) 3: Mr David Wood, Principal of Delta Wisdom

Introduction NGOs and private sectors can be key players in improving the well-being of society by having an impact at the local, national and international levels. Their proximity to the beneficiaries should be harnessed by R&D leaders to co-produce valuesbased solutions to tackle humanity’s challenges.

Bridging science and technology solutions to societal needs through better delivery of services or products is pertinent. The forging of dynamic alliances among the scientific fraternity, NGOs and private enterprises is vital, especially when unprecedented inequality is threatening the survival of the bottom billion.

Speaker 1: Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood Dr Jemilah Mahmood began her presentation by providing some statistics on the number of people affected globally by various crises. She mentioned that by 2015, 59.5 million people had already been displaced by conflicts, violence and natural disasters.

Globally, approximately one person is displaced every three seconds. By 2030 it is projected that at least one billion people will be displaced. These are alarming statistics and when translated into economic terms, the estimated loss is USD300 billion per year. Climate change has aggravated the problem. When compounded by natural disasters, Injecting Soul Into R&D

these figures escalate to a high vulnerability level, which will affect everyone, not only the bottom billion.

Dr Jemilah observed that currently in crisis management, ‘needs’ outstrip ‘resources’. One of the challenges is how to get stakeholders (government, private sector, NGOs) to crowd-source ideas to solve problems innovatively. R&D acts as a driver for innovation and could therefore significantly help to impact on the humanitarian sector. However, at present, R&D spending on the humanitarian sector is fairly low compared to other sectors. It was suggested that this sector should be allocated at least USD75 million R&D funds annually.

However, the speaker vocalised some challenges to actualising the impact of R&D in the humanitarian sector. These include the lack of investmentworthy R&D ideas and the low rate of adoption of high-impact solutions from R&D investment. It is noteworthy that both impediments mentioned above are also found in other sectors; yet, other sectors still enjoy a good return-on-investment (ROI) from R&D. The speaker further pointed out five vital ingredients for R&D in the sector: a) accurate data on needs, inclusive of mega data, b) ability to measure impact, c) finding the right partners, d) up-scaling for impact, and e) continuous learning and innovation.

Dr Jemilah also drew attention to a successful innovative humanitarian project in Africa, namely

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Plumpy’Nut (peanut-based paste). The initial R&D investment was accompanied by very strong evidence to demonstrate the product’s effectiveness when given to the malnourished (Figure 4.1).

Further investment drew in additional players to help expand the new innovation across communitybased therapeutic care centres, which helped to expand adoption and to reach economics of scale for production. In the Middle East, the innovation was taken a step further with the substitution of dates for

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peanuts to obtain a date-based paste, since dates are more widely available in the new region Providing shelter is another major challenge for humanitarian aid efforts. To illustrate, IKEA innovatively came up with an easy-to-assemble shelter as an appropriate solution to help displaced populations which is a clear example of ‘soulful’ R&D (Figure 4.2)

Figure 4.1 Plumpy Nut for the malnourished

Figure 4.2 Easy-to-assemble IKEA Shelters

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The speaker also spoke about the transformative power of cash as cash gives voice and helps create markets. Dr Jemilah explained how in a disaster-hit area, SIM cards for hand-phones were purchased and distributed free of charge to residents. Later on, this encouraged residents to purchase their own SIM Cards and a rapidly expanded market was created in the disaster area.

She concluded her presentation by reiterating the importance of creating the right ecosystem for a successful impact of R&D, stressing the importance of making available relevant data to researchers, coming together of good collaborative partners with shared values on profit and loss considerations and the need for strong political will.

Speaker 2: Mr Jean-Michel Piedagnel Mr Piedagnel opened his presentation by mentioning an issue that is of great concern to MÊdecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF is often unable to give the best medical care they want to, because the resources at their disposal are out-dated, ill-adapted or ineffective. This is due to the lack of availability of affordable medicines and this according to Mr Piedagnel is due to a failure of medical innovation.

He then presented his thoughts on the current situation for R&D in the healthcare sector and

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also went on to show how MSF was working with Malaysia and Thailand to co-produce value-based solutions to local problems.

Current R&D for new medicines is mostly driven by the private sector. However, the model lacks strategic priority planning and instead is mostly a race for patent monopoly by big pharmaceutical companies. Markets are often therefore the priority and not patient needs. The reality is that only 40% of the funding for R&D comes from public and nonprofit organisations, thus accounting for why the current system gives priority to markets and not to any public health strategy. Over the past 40 years, there have been almost no new drugs developed to treat tuberculosis; nor is there a test developed to diagnose infants that have HIV/AIDS in resource scarce countries.

MSF was forced therefore to make a paradigm shift in its research agenda and to set up a new model, moving it away from a system that depends solely on patents to one that addresses public health priorities and thus creating more value for patients.

The strategies mentioned were to support prize funds for innovative discoveries, promoting pooling of patent resources, advocating advanced market commitment and above all establishing product development partnerships.

Figure 4.3 DNDi founding partners and global offices Injecting Soul Into R&D

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In 1999, with the exciting award of the Nobel Peace Prize, MSF committed the funds to the setting up of a working group on Drugs for Neglected Diseases (DND). By 2003, a DND Initiative (DNDi) was created with 7 founding members (Figure 4.3), including Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH).

DNDi has particular relevance to the region as it is a South-South R&D effort. The product development partnership is cost effective and has a strong connection with problem-based realities on the ground. In 2007, the first DNDi treatment was registered followed by five more by 2013. DNDi is a patient needs-driven, innovative R&D model that focuses on the best science for the most neglected, with the vision: “A collaborative, patients’ needdriven, virtual, non-profit drug R&D organisation to develop new treatments against the most neglected communicable diseases”. As such, DNDi has three objectives: • To deliver by 2018, 11 to 13 new treatments for 7 diseases, namely, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, malaria, Paediatric HIV and specific helminth infections

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• To establish a robust R&D pipeline to fulfil future needs • To use and strengthen existing capacity in disease-endemic countries Mr Piedagnel felt that countries like Malaysia should adopt the system as it could help provide access and affordability of treatment to promote a public health approach to R&D as a means of responding to the needs of patients suffering from neglected diseases, such as Hepatitis C. In Malaysia, about 450,000 people need treatment, while globally, only a few patients have access to the best direct acting antiviral (DAA) drugs. This saddens Mr Piedagnel, as it constitutes the tip of the iceberg for a globally infected population of between 26 to 30 million (Figure 4.4) DNDi employs an alternative business model that empowers its partners in endemic countries.

Its mission is to strengthen capacities, public health mechanisms and policy advocacy to foster a workable global framework to intervene for essential health care. Its activities centre around R&D projects

Figure 4.4 The tip of the iceberg effect in treatment for Hepatitis C

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on Neglected Diseases, for product development through collaborative efforts with partners (public & private), using public health avenues in a dynamic environment that can effectively bring treatment to patients who most need it (Figure 4.5).

The speaker presented his case by elaborating on issues surrounding the Hepatitis C disease (Figure 4.6). He felt that actually it would be possible to eradicate Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection globally with the current DAAs, except for three major challenges. First, in the absence of effective screening programs, HCV infection is often diagnosed only at the late stage (in high income countries) or is seldom diagnosed at all (in low- or middle income countries). Second, the high cost of DAAs precludes their use in most infected patients in low- or middle-income countries; in highincome countries too HCV treatment is often made available only to those who can pay for it i.e. only to a selective sub-group . Third, re-infection remains possible even after successful curative therapy.

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developing regimens appropriate for the public.

These companies tend to work in silo along their own pipeline. Furthermore, they are unwilling to share information on specific genotypes and the cost of HCV-AAD drugs is prohibitive, being as high as $86,000 per treatment in USA. The problem is further compounded since Voluntary Licenses are denied to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Brazil where the disease is a prominent public health issue. Chronic HCV is a curable infection and a reversible liver disease since the tools to eliminate it are now available and can reach the patients once the challenges are met.

Mr Piedagnel therefore emphasised that by using the DNDi strategy the unmet needs of the most affected countries could be addressed. MNF has actually rolled out programmes using short term and medium term strategies to help meet the needs of patients and countries and has also created access lines to advisory groups. It is now working on establishing multi-stakeholder partnerships in key countries to support affordable access to the drugs worldwide.

Figure 4.5 Patients suffering from neglected diseases

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Figure 4.6 Hepatitis C cases

The speaker drew the attention of the Forum to the applicability of the model (Figure 4.7) to address other neglected diseases in the region, especially in Thailand and Malaysia. MSF has found that clinical trials research could be easily organised in most of South East Asia. Currently, MSF and the Malaysia

Ministry of Health (MOH) have taken up the DNDi approach via a product development partnership to bring treatment to Hepatitis C patients who would otherwise be neglected. The take-home message to the Forum was that indeed DNDi has clearly shown the way to inject ‘soul’ into R&D activities so as to

Figure 4.7 DNDi Alternative Business Model

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create value and solutions. With the MSF model for R&D and an alternate business model, neglected diseases that impact the poor who are unable to afford expensive costs for medical care and treatment can be taken care of through the general public health system, i.e. the bottom billion become recipients of R&D injected with ‘soul’.

Speaker 3: Mr David Wood Mr Wood spoke on the future of co-produced valuesbased scenarios. He began his presentation by drawing attention to the importance of foresight. He argued that the ‘soul’ and the inspiration for current innovations were derived by correctly predicting future scenarios. To predict a scenario of the future it must be desirable, credible and actionable. However, foresight into the future is getting harder. The pace of change is increasing compounded by a complex convergence of technologies with anticipated risks

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that can present both opportunities and threats. Mr Wood enthused that collaborations were the way forward, but did not elaborate further.

As examples of significant impactful innovations over the last 10 to 15 years, the speaker reviewed developments pertaining to three discoveries: 1) the micro card where capacity grew from 128MB to 128GB, 2) the cost of genome sequencing that has halved every 2 years, and 3) the revolution from reading using a physically held book to reading virtually on Kindle, a digital book. In terms of the technology changes, he claimed that these developments have brought about five-fold changes in speed, cost and size, respectively (Figure 4.8).

Mr Wood then went on to expound with a futurists’ eye on convergence of the physical world with biology which has been predicted to result in the evolution of four new major technologies, namely, nanotechnology and biotechnology representing hardware developments and ICT (digital technology)

Figure 4.8 Technologies are fast changing

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Figure 4.9 Convergence of physical and digital worlds

and cognotechnology (neurotechnology) as software contributors (Figure 4.9). These developments will result from the convergence of technologies related to humans and machine, software and biology, physical and virtual worlds and finally artificial intelligence and human intelligence, respectively. He foresees that these technologies will change society in unexpected ways, disrupting familiar patterns of industry, lifestyle and thinking.

The outcome of networking and education combined with the application of tools and technology could create a feedback cycle that would have the capacity to either enhance or disturb humanity. If it were to have a positive feedback it would benefit humanity and could provide extra

intelligence, extra health, extra longevity, extra experience and extra opportunities. Nevertheless, this could also disturb humanity by aggravating even worse terrorism, worse surveillance or worse climatic conditions besides instituting robot employment and other existential risks that could threaten society.

According to Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 index of leading US companies, the average lifespan of a company is presently at 15 years compared to 67 years in the 1920s. However within the next 8 years it is predicted that more than 75% of the S&P 500 companies will be unheard of. The life-span of companies will decrease drastically unless they can display extraordinary agility and deep foresight into the future.

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Figure 4.10 Future scenarios

The speaker then drew attention to four future scenarios (Figure 4.10): 1. Existential destruction: if technology goes wrong (e.g. nuclear holocaust) 2. Positive singularity: when technology goes right (e.g. humanity reaches for the stars) 3. Techno-feudal: if technology is captured only by “the 1%” (e.g. “winner takes all”) 4. Techno-progressive: if technology is guided by/for 100% (e.g. new social contracts & wise governmental cooperation) Mr Wood concluded on a positive note, with an ultimate best-case scenario when a positive feedback cycle could create an even better understanding of the future that would guide society towards the best responses for the opportunities Injecting Soul Into R&D

and challenges of accelerating technology. Under such circumstances, foresight could bring about a restatement of values that would enable the best of present-day humanity to collaborate and co-produce for a better humanity supported by a norm of lifelong training and education when people of all ages continuously learn the necessary new skills for a new age of automation.

Dialogue Session at end of Forum 3: Geopolitics and political will For this session, the importance of geopolitics in current R&D was raised. Dr Jemilah pointed out that limited resources are allocated for R&D in the humanitarian sector because there is no political will. Only when it involves global issues do leaders of the world show an interest. Nevertheless, with

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the growth of geopolitical power, access to global resources is becoming easier. Geopolitics, both local and international is set to impact strongly on all issues. In addition, political will and mindset can also help to mitigate the problem. Mr Wood concurred with the views expressed and agreed that geopolitics is indeed very important, especially in the context of mass human displacement that calls for humanitarian aid. Globally, politics is the key to solving all such problems. There is a need for strong leadership and sustained aid from United Nations and World Bank to ensure geopolitical issues are satisfactorily addressed.

Professor Tan Sri Omar also emphasised that geopolitics is an important consideration and went on to say that it is the cause of the bottom billion problem. If it is not handled correctly, it will have a bearing on future problems too. Thus, the policy makers need to work together to find solutions.

There should be a meaningful collaboration with government to help correct problems within the domestic scenario. Tan Sri stressed that the correct governance structure is important lamenting that Malaysia has still a long way to go on this matter.

He feels political will is needed for the government to find value-based solutions to address unmet needs and problems of the future, preferably through meaningful and structured collaborations. Mr Wood added that technology can help but the lack of political will and expediency often hampers and slows down the process. Leadership is not only about people; it is also about handling change and a preparedness to face evolving scenarios.

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researchers involved.

Mr Piedagnel was very emphatic that public and private partnership is important to ensure the commitment of the private sector. The latter can provide good ideas, patent access and act as a catalyst to draw in resources. In medical research, his suggestion was that R&D should be organised for collaborations within South East Asia, for example via DNDi. He also advised that it would be good to keep the public informed of R&D successes and efforts. However, a feeling of inferiority and a lack of confidence could be an obstacle. As an example, about 63 % of patents submitted in France were not new innovations.

Climate change Issues on climate change and its impact on food security and public health were also discussed. Dr Jemilah contended that climate change not only had an impact on public health but also on the energy problem. She claimed for example, that dengue/ malaria disease outbreaks were due to climate change and lamented that there was a lack of political will in addressing public health issues and geopolitical issues; a viewpoint expressed several times throughout the Forum.

Public and private partnership Dr Jemilah highlighted that in public and private partnerships profit should not come at the expense of ethics. It is necessary to draw a clear line between ethics and profits. For instance, the lowest cooperation may take place when the private sector is involved in triggering the local economy.

Nevertheless, there is a need to take the risk and to do the necessary R&D. At the very least it should provide a good learning experience for the Injecting Soul Into R&D

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FORUM 4

TECHNOLOGY SHARING

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FORUM 4: Technology Sharing Moderator: Dato’ Dr Mohd. Nazlee Kamal, CEO BiotechCorp Malaysia Speakers: 1. Ms Gigi Wang, Chair Emeritus of the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab 2. Mr Vishnu Swaminathan, Director, Ashoka India 3. Dr Viraj Perera, Executive Director, PlatCOM Ventures

Introduction Effective technology sharing enables technology to benefit the people directly and eventually change the world too. While the reason behind poverty is diverse and complex, simple access to life-improving technologies could help narrow the income gap. In pursuit of accessibility and diffusion of solutionproviding technologies, and taking into account scalability and affordability for the people who need it most, some of the world’s greatest minds and organisations are combining their efforts by sharing existing knowledge, skills, resources and creativity.

This holds encouraging promise for the delivery of practical and ethical solutions to meet the needs of the bottom billion.

Speaker 1: Ms Gigi Wang Ms Gigi Wang began her presentation by stating that sharing technology is a benefit to society. She drew attention to a mobile application developed by Skin Vision. With this mobile application, a picture of a mark on the skin or a mole can be examined to determine whether it is diseased or not, so as to obtain appropriate medical advice. Another example given was of a technology “LifeStraw®”, that could provide purified water directly from a river to aid people in underdeveloped countries (Figure 5.1).

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Figure 5.1 LifeStraw®: a technology that could provide purified water directly from a river to aid people in underdeveloped countries

However, Ms Wang pointed out several challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully realise the benefits of technology sharing. Firstly, in order to make a technology or innovation useful, customers’ needs would need to be met. Billions of dollars spent on innovations would not be beneficial to the greater part of society if it did not also meet the needs of the bottom billion. A second challenge is a fear of technology. Fear of technology can be addressed by education (Figure 5.2). For example, among many rural communities in Africa, the trust and acceptance of Ebola healthcare workers increased once they were educated on the matter. The US government

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is also providing incentives for technology adoption, especially in healthcare as this will make substantial difference in efforts to save lives. The third challenge is to provide an end-to-end solution because there are multiple steps before a problem can be solved. A careful look at the bigger picture is essential.

To overcome these challenges, Ms Wang noted that the right customer must be identified and creative solutions need to be formulated. As an example, she presented the technology developed at Chao Yang University of Technology in Taiwan where a natural pesticide that keeps worms away from tea plantations was developed. However,

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the product was too expensive for farmers. An innovative solution was arrived at, by forging the right partnership. The University sold its product to successful tea companies who then gave the pesticide to the farmers. The produce was then purchased back from the farmers as natural tea leaves but at a higher price. If, however, the companies had also lowered the product price it would have been affordable also to the bottom billion and would then have reached economies of scale with benefits to the rich companies as well as the poor farmers. Hence, creative solutions are the answer.

Figure 5.2 Education is needed to address fear of technology

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Speaker 2: Mr Vishnu Swaminathan Mr Vishnu began his presentation by asserting that life is a balance of letting go and holding on.

Currently, 3% of the world population or 300 people own the ultra-high network wealth (UHNW); which is equivalent to the wealth owned by 3 billion people.

Out of the 4 billion people living at the base of the pyramid, the poorest of the poor are at the very bottom of the pyramid and there is an emerging middle class group. There is a need to understand which part of the pyramid we are targeting as technology needs to be applied in a completely different way for this groups of the population, since normal solutions do not work for them.

Mr Vishu reminded the Forum that due to the wide usage of the Internet and technology, the future is already here. Everybody is capable of obtaining access to knowledge and information. Thus, he maintained that everyone can make a change. This includes those living in rural areas of a country, as they too must be encouraged to develop social innovations. Scientists are not the only people who can produce data; the bottom billion can also do so. This is possible if they are treated as customers

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rather than beneficiaries in the innovation process e.g. in determining the design of a product made for them. This could lead to the best R&D and innovation for them instead of they having to receive mere “hand-me-downs.�

Mr Vishu gave a few examples of successful enterprises that started with simple but innovative ideas that had an impact on the poor. The first arose from the thought of recycling used clothes to help the poor. This bright idea eventually evolved into an economically viable business when the discarded clothes were turned into sanitary napkins for the poor. Another example of technology sharing given was that from Tesla who released its patents for the common public good. The third example quoted was the training of hero rats to identify land mines that eventually led to the saving of millions of lives. Hero rats were also trained to identify tuberculosis patients by smell. A final example given was the Lucky Iron Fish technology which when used to supplement a regular meal was able to increase iron intake in the poor suffering from iron deficiency. When added into regular cooking it provided 75% of the daily iron requirement (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3 Lucky Iron Fish used to supplement a regular meal of the poor suffering from iron deficiency

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Mr Vishnu commented that technologies that can change lives must be both simple and effective. At the end of such a project, he felt that it was also pertinent to measure what actually mattered. Instead of just concentrating on measuring a tangible output, it was necessary to look at the impact and outcome of the technology. Mr Vishnu ended by emphasising that grassroot innovators require proper training and networking links through appropriate partnerships so that the products they create can be properly dispersed and made accessible to those that need it most.

Speaker 3: Dr Viraj Perera Dr Viraj explained that innovation is well accepted as a source of competitive economic growth and development for advanced and emerging

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economies. However, he warned that the benefits of innovation often favours the Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI), and is not fully shared by all citizens, especially the poor. Currently, 3% of the world population controls a disproportionate amount of global wealth. This has created income inequality within the society and has resulted in poverty among large segments of the population. More than 1 billon people earning less than USD2/day, account for the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ (BoP; Figure 5.4).

They lack access to the basic necessities of life, e.g. safe water, sanitation services, housing, quality education, basic health care, electricity, phones, roads and financial services. Dr Viraj warned that as income inequalities reduce opportunities for the poor and thus their contribution to the economy, the nation’s development is hindered.

Figure 5.4 The Economic Pyramid

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On the contrary, he reminded the Forum that effective technology sharing enables technology to benefit the people directly and change the world in the end. While the reason behind poverty is diverse and complex, simple access to lifeimproving technologies may help narrow the income gap. In pursuit of accessibility and diffusion of solution providing technologies, taking into account scalability and affordability for the people who need it most, some of the world’s greatest minds and organisations are combining efforts by sharing existing knowledge, skills, resources and creativity. This may be promising for democratisation of technology and the establishment of inclusive innovation and therefore, could allow the delivery of high performance products, processes and services to meet needs of the bottom billion.

Dr Viraj continued by stating that several basic approaches have been identified as the way forward to promote inclusive innovation. The first approach is to harness, increase, and redirect formal creation efforts to better meet the needs of the economically weaker sections of society. The recommendations are: i) To create incentives for pro-poor early-stage technology development (ESTD), ii) To create incentives for commercialisation by the formal sector, possibly by providing more preferential matching grants, and iii) To promote collaborations among public R&D entities, private industry, universities, NGOs, and global poverty alleviation networks. A second approach to sharing technology is to better promote and diffuse innovations by grassroots entrepreneurs. A main recommendation is for grassroots innovation networks to be formally evaluated and supported. The third is through the creation of platforms for technology sharing. Many platforms can be created and shared amongst the community for further development of technology and its utilisation. For instance, simple e-commerce platforms introduced via education programmes have proven to improve online trading opportunities to marginalised communities.

Dr Viraj concluded by listing some of the potential areas for technology sharing, namely:

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1. Access to Health Services: Ultra-low cost diagnostics and technology, easy-to-understand information about diseases, mobile health care clinics, access to medical expertise 2. Access to Affordable Technology: Mobile phones, computers, internet 3. Access to Education: online training or distance learning, virtual libraries, remote access to classroom and lab facilities, collaboration with domestic and global institutions 4. Access to Financial Services: online and mobile banking, financial inclusion/literacy training, delivery of macro-finance services 5. Farmer Services: real-time information on crop patterns & prices, weather forecasts, crop & living stock insurance 6. Food Security: improving crop yield, reducing post-harvest losses, integrating supply chains, expanding access to market demand and pricing information

Dialogue Session at end of Forum 4 Affordability of technology The issue of unaffordable technology due to profitmaking was raised. Professor CP Ramachandran pointed out that the high cost of products or solutions suggest that many western countries are not interested in technology sharing. For instance, Australia refuses to sell the malaria drug at affordable costs. He also alerted the Forum that western countries do not readily adopt technologies that are produced in this region.

Miss Gigi responded by commenting that people in Asia need to learn to empower themselves first.

Besides that, companies from the west do share technologies with countries in this region and thus produce cost-effective solutions. For instance,

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solar lights were introduced into Africa and India to replace kerosene lamps. This is technology specifically designed for use by the world’s poorest that occupy the bottom of the pyramid. Dr Viraj further explained that scientists in Asia find it hard to introduce their findings or technologies to big companies mainly due to issues pertaining to intellectual property rights. Thus, he suggested that a change of mindset was needed. He proposed that it was firstly important to identify and associate the research conducted and the technology developed with the needs of the bottom billion. With the feedback obtained, it was found that Western countries were not interested in technologies developed in the poorer regions. He felt that this was probably because these technologies were often developed as solutions only to a local problem.

Grassroot innovation Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia (YIM) pointed out that grassroot innovation should be as offered end-toend solutions and be guided throughout the entire activity cycle. Although to start with people may fail, eventually they will succeed with sustained support and help. It is the commercialisation push and profitled drive that has left grassroot innovators in the lurch. Unfortunately, there are too many overlaps and gaps in the ecosystem. Mr Vishnu responded that the biggest challenge to grassroot innovation is a fundamental difference between innovator and entrepreneur. Grassroot innovators are not entrepreneurs. The issue could be addressed by empowering them or giving them proper training and opportunities to network.

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Dr Viraj responded that university rankings can only be improved by benchmarking against the best. He further added that there was a lack of revolutionary research where one stays ahead of the game. There was also a lack of collaboration with experts. Mr Vishnu pointed out that currently metrics for measuring the output from R&D programmes was moving towards tangible measurements (e.g. the use of extra light rocket metal for the leg of polio victims which reduced weights from 4KG to 300g). He stressed the need for a significant change in mindset and the need to move from output to the admittedly more difficult outcome/impact-based measurements.

Ms Gigi suggested that it was necessary to look at the entire R&D and commercialisation (R,D&C) value-chain instead of just doing basic research since she felt that if the R&D results were not marketable it would benefit no one. Ms. Gigi noted that there was no proper platform to connect the basic and translation sciences and emphasised the importance of setting-up a platform/culture that would allow for effective communication down the value chain so that everyone could work together.

Innovators could then develop value through a product, while entrepreneurs would be able to take the product forward and help to build up a viable balance sheet, thus ensuring sustainability.

Measuring outcomes The CEO of Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (CARIF) raised the following questions to the panel of speakers: i) how do we determine which are the outcomes that we should look into with respect to universities in order to prevent them from sliding down in rankings, ii) are we targeting R&D the wrong way and iii) what should be the top priorities in Malaysia?

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FORUM 5

SUSTAINABLE FINANCING & IMPACT INVESTING

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FORUM 5: Sustainable Financing & Impact Investing Moderator: Dato’ Norhalim Yunus, CEO Malaysian Technology Development Corp. (MTDC) Speakers: 1. Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Central Bank 2. Mr Mark Rozario, CEO of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) 3. Mr Kristofer Rogers, CEO of Simply Giving

Introduction The uncertainty of the global economy has compelled budget cuts in R&D institutions and research arms of corporations. This calls for novel and innovative financing schemes that allow for the sharing of the risk related to R&D financing among diverse stakeholders including venture capitalists, philanthropist and angel investors. There is also the emergence of innovative financing models like social venture funds, micro-financing, Waqf financing, and crowd-sourcing which aim to serve all, regardless of income, social status and gender. This may hold the key to enabling R&D to achieve its highest aspiration namely, to meet humanity’s needs.

Speaker 1: Dr Atiur Rahman Dr Atiur Rahman entitled his presentation: “Mainstreaming value-based sustainable financing – doing more with less”. As Governor of the Bangladesh Central Bank (BBCB), his talk focused on the role that governments could play in sustainable financing & impact investing. Dr Atiur told the Forum how he was able to develop policies that provided incentives for banks that invested in social enterprises to make a social impact.

These incentives included the provision of low cost Injecting Soul Into R&D

refinancing lines for lenders carrying out micro SME (MSME) and green financing. Such banks were able to enjoy more favourable lending rates from the central bank if they also funded MSMEs and green initiatives. BBCB also provided incentives by tweaking “macroprudential regulations” so that the concerned banks enjoyed favourable banking regulations. Alongside these incentives, technical, marketing and value-chain linking support was extended not only to early entrepreneurs but also the public and private sectors. Lastly, challenge fund awards were introduced to stimulate banking innovations so as to build on improving the accessibility of financing services, for example to help mobile phone financial services.

In order to enjoy these incentives, Dr Atiur stressed that these banks had to provide inclusive and green financing but not just to corporations or SMEs but to MSMEs consisting of farmers and village workers. Participating banks were expected to support community projects that utilised “green” technology such as harnessing solar power. Dr Atiur gave an example of a green knit garment factory that received funding to recycle rainwater from the factory and to install solar panels to provide electricity (Figure 6.1). These changes resulted in a saving of electricity and water while 1,200 workers were able to also work in an air conditioned environment.

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Figure 6.1 First green kit garments factory in Bangladesh from BBCB’s ‘green’ funds

Dr Atiur informed the Forum that one of the main challenges he found in getting banks to invest in MSME green technology, was to convince them that their investments could also generate profits. He won them over by providing sufficient data to show that profits could also be realised from microfinancing to MSMEs. Dr Atiur shared that banks that enjoyed the financing incentives were also required to report the impact of their MSMEs investment. These reports were carefully examined and the banks were ranked according to their performances. The performance and ranking of each bank was published to encourage banks that did poorly to perform better.

BBCB was also involved in efforts towards ensuring sustainable financing for the agricultural sector through MSMEs and “green” initiatives. Four initiatives were introduced. Firstly, BBCB established IT infrastructure to foster cost efficient off-branch

online/mobile phone-based financial service delivery to ensure that financing support was accessible to the people living in rural areas. Secondly, guidelines for environmental risk grading were developed so that the impact of potential “green” projects could be assessed and evaluated. Thirdly, there was a continuous effort to educate consumers about this novel type of financing and to offer assurance of protection. Finally, multiagency support services including entrepreneurial grooming, was provided for borrowers from the agricultural sector and MSME borrowers. Consultative engagements were held regularly with various stakeholders such as those at the grassroot level, the support service providers, as well as BBCB governors &and bank CEOs. In addition, foreign financial bodies such as UK’s Department for International Development (UKDFID), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), World Bank and Asian Development Bank, Injecting Soul Into R&D

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also formed partnerships with BBCB for MSME and green financing.

In closing, Dr Rahman shared some data from an IMF report in 2015 that showed Bangladesh is reaping the benefits of promoting inclusive MSME financing. This initiative is sustaining domestic demand-led output, employment and income growth, with healthy growth buoyancy despite a global growth slowdown, a sure enough success story of how help can reach the bottom billion.

Speaker 2: Mr Mark Rozario Mr Mark Rozario began his presentation by describing the different areas Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) focuses on. For example, AIM promotes innovation by: 1) helping corporations in their product commercialisation, 2) cultivating a thinking culture in young people and 3) facilitating industry-academia collaborations. The key strategy in driving this innovation is the formation of social public-private partnerships (Social PPPs) between the government and the corporate sector. This type of partnership, which is in line with the National Blue Ocean Strategy, focuses on delivering “high impact social services at low cost to the government”.

The motivation for Social PPPs that deliver social services to the community is because the current “supply-driven, top-down approach”, largely driven by government action, is insufficient to solve

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systemic social problems and often results in low impact & high cost. Mr. Rozario commented that changes in the dynamics of society brought on by population growth, increased connectivity, as well as migration and environmental issues, has led to the fact that social services to solve social problems require a fresh perspective and creative new solutions.

The new approach, said Mr. Rozario, is called the “whole-society approach” where the government and corporations form social enterprises, such as Social PPPs to deliver social services to the community.

In this funding model, the government provides outcome-based funding to support innovators who seek new ways to solve social problems and to create value for society. The overall goal is to harness the creativity, passion, skills and experience of social-purpose organisations (SPOs) and reduce the large cost of social protection while also bringing about direct (and indirect) cost savings for remedial action by the government. Under this Social PPPs initiative, a fund of RM1 million has been established with the government and the corporate sector each injecting RM500,000.00 into the initiative (Figure 6.2). The money is to fund projects that can transform society through innovative ideas. Key to the success of Social PPPs is to ensure that both the interest of government and the private sector are aligned and that these SPOs are given the same levers as SMEs. The goal of the Social PPPs is to narrow the societal gap through social financing and by a whole-society approach.

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Figure 6.2 Main players in the social PPP initiative – government-linked agencies and private corporations

Speaker 3: Mr Kristofer Rogers Mr Kristofer Rogers entitled his presentation: “Getting lost in the crowd” and spoke about his company’s crowdfunding website. With his experience, Mr. Rogers outlined the challenges, opportunities and strategies in utilising crowdfunding as a new and innovative way of financing social enterprises. The conventional source of financing for social enterprises has generally been philanthropic donations by wealthy donors, such as technopreneurs and celebrities. An example of this type of funding is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that awards millions of dollars every year to study infectious diseases.

of money. Mr Rogers stressed that the success of raising funds through crowdfunding is built on finding “commonality” among the funders. Quoting Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook who later became the digital campaign manager for Mr. Obama in his 2008 presidential bid, said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s a company or a campaign; you build around commonality. If it’s real people and real communities, then it’s valuable.” Mr. Rogers used this quote to suggest that in order for a project to be successfully crowdfunded, it needed to obtain the support of a community with a common interest in the project. The projects that are crowdfunded are often social enterprises that focus on adding social value and deliver a social impact.

Crowdfunding as a new source of funding is a product of the 21st century technology revolution.

As defined by the UK Crowdfunding Association, crowdfunding is a way of raising finance by asking a large number of people each for a small amount

Crowdfunding has emerged as a source of alternative funding because greater information is now available and it is also readily accessible through the Internet (Figure 6.3). Furthermore, the Internet has allowed individuals to establish

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extensive connections with other people thus helping to build communities of interest. Mr Rogers said that the technology revolution allows users to spread their ideas to a wide audience that can lead to global activation through local participation. He also said that the technology revolution behind crowdfunding creates new opportunities for funding and redefines who an investor might be.

Mr Rogers also went on to compare and contrast the crowdfunding model against the traditional philanthropic model. The former is not based on major gifts by large charities or philanthropists, instead, it is focused on the impact that collective small actions can bring. Also, crowdfunders often view themselves as sponsors of a project rather than as mere donors. The sponsors of a crowdfunding project would likely expect some kind of reward in exchange for support but Mr Rogers did not elaborate on the type of rewards that sponsors expect.

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Mr Rogers concluded his talk by providing four key strategies for crowdfunding: firstly, the person seeking funds should have a clear goal of the project/initiative; secondly, the person should identify the community from which the funds will come; thirdly, it is important that the project that is being funded has social impact and, lastly, there should be some kind of reward for the donor/sponsor.

Dialogue Session at end of Forum 5 Crowdfunding During the Question & Answer session, a question was raised about the accountability of crowdfunding.

Mr. Rogers suggested that sponsors should do a careful “due diligence� before funding a project.

He also suggested that agencies such as the Registrar of Societies (ROS) should set up some kind of mechanisms to verify and validate any social enterprise that is raising funds through crowdfunding.

Figure 6.3 Total number of people living in the most populated countries and the number using social media

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CONCLUDING PANEL SESSION

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CONCLUDING PANEL SESSION Moderator: YM Tengku Datuk Dr Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen Tengku Ibrahim FASc Panellist: 1. Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman FASc 2. Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim 3. Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal 4. Dato’ Norhalim Yunus 5. Madam Hazami Barmada The objective of the concluding panel session was for each of the panellist together with the moderator to weave the threads from all the sessions into a meaningful summary of key messages and actionable thoughts to point the way forward for policy direction, strategic interventions and for appropriate implementation. The panellists also took the opportunity to give their own views on the theme of the Forum.

Underperforming STI System in Malaysia can be solved through Injecting More Soul In opening the Panel Session, the Moderator, YM Tengku Datuk Dr Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen Tengku Ibrahim shared his views on the current STI situation in Malaysia. He opined that Malaysia’s R&D in STI is sadly an underperformer for many reasons. He did not however elaborate on them.

Instead, he felt it was more important to point the way forward, especially the importance of injecting more ‘soul’ into R&D. He reiterated what had been said several times by various presenters over the two-day Forum, that R&D should not be directed only Injecting Soul Into R&D

towards deriving profits or as a catch-up game with big global players. Conversely, if science it is to have more ‘soul’, it must have “a purpose that is higher than itself” and much higher than just the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Science should be to serve and should be applied for the benefit of humankind, society and nature, in order to address the unmet needs of people, especially the marginalised community and the ‘Bottom 40’ or more specifically as referred to in the Forum, the bottom billion.

Apart from that, Tengku Azzman felt that another way to look at ‘soul’ is from the concept of ‘justice’ - justice to mankind as individuals and as a community, and justice in humanity’s treatment of nature and the environment. Humans should not be exploiting nature without thinking of nature’s own needs but should live with nature without exploiting it. He reminded the Forum that over the two-days of presentations it had been often highlighted that there was a need to have a more holistic approach to inject ‘soul’ into R&D. Tengku sees this as execution at three levels – balance, harmonisation and integration.

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Tengku Azzman then presented five questions for the panellists to consider: 1. What was their view of ‘soul’ in R&D? 2. In what ways could more ‘soul’ be injected into R&D? 3. To succeed, who would be the key stakeholders that would have to be engaged?

4. What are policy and strategic interventions that should be in place?

5. How should progress be evaluated and monitored?

Injecting (More) Soul into R&D Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman, set the ball rolling. Tan Sri Omar stated that his Forum presenters did indeed agree that R&D is a serious and demanding endeavour and as such the ‘soul’ was essential to it. R&D demands commitment, focus, dedication, passion, integrity, honesty and sacrifice. It was in fact felt that even MORE ‘soul’ had to be injected into R&D. Furthermore, Tan Sri Omar concurred with Professor Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr) Dzulkifli Abdul Razak’s views expressed in his Keynote Address, namely that conscience was of utmost importance to apply the results of research with good judgment. Tan Sri Omar also agreed with Tengku Azzman that for the ‘soul’ to be operative within R&D, it was necessary to have balance, harmonisation and integration.

Balance is achieved by including the unmet needs of the bottom billion, harmonisation through the merging of the hard and soft sciences and by giving due attention to gender issues and gender empowerment, while integration necessitates the use of joint resources from both the public and private sector. An additional requirement was the need for collaboration, particularly at the international level so as to cater to the unmet needs of the bottom billion.

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R&D “by whom” and ‘why’ Tan Sri Omar also went on to elaborate on who the stakeholders of R&D activities were and why R&D is needed. He categorised the shareholders at three levels, namely, personal, institutional and national. At the personal level, R&D is often conducted for self-enlightenment, discovery and new knowledge, to solve problems, to value-add and as part of entrepreneurialism i.e. to commercialise for monetary gain. Meanwhile, at the institutional level, while similar to the motives at the personal level, it had to be guided also by the institution’s mission or mandate.

At the national level, although in the early days STI was for national development, it is now for socio-economic transformation, i.e. science is for Wellbeing (basic needs and quality of life), Industry (wealth creation, industrial competitiveness) and Governance. It is through Science for wellbeing that the basic needs and quality of life can reach the bottom billion, while Science for wealth creation and governance has a spill-over effect that draws on the ‘soul’ and thus leads on to the bottom billion. Tan Sri Omar mentioned an additional objective namely, STI for Universal Enlightenment pertaining to areas like Deep Space, Deep Ocean, Particle Physics, Origin of Life and others that deal with the age old questions of ‘where do we come from’ and ‘where are we going’. He cautioned that R&D conducted at this level should be left to the “big players” who had unlimited resources and large funding. Developing countries should remain uninvolved, apart from the fact that STI at this level has little to do with solving the needs of bottom billion.

Importance of an effective and efficient STI governance structure Tan Sri Omar then highlighted the role of policy and management as an extension of STI governance, which at the national level must be robust, efficient and fit for its purpose. Only then will international collaborations be possible. As the national STI governance structure needs jurisdiction over all Injecting Soul Into R&D

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sectors Tan Sri Omar advocated the setting up of a National STI Action Council. Its mandate should be firstly, to set the policy and strategic direction for the country; secondly, to address the national STI agenda covering all areas of STI relevant to policy, the private sector, the community, governance and also international collaboration; finally, it also needs to have implementation oversight.

Tan Sri Omar viewed the National STI Council as an umbrella body that oversees all other national STI related bodies. It should be an action council and not just play an advisory role. Tan Sri Omar also drew attention to the importance of the STI Council secretariat. It would require legitimacy, authority and

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the capacity to deal with the national STI agenda across the board. In terms of Malaysia, it would thus need to have jurisdiction over all the different ministries as STI is not only limited to a single ministry. As presented in Figure 7.1, the STI Council needs to be supported by an STI Board also known as the secretariat that should act as the coordinating agency. Its scope and its various tasks are also summarised. Additionally, the implementation agencies have been included comprising of government ministries and agencies, the STI Board, the Private Sector and International Organisations.

Special Purpose Entities should also be added to fill any gaps that may arise.

Figure 7.1 STI Governance Structure

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Tan Sri also advised that for strong political will and buy-in, there should be a Parliamentary Standing Committee on STI to act as the apex for national dialogue regarding any issues related to STI. He also encouraged engagement with social media as an effective pathway to channel public debate on STI and charged ASM with the task of spearheading the whole initiative. Tan Sri Omar was adamant that the proposed STI governance structure should be implemented immediately if Malaysia was to move forward with what has long been a dormant national STI agenda. Otherwise, the country would be still facing the same issues and challenges five years down the road, He reminded the Forum that this was an old issue raised ten years ago and yet nothing had been done about it so far.

He strongly argued that for Malaysia to have an innovation-led economy, the changes need to take place immediately. If the STI governance structure is correct the country could work meaningfully with international collaborators to meet the unmet needs of the bottom billion.

“Injecting Soul into R&D” is like “Soul in a Human Being” Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim’s view was that the ‘soul’ in R&D is similar to the ‘soul’ in a human being. Therefore, as a human being requires a good environment to grow his ‘soul’ and mature into a holistic human being, so too the correct environment/ ecosystem is essential to successfully inject more ‘soul’ into R&D. He advised that instead of looking for far-fetched glamorous technologies, it was important to look for those that are simple and yet capable of impacting one’s daily life. An example he gave was the fact that drinking water comes directly from the tap today. This he pointed out was possible due to the adoption of many different technologies, such as nano-filtration, remote sensing and etc. To foster more of such useful outcomes for the benefit of a wider community, the government has established technology transfer programmes with selected international collaborators to build the required capacities and supply networks within Malaysia.

Several government agencies have been tasked to oversee this effort. Their role is also to identify the

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key talents and expertise and to pool knowledge and expertise within MOSTI’s nine identified priority areas. However he also saw several challenges.

Issues in Implementation Dr Zulkifli explained that during a recent visit to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, established in 1997 he was made starkly aware that although Malaysia’s Aerospace Research Institute was established around the same time (in 1996), a vast technology divide now exists between the two countries. Over the intervening 10-year period, Korea has reached the forefront of such research whereas Malaysia is far behind. He attributed the failure to issues with implementation of policies and strategies for STI although these were put in place early enough. Dr Zulkifli’s thoughts therefore concurred with those expressed by Tan Sri Omar regarding the National STI Council, but he would like it to be independent of political influence.

Involvement of Community to Help Develop STI Policy and Strategy Dr Zulkifli also drew the attention of the Forum to the fact that MOSTI plays a crucial role in developing the direction of STI for the nation. During the forum session he moderated on “Co-producing Valuebased Solutions”, the speakers felt strongly that the ideal persons to assist the government in developing the direction of STI policy and strategy are the stakeholders and the community that stand to gain from the R&D. In the 11th Malaysia Plan, MOSTI is set to focus on this area and has allocated some budget to help solve community-based problems by directly engaging targeted communities. For example, a fish-sensing technology developed by the Remote Sensing Agency has been adopted

by MOSTI as part of a social innovation outreach programme for communities who derive their livelihood from fishing. Dr Zulkifli also touched on the importance of follow-through on output which he appropriately referred to as “putting finishing touches to all endeavours”. For example, there are hundreds Injecting Soul Into R&D

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of patented products and services but only a few have been commercialised. Therefore, there is a need for finishing touches to elevate these products from the patent stage to the commercialisation stage.

Collaborative Economies and Technology Sharing- Importance of Educating from Young The next panellist, Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, highlighted that presenters in his session stressed the importance of collaborative economies to ensure the current global scenario changes from the pattern of the rich getting richer and the poor even poorer.

Two other important points raised were the necessity for early education of the young in ethics, good and sound values and conscience and secondly the need and joy of sharing. Only then will future generations grasp the concept of technology sharing.

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such as biogas production from palm oil as the electricity generated could then be supplied free of charge to deserving resource-poor communities.

Motivating Young Researchers Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee also highlighted the panellist’ view on the importance of motivating young researchers and giving them due recognition since this is critical to driving the R&D agenda. A suitable channel should also be created so that prominent scientists could engage with young researchers to motivate and inspire them. The present R&D scenario gives little recognition to the commitment and sacrifice by young researchers. More meaningful proactive action would ensure better output into the market.

Soul among Researchers Technology Sharing The speaker Ms Gigi Wang shared on the concept of an end-to-end ecosystem to ensure success in technology sharing while Mr. Vishnu reverted attention once again to the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid stressing that the bottom billion can also contribute and be part of the community that provides the solution instead of just being at the receiving end. This would enable a viable two-way movement. He predicted that technology sharing would impact the whole world in the future. Dr Viraj also concurred with this view and reminded the Forum that some companies were already practicing technology sharing (e.g. open access). He also supported Intellectual Property (IP) transfer for the purpose of assisting the needs of the bottom billion and mooted the idea of creating a technology sharing platform as an output of the forum to move the STI industry and assist the bottom billion. Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee supported these thoughts and suggested that it should be adopted in programmes

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Dato’ Norhalim Yunus, lamented that much of the Forum discussion had centred on the ‘soul’ in scientists. Yet he drew attention to the fact that the Quadruple Helix has other important stakeholders whose responsibility it is to drive innovation and inject ‘soul’ into science and R&D efforts. These stakeholders include the public and private sectors, the government and universities. But for it to really work the maxim to do good science for the good of humankind should be embraced wholeheartedly in the first place by leaders in each of these sectors.

In the triple helix model, there are three main players, the government, industry and university.

In developing countries however, the role of driving R&D is very much driven by the government followed by the universities but the role played by industry is minimal. In the Quadruple Helix model, a fourth party, the public plays an important role. To address the issues and challenges of injecting ‘soul’ into R&D, the concept of doing good has to be in the DNA of all four stakeholders.

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No Clear Definition of Outcomes for Successful R&D The current definition of a successful R&D project has been narrowed down to primarily financial numbers, (i.e. a return on investment as measured by the money earned from a given investment, a wide deviation from the original focus which was a quest for new knowledge). This affects how R&D is carried out. There needs to be strategic intervention and a new definition of outcomes.

At the management level of government, there needs to be clear consensus on the desired outcomes from R&D funding. There should be a mutual agreement on a set of desired outcomes that is understood by all parties involved in the Quadruple Helix and it has to be ranked according to what is needed by a developing nation and not what developed countries look for (e.g. the ranking of universities). For developing countries the struggles of the bottom billion are much more pressing. Hence, there needs to be another set of desired outcomes which are ranked based on the needs of citizens.

Such discussions have to take place and should be discussed among the stakeholders of the Quadruple Helix until consensus is reached.

Transfer of Technology Subsequently, there has to be a proper STI agenda complete with appropriate matrices, definitions and action plans to help achieve it. Instead of commercialisation, the transfer of technology should be given more importance. In Malaysia the latter is even done ‘pro bono’, for example by the Rubber Research Institute and the Oil Palm Research Institute. Recently, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) was also able to transfer its technology for exploiting rubber wood through licensing to the industry and thus helped to create a ten million dollar industry.

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Need for “Out-of-the-box” approach Addressing the recent cut in research grants to universities, researchers were advised to think more innovatively for example by looking to forge collaborative partnerships within a university, between universities and among various interest groups and stakeholders in the Quadruple Helix.

A recent development has been for citizens themselves to get research funding through crowd-sourcing platforms, such as Indiegogo. This development bypasses the university system where, traditionally, both management and researchers still wait for people to fund their project. Researchers today need to think outside the box.

Understanding ‘Soul’ Madam Hazami Barmada presented her ideas on the way forward. She opined that not only is it important to have more injection of ‘soul’ into R&D but it was also imperative to inject more science into the way business is carried out in the entrepreneurial and technology world. Her definition of ‘soul’ involves a deconstruction of the current social construct and to build it up again in a way that removes the concept of the Bottom Billion to ensure everyone is treated equally.

Importance of Innovation Madam Barmada went on to also expound on the importance of innovation. She said it plays a big role because it could create solutions in seemingly impossible situations. Innovation determines how one approaches problems, issues and challenges and develops solutions to overcome them. But the biggest problem was how to translate this into action.

She then quoted Einstein’s definition of insanity which is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, thus supporting the necessity for innovation within institutions, governments and etc. and also for its proper translation into action.

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Solving Problems of Today with Foresight for Tomorrow’s Changes Madam Barmada expressed the need to learn from the past in order to design for the future and to impact on the present. While a futuristic view was relevant she felt that solutions for the here and now were more pertinent. Rapid solutions were required to solve the problems of the bottom billion today but for this to take place there was a need to create the correct structural changes so that the same problems would not persist in the future. Another issue raised was that the purpose of conducting research should be verified among stakeholders.

A good Needs Assessment could provide valuable information on the purpose of conducting R&D as well as on how it is being leveraged and used and whether it is accessible to all.

Citizen Engagement for Active Partnerships – Importance of the Role of Government Madam Barmada concurred that research and science needs to have a stronger interlink with the people expected to be the beneficiaries.

There was a need to empower citizens to take ownership. It was felt that the government is in the best position to help in this matter. It can establish platforms for innovators to be recognised for their innovations, create policies for innovation and create mechanisms to give more visibility in global markets to locally designed and developed innovations.

Furthermore, the government can invest in the development of entrepreneurs and their products, participate in international fora and provide ways to create accelerators to connect Malaysian innovators to global players. This will allow them to have access and exposure to mentors, industries, ideas, experience and innovation. It requires an innovative thought process if business leaders, partners and industries are to create this space. In the long term their reward will be a workforce that can service the industry more creatively.

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Governments have an extremely large facilitation and convening power that cuts across sectors and industries and it would be important to create mechanisms that allow knowledge transfer between sectors. The government is able to bring together representatives from various sectors to work on a single issue similar to the concept of hackathon. Furthermore, to encourage innovators and entrepreneurs, it is important to create a measurement matrix to also help assess any social impact – so far this has been a challenge for the R&D community. Such a highly relevant project should receive support, as it would help to create a scale that can be used across sectors and among collaborators. Entrepreneurs should also be drawn in to leverage their knowledge to support and even help define policy. It is they who can create a viable platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration to address the issues of the Bottom Billion.

At the end of the Panel Session, Tengku Azzman as the Panel Moderator summarised thoughts expressed by the panellist during the session. These are presented below as the final thoughts from the Panel Session: 1. R&D with more ‘soul’ is serious R&D. 2. If one wants to be serious, one needs the proper STI governance structure, as proposed by Tan Sri Omar, namely the National STI Council, which some panellist felt should be free from political influence.

3. The ‘soul’ is a scientific enterprise and to enable it to grow, there needs to be in place structures that nurture this growth.

4. The ‘soul’ is operative when one does good science. Hence, it is important to support good science with proper outcomes.

5. An overemphasis on KPIs should be reviewed and substituted with a sincere consideration also for intangible outcomes and the development of proper methodologies to measure them.

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6. To have more ‘soul’, there was a need to have more science and to consider the bottom billion as part of one big global community with common platforms not only for innovation but also for social interaction.

7. Sharing has many dimensions and there is a need to create more technology sharing platforms through open source technology and crowd sourcing to obtain more input from the masses.

8. Due recognition and respect should be given to the nation’s researchers, which is sadly lacking in the country.

9. Social media is a facile application in Malaysia; there is an urgent need to see where it is heading since although Malaysia is a high user of technology, such as Facebook, its people were not using it productively.

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THE WAY FORWARD

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THE WAY FORWARD

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There is a need for mindset change at all levels of the Quadruple Helix (Government, Academia, Industry & Community).

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The “child in the mirror” concept is the stage when the foundation is laid; therefore there is a need to inculcate elements of social responsibility and a caring society from pre-school to tertiary education. This will result in a balanced, holistic entrepreneurial human being who is knowledgeable and of sound character.

Role models such as social philanthropists (e.g. Jonas Salk, Bill Gates etc.) are essential to be a beacon to lead the way to galvanise research that addresses the needs of humanity.

There is an eminent need to have champions at all levels of the Quadruple Helix to forge the agenda for soul-based R&D.

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Helping the bottom billion is an opportunity for niche excellence.

In this context, the bottom billion should not be seen as mere beneficiaries but “customers” or “partners” and researchers should work with the community to realise value creation for them.

In order to be able to provide solutions for those who need it most, the entire ecosystem must work together. Hence, this Forum calls for a paradigm shift in mindset and a collaborative framework for enabling mechanisms towards realising values-based solutions for the bottom billion.

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A proper governance structure for R&D such as the National STI Council is of paramount importance in order for STI to drive the agenda of the bottom billion.

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SPEAKERS’ PROFILE KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dzulkifli Abdul Razak FASc is currently the 14th President of the International Association of Universities (IAU); a UNESCO-affiliated organisation, based in Paris.

Professor Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr) Dzulkifli Abdul Razak FASc Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)

Presently, he is an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham; and holds the Chair of Islamic Leadership at Islamic Science University (USIM) in Malaysia. He also chairs the Steering Council of the Right Livelihood College Global Secretariat based in the University of Bonn, Germany. Recently, he had been appointed as a select member to the 2015 Hamburg Transuniversity Leaders Council, a think tank of the future of higher education. He was also made a member of the Global Leadership Initiative at the School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan. His other involvements internationally include being a member of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) – Advisory Education Hub Committee since 2007, and a member of the Executive Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2006-2011).

He has served as the 5th Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), from 2000 to 2011, and as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Policy and Management since 1995 until 2010,as well as the WHO Scientific Committee of Tobacco Product Regulation (2004-2006). Apart from that, Tan Sri is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), the World Academy of Art and Sciences (FWAAS) and the Malaysian Institute of Malaysia (FMIM). He is also an Honorary Lifetime member of Asian Academy of Management. He is also an avid writer.

To illustrate, he is a weekly columnist for Malaysia’s oldest daily in Malaysia, The New Straits Times, since 1995; and more recently The Sun, an English daily with the largest circulation.

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Forum 1: Finding the Soul in R&D

Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Omar Abdul Rahman graduated with a Bachelor in Veterinary Science from University of Sydney, Australia (1958), and obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK (1966). He started his professional career in 1960 in veterinary research, and then in 1972, was appointed as the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences in the then Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM), now Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Moderator: Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman FASc Senior Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)

He was the first professor to be appointed by the University. His last position in UPM was Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic. He was later appointed as Science Adviser in the Prime Minister’s Department in 1984, the first person to hold that position, and served until his retirement in 2001. As Science Adviser, he served on a number of national committees including the National Development Planning Committee, National Council for Scientific Research & Development, National Information Technology Council and the National Telecommunication Council. He played a major role in the establishment of the following organisations: • MTDC - Malaysian Technology Development Corporation • MIGHT - Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology • MIMOS - Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics System • CTRM - Composites Technology (Research) Malaysia Sdn Bhd • NSC - National Science Centre • ASM - Academy of Sciences Malaysia

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• MINDS - Malaysian Invention and Design Society • Kumpulan Modal Perdana Sdn Bhd. Internationally, he had served on the United Nation’s Advisory Council for Science and Technology for Development (UNACSTD) and on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Standing Committee on Science & Technology Cooperation (COMSTEC). He is the founding and current chairman of the London-based Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management (CPTM) Ltd. Tan Sri Omar is also the founding fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS), a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), an Honorary Fellow of the National Academy of Science of the Kyrghyz Republic, and the Founding President and Senior Fellow of the ASM. He holds Honorary Doctorates from five overseas universities (Stirling, Melbourne, Guelph, Bristol and Queensland), and three Malaysian universities (UTM, UKM, UPM). He was also bestowed the ASEAN Achievement Award (Science) in 1993, the Fook Ying Tung South East Asia Prize in 1998 and the Tun Abdul Razak Award (International Category) in 2000. In 2010, Tan Sri Omar also received the “Tokoh Akademik Negara” award. Apart from that, he is the author of the book “The Essentials of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy”, published jointly by ASM, MIGHT, CPTM and ISTIC in 2013.

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Sir Simon Fraser Campbell, CBE, FRS, FMedSci Sir Simon Fraser Campbell is as synthetic organic chemist who received his PhD from the University of Birmingham in 1965, followed by postdoctoral appointments in Chile and Stanford. From 1969 to 1972, he was a Visiting Professor at the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil, and then returned to the UK to join the Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich. Sir Campbell retired from Pfizer in 1998 as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Discovery and Medicinals R&D Europe. He has co-authored over 120 publications and patents, and was a key member of the research teams that discovered CarduraTM, NorvascTM, and Viagra TM. Sir Campbell’s scientific contributions have been recognised by the RSC Award for Medicinal Chemistry (1989), the Herschberg Award from the American Chemical Society (1997), the Industrial Research Institute (US) Achievement Award (1997), the CIA Individual Achievement Award (2006), Galen Medal (2007) and the Sir James Black Award for Drug Discovery (2012).

He was elected FRS (1999), FMedSci (2002) and was appointed CBE in 2006 for “Services to Science” followed by a knighthood in 2015 for “Services to Chemistry”. Sir Campbell was named at number 31 in the Times Eureka list of 100 top UK scientists for 2010, and was included in the Science Council list of the UK’s 100 practising scientists vin 2014.

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Currently, Sir Campbell is a member of the SABs of Astex (Cambridge), Bionomics (Adelaide) Calibr (San Diego) CTx (Melbourne) Ensemble (Boston), H3-D (Cape Town), MRCT (London) and the TB Alliance (Seattle). He acts as consultant to Abingworth Management, Apposite Capital, CRUK, DNDi, MMV Novo Seeds and the Wellcome Trust, and has worked with CNPq/FAPESP in Brazil. He is a past President of the RSC and has served on the RS Council, and was the first chair of the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee for the Medicines for Malaria Venture.

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Professor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman FASc, ASM Fellow and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya Professor Adeeba graduated from Monash University in 1987. She trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Monash Medical Centre and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She is presently the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya.

In 2007, Professor Adeeba established the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya to develop and enhance HIV/ AIDS research activities in Malaysia. CERiA’s research efforts focus on the key affected and marginalised populations and transcend clinical, translational as well as public health research. She has also used her clinical and academic leadership to successfully engage in the national and community response to HIV/AIDS; to advocate for the adoption of harm reduction measures in handling the HIV issue amongst syringe drug-users and other key affected population in Malaysia.

Currently, Professor Adeeba is the Co-Chair of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV, an Executive Committee Member of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, as well as Governing Council Member of the International AIDS Society. She was recently appointed as a member of The Lancet Commission on Drugs and Health. Overall, she has played a key role in the establishment and ongoing activities and collaborations of a regional HIV research network initiative - TREAT Asia. At present, she is an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University, as well as Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University, USA. Her achievements have been recognised through several national and international awards. For her role as a member of the University of Malaya’s Nipah Investigative Team she received the Tun Mahathir Science and the Merdeka Awards in 2007 & 2008 respectively. She was honoured at the Advance Australia Awards as the first recipient of the Advance Global Award in the category of Alumni in 2012 and received the Australian Education Achievement Award in the same year. She was recently named as one of the Top 20 most influential Muslim women scientists by Muslim-Science.Com and has been featured in both The Lancet and Science. In April of this year she was honoured with a Doctor of Laws honoris causa from her alma mater, Monash University.

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Professor Dato’ Dr Rashidah Shuib , Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA), University of Science Malaysia Professor Dato’ Dr Rashidah Shuib, a Fulbright-Hays scholar, graduated with a PhD from the Michigan State University, USA. She is currently a Professor at the Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA), Universiti Sains Malaysia, where she was the Director from 2005-2012.

Her interests comprise of issues on intersections of gender, health and development issues. Professor Rashidah has led several international and national research projects on subjects such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, marriage and migration, domestic violence, microcredit and empowerment, gender and development. She was made the Principal Investigator for the first national prevalence study on women’s well-being and domestic violence against women using the WHO multi-country questionnaire; generating a much needed baseline data on VAW in the country.

At the international level, Professor Rashidah is a founding council member of the Association of Asian Women Studies (AAWS), the editorial committee of the Asian Journal of Women Studies (AJWS), the Advisory Committee and faculty of the Ewha Global Empowerment Programme (EGEP) and the KoreanASEAN Cooperation Project (KACP) of Ewha Womans University, Seoul.

Professor Rashidah was a member of the Gender Advisory Panel (GAP) of the Department of Reproductive Health, WHO, Geneva (2001-2007). From 19951999, she was a member of the International Women’s Advisory Panel of the IPPF, London.

Currently, Dr Rashidah is a Board member of the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), a regional NGO. She had conducted capacity-building workshops in gender and health for the Ministry of Health Malaysia, the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women and the Institute for Health Sciences, Kunming Medical College, China. She considers herself as an academic activist.

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Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail FASc, Vice President of ASM & Director General of Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail FASc is currently the first woman appointed as the Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Malaysia.

She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, USA with a distinction in biology. She received her MA in Microbiology from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA and obtained her PhD in the field of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, USA in 1986. Her areas of expertise include Medical Microbiology, Clinical Microbiology and Medical Biotechnology.

Her career began as a lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1986. She was a visiting scientist at University of Tokyo in 1989 and a visiting fellow at the Medical College, St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London in 1992.

She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and served as the Deputy Dean of Administration in 1994. She was promoted to Professor in 2000 and became the Deputy Dean of Research in the same year.

In 2001, she became the Director for the Centre for Medical Innovations and Technology Development, USM. In 2003, she was appointed as the Founding Director, Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), the first multi-disciplinary cluster based research institute for Universiti Sains Malaysia.

In May, 2008 she became the first woman in USM to hold the post of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation). In December 2012, she became the first woman to hold the Vice-Chancellor’s post at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and the fifth woman to be appointed as Vice-Chancellor of a public university.

Professor Asma’s research interest is in the scientific discovery of biomarkers and the development of rapid diagnostics for infectious diseases especially for typhoid and paratyphoid fever. She is especially interested in the development of technology platforms for diagnostics in low resource settings. Her efforts in this area was given due recognition when she was conferred the Honorary Doctor of Science from University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in June 2013. The Indiana University, Bloomington, USA has also honoured her work in development of rapid diagnostics for typhoid by conferring her the Indiana University’s Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion for her contributions in medical diagnostics which shall be awarded on 23rd May of 2015 at the university’s Asia Pacific Alumni Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

She is among the country’s research leaders. She is actively involved in research having attained more than RM19 million (USD 5.6 million) worth of grants within the last 5 years, presented 340 papers and received more than 184 invitations as a plenary or keynote speaker at national and international levels to share her scientific findings and experience in the commercialisation of R&D products.

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Her R&D achievements and research impact at national and international levels have led to more than 132 scientific publications, 30 patents filed world wide of which 13 have been granted, and received more than 162 awards and recognitions at national and international levels. The prestigious awards received include the National Young Scientist Award in 1991, Malaysian Toray Science and Technology Award for outstanding contribution in science in 2002, National Inventor Award in 2003, National Innovation Award, 2006 and the National Academic Award for Product and Commercialization in 2007. She was conferred as Top Research Scientist Malaysia in 2012 by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.

For her significant contribution in science, she was made a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in 2003 and served as its council member from 2007-2011. In 2010, she was made a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). In 2012, she became the first woman elected as the Vice President for Academy of Sciences Malaysia for a period of four years. Based on her expertise, she served as the WHO temporary Advisor for vaccine and diarrheal diseases since 2002.

At the National level, she is the founding chairperson for the establishment and implementation of the National Academic Award (Anugerah Akademik Negara), a job that she maintained for seven years to ensure the successful set up, branding and positioning of the award. She was also entrusted to chair the Implementation of Innovative Human Capital for the Ministry of Higher Education that developed action plans for to develop innovative talent from cradle to career. She also chairs the Cluster Development Committee for the Nobel Laureate grants in Physiology or Medicine under the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (medicine) for the Ministry of Higher Education. She is a committee member for the Establishment of Research Universities in Malaysia and is also a member of the Assessment Committee for Research Universities by the Ministry of Higher Education that led to the landmark establishment of Research universities in Malaysia. She also serves as the chair for the development and direction of R&D towards implementation of the national Strategic Planning for Higher Education. She also helped determine the direction in Biotechnology by being a member of the Cluster Working group on Healthcare biotechnology, Member of the Penang Biotech, Pharma and Neutraceutical Advisory panel for Invest Penang and member for the National Strategic Planning and Advisory for Biotechnology, Ministry of Higher Education.

Professor Asma played a key role as she co-helmed the development of the landmark Malaysian Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 20132025. She is one of the authors as well as Deputy to the blueprint project taskforce. She is also responsible for making strategic decisions on policy directions, coordinating the blueprint development process, manage key resources of input, engaging a broad range of stakeholders and is one of the two people who has to sign-off the document. She is currently overseeing the implementation of the Blueprint, including the soon to be launched University Transformation Programme.

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As a researcher, Professor Asma is passionate about the idea of developing indigenous health technologies and innovations that can generate wealth for the country and improve the quality of life of society at large. She is committed to the development of rapid and affordable diagnostics for infectious diseases as a means for ensuring availability and accessibility to quality healthcare, especially for the people from the underdeveloped countries. To drive this passion, she specialises in the area of proteomics and its application in the rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, especially typhoid fever. Her studies on specific biomarkers led to the discovery of an antigenically specific 50kDa of Salmonella Typhi. Professor Asma is one of the scientists credited with the translation of the scientific discovery into four rapid diagnostic kits for typhoid that have been successfully commercialised globally to more than 18 countries since 1994.The commercialisation of TYPHIDOT, a rapid diagnostic test to diagnose for acute typhoid, has generated sales, publications, improved the quality of healthcare especially among the poor. It has also generated more than 500 jobs worldwide and supported growth of the local industries in Malaysia. Through her partnership with the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, she has helped to create a start-up biotech company pioneering in Bio-diagnostics for the country. TYPHIDOT became the flagship product of the company which generated at least RM16 million in gross sales and helped to diagnose more than 2 million cases.

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Forum 2: Leveraging Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Moderator: Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur Secretary General of Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) Malaysia

Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nor spearheads the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) as the ministry’s Secretary-General.

She has more than 30 years’ experience in the public sector which spans across different key Ministries, including the Ministry of Women, Family and Community, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information, and the National Institute of Public Administration Malaysia (INTAN). In the international arena, being an expert who specialises in the fields of development administration and economics, she served as the Senior Advisor in the Southeast Asia Group, for the World Bank in Washington D.C. during the period of 2006-2008. She obtained her PhD in Political Sciences, with a specialisation in the effects of privatisation in Malaysia. She was also a recipient of the Goldman Sachs Visiting Research Fellowship, in undertaking her postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford.

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Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, writer, TV producer and women’s rights and HIV/AIDS advocate Marina Mahathir is a writer, women’s rights and HIV/AIDS activist and TV producer. She served as the President of the Malaysian AIDS Council for 12 years from 1993-2005. In addition, Marina has served on many regional and international HIV/AIDS bodies including the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), UNAIDS and the Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV and Development (APLF). Currently, she is a member of the Board of Sisters in Islam, which advocates for justice and equality for Muslim women.

Marina also writes a fortnightly column on social issues in a local Englishlanguage daily as well as online, and writes and speaks regularly on women’s issues particularly where it relates to Islam, gender and HIV/AIDS. Between 2001 and 2009, she was Co-Executive Producer of an award-winning TV programme for young women, 3R-Respect, Relax and Respond. She is also an avid blogger with her own blog, www.rantingsbymm.blogspot.com, an active Twitterer (@netraKL) and Facebooker.

In 2010, Marina was named the UN Person of the Year by the United Nations in Malaysia. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day in 2011, Marina was one of only two Malaysian women named to WomenDeliver.org’s list of 100 Most Inspiring People Delivering for Girls and Women (http://www.womendeliver.org/knowledgecenter/publications/womendeliver-100/).

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Hazami Barmada, Founder of Barmada Consulting, Washington DC

Hazami Barmada is social entrepreneur and public affairs professional. She is currently a communications consultant with the Office of the SecretaryGenerals’ Envoy on Youth at the United Nations.

Hazami is the owner and principal of The Barmada Group (Barmada Consulting), LLC, a firm based in Washington DC that works with business and organizations on developing strategies for management, development, partnerships, programming, public relations and communications. Since 2006, Barmada has built a diverse portfolio of clients that range across industries, sectors and size both nationally and internationally, including United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Royal Court of Oman, TechGirls, The Washington Diplomat, DirecTV, CARE USA, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Object Design and Communications (www.barmadaconsulting. com).

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Hazami serves as an advisor and strategist for many social and philanthropic initiatives including innovative campaigns to humanise the plight of children, women and youth globally. She curates global digital-diplomacy events on social good, recently organising MENA+SocialGood, a virtual summit on Arab development supported by more than 75 corporations, which include Cisco, United Nations Foundation & UNDP; reaching to 27.53million online users in 53 countries (www.menasocialgood.com). Hazami is the Founder of Al-Mubadarah: the Institute for Arab Development (www.almubadarah. org), an international NGO that focuses on knowledge transfer, capacity building and social development in the Middle East and North Africa. She is also the Founder of Nexus Middle East on innovative philanthropy and social entrepreneurship.

Apart from that, she’s a frequent international public speaker of CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera. She is also a Citizen Diplomat with the US State Department; traveling internationally to host trainings on entrepreneurship and community development.

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Kal Joffres, Co-founder and Director of Tandemic

Kal Joffres is a serial entrepreneur and social innovator with a focus on leveraging design thinking and technology to solve tough social challenges.

He the co-founder of Tandemic, Malaysia’s leading social innovation firm.

At Tandemic, Kal leads the design for social innovation practice, where he helps organisations design innovative products and services to solve tough social challenges ranging from diabetes prevention to financial literacy and volunteering. Partners and clients include Novo Nordisk, UNDP, Standard Chartered, and UNICEF. In addition, he is also the key architect behind “makeweekend.com” - the largest human-centred design programme in the Southeast Asia region. Furthermore, he is the author of a variety of tools enabling social innovators, including the Design Thinking Toolkit and the Social Business Model Canvas, which is used in 22 countries.

Kal also writes on social enterprise, social innovation, and addressing systemic challenges in the social sector. He work has been published in The Edge, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and he even writes in his own blog: http://kal.joffres.com/. His mark on social innovation is also evident through his monthly radio show on social innovation through the BFM radio channel.

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Forum 3: Co-Producing Values-Based Solutions

Dr Zulkifli is Deputy Secretary General (Science) of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). He began his career as a Research Officer in Radioisotope Production Unit, Medical Technology Department and then become Head of Unit before pursuing his doctorate at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST), United Kingdom in 1997. He has received several awards and recognitions from Malaysian Nuclear Agency. One of it is Perkhidmatan Terpuji Peringkat Agensi Nuklear Malaysia for two consecutive years in 2011 and 2012. He often serves as an invited speaker for STI lectures and programmes.

Moderator: Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim Deputy Secretary General (Science) of Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI)

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Dr Zulkifli had a continuous contribution and involvement in radioisotope research where he has involved in many R&D related to radiopharmaceutical component and radioisotope with local and international research institutes.

His recent involvement was as Project Leader for the Penyelidikan dan Pembangunan Kemudahan 30 Mev Cyclotron untuk Pengeluaran PET Radiofarmaseutikal.

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Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Founder of Malaysian Medical Relief Society (MERCY) Malaysia Dr Jemilah Mahmood is the Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit Secretariat, and has more than 15 years of experience working in disaster affected countries. She was the Chief of Humanitarian Response at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in New York from 2009-2011. Then, from 2011-2013, she was concurrently a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Humanitarian Futures Programme at King’s Policy Institute, King’s College London, and worked in private sector and military roles for disasters as well as engagement with ‘new’ humanitarian actors.

Dr Jemilah is a medical physician and the founder of MERCY Malaysia, one of the most successful humanitarian organisations from the global south, which she led for a decade. She also co-founded the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network in 2004. For her work in humanitarian and peace building, she has been conferred numerous national and international awards including the inaugural Isa Award for Services to Humanity from the Kingdom of Bahrain for her contribution in humanitarian, development, disaster risk reduction, education and poverty alleviation in 2013, the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Award from Morehouse College USA for her work in peacebuilding and community development in 2006, and was the recipient of the first East Asian Women’s Award for Peace from Philippines in 2004.

She has also worked closely with regional organisations, particularly ASEAN. She has been an active member of several humanitarian international boards which include the “Save the Children”, UK; International Council for Voluntary Agencies; “Humanitarian Accountability Partnership”, in Geneva; DARA, in Spain; and “Doctors of the World”, USA. In the UK, she chaired the Humanitarian Innovation Fund Grants Panel and is a member of the council of the Overseas Development Institute.

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Jean-Michel Piedagnel, Medecins Sans Frontieres

Jean-Michel’s career started in France 28 years ago, working for the world’s largest sailing boat manufacturer in sales, marketing and as export manager.

That followed his graduation from the ESCE, an international business school in Paris. In 1995, he joined Medecins Sans Frontieres to manage some of their most challenging relief projects in DRC/Goma, Burundi, Nigeria, Kosovo, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Angola and Pakistan. After working in the headquarters in Paris, he moved to London as the Executive Director for seven years and oversaw a period of unprecedented growth and enhanced reputation for MSF in the UK. Under his leadership, MSF UK was voted to be the most Admired British Charity in 2004 and 2005.

The year 2008 was the end of his “executive career” in MSF. He moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he still lives, and works as a consultant for the non-profit sector. In 2009, he joined the board of Trustees of MSF HK and in 2013 he was elected to the International Board of MSF, which is the highest international governing platform of MSF.

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David Wood, Principal of Delta Wisdom

David Wood, DSc, was one of the pioneers of the smartphone industry, and is now a renowned futurist commentator and ecosystem catalyst. David spent 25 years envisioning, architecting, designing, implementing, and avidly using smart mobile devices. He co-founded Symbian, the creator of the world’s first successful smartphone operating system, and served on the leadership teams of Psion Software and Symbian from 1996-2009. At different times, his executive responsibilities included software development, technical consulting, developer evangelism, partnering and ecosystem management, as well as research and innovation. His software for UI frameworks and application architecture has been included on 500 million smartphones from companies such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Sharp, Fujitsu, and Samsung.

From 2010-2013, David was Technology Planning Lead (CTO) of Accenture Mobility. He also co-led Accenture’s “Mobility Health” business initiative. He now acts as an independent futurist, consultant and writer at Delta Wisdom.

As chair of London Futurists, David has organised regular meetings in London since March 2008 on futurist and ‘technoprogressive’ topics. Membership of London Futurists now exceeds 3,500.

David was lead editor of the volume “Anticipating 2025: A guide to the radical changes that may lie ahead, whether or not we’re ready”, published in June 2014. His own book, “Smartphones and beyond: lessons Injecting Soul Into R&D

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from the remarkable rise and fall of Symbian”, was published in September 2014, and has been described as “One of the most candid and revealing books a technology executive has ever written”.

David has a triple first class mathematics degree from Cambridge, and undertook doctoral research in the Philosophy of Science. In 2009 he was included in T3’s list of “100 most influential people in technology”. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in London since 2005, and a Fellow of the IEET (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies) since January 2015.

Forum 4: Technology Sharing

Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal is the Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp), the lead development agency for the biotechnology industry in Malaysia. He is also the Chairman of Malaysian BioXCell, a dedicated biotechnology park and ecosystem hub being developed in the southern state of Johor, Malaysia.

Moderator: Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal Chief Executive Officer of Biotechnology Corporation Malaysia

With more than 25 years of experience in diverse portfolios in the biotechnology industry, Dato’ Nazlee brings strong acumen in both technical and business aspects of biotechnology to BiotechCorp. Recognised for his industry-wide leadership and vast experience in biotechnology, Dato’ Nazlee played a pivotal role in the formulation of Malaysia’s National Biotechnology Policy and the implementation of the Malaysia’s Bioeconomy Transformation Programme (BTP).

Prior to joining BiotechCorp, he was the CEO of Inno Biologics Sdn Bhd and the Group Managing Director of Inno Bio Ventures Sdn Bhd. The main areas of focus for Inno Bio Group of Companies are biopharmaceutical manufacturing and cell-based diagnostics.

Previous to Inno Bio Group of Companies, Dato’ Nazlee has a wealth of experience encompassing marketing and technical portfolios with multinational companies such as Amersham Biosciences, Sartorius and BBraun. Dato’ Nazlee served 10 years of tenure as a Lecturer at the University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) where he developed the Bioprocess Engineering Program.

His innovation, the “External Spinfilter”, is being marketed by Sartorius BBI Systems (Patent No. PI9701436MY-11798-A).

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Dato’ Nazlee is an active member of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Malaysian Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Society, and Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Dato’ Nazlee obtained his PhD. in Chemical Engineering (Bioprocess) from the University of Queensland, Australia and he holds a Master in Application Science

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Vishnu Swaminathan, Director of Ashoka India

Vishnu is presently the Country Representative for Ashoka Innovators for the Public in India. Ashoka is a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs; men and women with system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, Ashoka has elected 3,000 social entrepreneurs as Fellows — more than any other organisation in the world; providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 70 countries. Within ten years of election, 93% of Fellows’ original ideas have been replicated by other organisations.

Vishnu leads Ashoka India’s efforts to create an “Everyone a Changemaker” world — one where each person has the skills, drive, and resources to push forward solutions to pressing social and environmental problems, and each organisation works to maximise the changemaking potential of its members. Vishnu also heads the “Housing for All” programme at Ashoka in India; which is working on increasing the supply of affordable housing for low income communities in India on market based models. The programme has reached six cities, catalysing around 10,000 homes in a short period of two years. Vishnu is also recognised as a global expert in the area of market driven approaches to create new markets for the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) customers.

Before Ashoka, Vishnu co-founded and led two companies working on Financial transactions and Animation technology in Singapore for 8 years. After one of the companies was acquired he moved to India to head a leadership school for three years, where he led the school’s social effort by creating an independent Centre for Social Development and Governance. He started his career as a 3D and Film Special effects artist. He holds a couple of patents from his ventures and has worked on a wide range of hybrid business models, technologies, innovations, communities and geographies. He lives with his family in Bangalore, India and enjoys photography.

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Gigi Wang, Chair Emeritus of the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab

Gigi Wang is a Board Member & Chair Emeritus of VLAB (MIT Enterprise Forum/Stanford Venture Lab), and on the advisories board of USMarketAccess, Mobility Ventures, and iGlobe Ventures. She is also the Managing Partner at MG-Team, where she runs a consulting firm which provides entrepreneurship/innovation training, along with international business development services across US, Europe and Asia. Gigi’s clients have included Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Lithuania, SRI International (innovation facilitator), Verizon Wireless, Lagardere (2nd largest media company in Europe), and HappyFarm (incubator in Ukraine). She has coached and mentored dozens of start-ups from around the world.

Before starting up MG-Team, Ms. Wang was the SVP of Marketing and Alliances for July Systems, a start-up providing mobile retailing and marketing solutions to customers around the world including AT&T, MTV, and India Times, where Acer Ventures was an investor. Prior to July, she was CEO & Co-founder of AsiaQuest, a company providing market entry services for companies entering Asia. Ms. Wang also started the International Carrier Marketing group and lead VOIP Product Marketing for Ascend Communications (acquired by Alcatel-Lucent). As an Internet pioneer in the 90’s, she started up Pacific Internet in Singapore (IPO on NASDAQ in 1999) and launched the internationally renowned TRUSTe Internet privacy programme in 1996.

Gigi holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University where she was President of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. Subsequently, she obtained an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. While in Singapore, she taught at the National University of Singapore as an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Entrepreneurship. She is a frequent speaker at entrepreneur and innovation conferences around the world including the World Investment Conference, Silicon Valley Comes to the Baltics, IBM Global Start-Up Camp Shanghai, Kreative.Asia, and the Hungarian Tech Showcase. Gigi was born in Taipei and speaks some Mandarin and Taiwanese.

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Dr Viraj Perera, Executive Director of PlatCOM Ventures

Dr Viraj’s expertise lies in technology transfer and innovation. Dr Viraj has gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field through working for elite organisations such as the University of Oxford and University of Warwick as well as private companies. Prior to being appointed as the Executive Director of PlaTCOM Ventures, Dr Viraj held the position of Senior Vice President and Head of Innovation Business Opportunities (IBO) at Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM); the parent organisation of PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd. Before moving to Malaysia, he worked for Isis Innovation Ltd – the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford. He has also provided consultation and advise to governments; companies and research organisations on technology development; technology transfer and commercialisation; intellectual property management and discovery; as well as commercialisation strategy and business planning.

Dr Viraj has also been involved in business development, project design and delivery, including training and coaching in technology transfer and commercialisation. During his time at Isis, Dr Viraj delivered projects/ technology transfer training to UK and global clients from Spain, Mexico, Columbia, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Korea, India and China.

Prior to joining Isis Innovation, Dr Viraj worked as a Business Development Manager at Warwick Ventures – the commercial arm of the University of Warwick, where he was involved in technology transfer and commercialisation of university research. Before migrating to the UK, he spent 10 years in Australia where Dr Viraj gained much experience in the field of innovation management. He was also the co-founder and CEO of a successful biotech start-up in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr Viraj holds a PhD in Molecular Biotechnology, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - both from RMIT University in Australia, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Microbiology from the University of Bangalore, India.

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Forum 5: Sustainable Financing & Impact Investing

Moderator: Dato’ Norhalim Bin Yunus Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC)

Norhalim is the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) MTDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional, the investment arm of the Malaysian Government. Norhalim has been the CEO of MTDC since June 2008 and has extensive experience in the commercialisation of public sector universities’ research results, early stage technology ventures, innovation policy development and fund management.

He is one of the pioneers of the commercialisation of R&D results in public universities and research institutes in Malaysia. As such, he has played many roles related to the overall development of the Malaysian technology commercialisation ecosystem, namely as a venture capital fund manager, government grant manager, incubator manager and as an industry expert in various public sector innovation related committees.

He joined MTDC a few months after its formation in 1993 and has had the opportunity to be deeply involved in the Malaysian commercialisation ecosystem. His contributions span all phases in the development of the ecosystem, from the early beginnings of working with local universities to commercialise their research results, to introducing various funding schemes to assist entrepreneurs to start companies, to the creation of the first universitybased incubator and various other innovation initiatives that have been introduced by MTDC in Malaysia for the past 20 odd years.

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Kristofer Rogers, Chief Executive Officer of Simply Giving

Kristofer is an award-winning social entrepreneur and leading authority in online fundraising. He is CEO of SimplyGiving.com; Asia’s largest online giving community that operates in 16 countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Through his pioneering work with online giving, Kristofer has helped to raise more than US$100 million for non-profits across the globe via eCommerce. He is the 2014 Regional Winner for Community Impact in Southeast Asia @ Talent Unleashed, an international accolade judged by Sir Richard Branson and Steve Wozniak.

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Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank

Dr Atiur Rahman assumed office as Governor of the central bank of Bangladesh in May 2009, following an extensive career in socio-economic development research and teaching. Holder of a doctorate in Economics from University of London, in the central bank, he has focused particularly on steering traditional urban elite based banking away towards broader, deeper financial inclusion of the underserved economic sectors and population segments.

His activism and extensive publications have earned him many awards and acclaim. For his outstanding contribution to the society, he achieved many awards including the prestigious Atish Dipankar Gold Medal (2000), the Chandrabati Gold Medal (2008), Sheltech Award-2010, Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque award for the year 2011, Nowab Bahadur Syed Nowab Ali Chowdhury National Award-2012, World No Tobacco Day Award-2012, ‘Green Governor’ citation by the delegates at Conference of the Parties (COP 18), 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar for his initiatives on green banking, Gusi Peace Prize for 2014 in the field of Economics for working for people’s amelioration, to find peaceful solutions for people’s welfare, especially the poor and Central Banker of The Year , Asia-Pacific (2015) by The Bankers, A Financial Tome Group entity.

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Mark Rozario, Chief Executive Officer of National Innovation Agency Malaysia Mark Rozario was Group Managing Director of a Malaysian listed property group, before stepping down to assume his current role at AIM in 2011. He is charged with driving AIM, a government statutory body chaired by the country’s prime minister, to implement a national innovation strategy. AIM was created to jump-start wealth creation through knowledge, technology and innovation to stimulate and develop the innovation ecosystem in Malaysia. This was initiated by laying down the foundation of innovation to inspire and produce a new generation of innovative entrepreneurs.

Mark Rozario graduated with a BSc degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

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Concluding Panel Session

Tengku Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen FASc graduated from the University of Manchester with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, and Masters and Doctorate in Control Systems. He first served as an academic at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya for 11 years. He later became the founding Director General and CEO of the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS), positions he held for 21 years. He also led significant strategic national efforts in R&D and capacity building focused on ICT and microelectronics.

Moderator: YM Tengku Datuk Dr Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen Tengku Ibrahim FASc Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM)

During this period, he also served as the ex-officio Secretary of the National Information Technology Council, chaired by the Prime Minister of Malaysia for nine years. During his tenure, he was closely involved with the formulation and implementation of national ICT policies and strategies, in particular, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) and the National IT Agenda (NITA).

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Programme Global R&D Leaders and CEOs Forum 2015 Pullman Kuching, Sarawak

DAY 1

5 August 2015, Wednesday

8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

9:00 a.m. – 9:10 a.m.

REGISTRATION Negaraku, National Anthem of Malaysia

9:10 a.m. – 9:25 a.m.

Welcome Address

by Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali FASc President of Academy of Sciences Malaysia

9:25 a.m. – 9:40 a.m.

Opening Speech by

by YB Datuk Madius Tangau Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation

9:40 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.

Keynote Address

by Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak FASc ASM Fellow and President of the International Association of Universities

10:40 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

MORNING TEA

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Forum 1

Finding the Soul in R & D Moderator : Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman FASc, ASM Founding President and Senior Fellow Speakers

1) Sir Simon Fraser Campbell, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, Former President of the Royal Society of Chemistry 2) Prof Dr Adeeba Binti Kamarulzaman FASc, ASM Fellow and Dean of Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya 3) Prof Dato’ Dr Rashidah Shuib, Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA), University of Science Malaysia 4) Prof Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail FASc, Vice President of ASM & Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia

12:00 p.m –12:30 p.m.

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

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Dialogue session LUNCH & NETWORKING

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2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

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Leveraging Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Moderator : Dato’ Sri Dr Noorul Ainur Mohd Nur, Secretary General of Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Speakers

1) Mr Kal Joffres, Co-founder and Director of Tandemic 2) Mdm Hazami Barmada, Founder of Barmada Consulting, Washington DC 3) Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Writer, TV producer and women’s rights and HIV/AIDS activist

2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m

Dialogue session

3:15 p.m. – 3:35 p.m.

AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING

3:35 p.m. – 4:20 p.m.

Forum 3

Co-producing Values-based Solutions Moderator : Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim, Deputy Secretary General (Science) of Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia Speakers

1) Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Founder of MERCY Malaysia 2) Mr Jean-Michel Piedagnel,International Board Member of Medecins Sans Frontieres 3) Mr David Wood, Principal of Delta Wisdom

4:20 p.m. – 4:50 p.m.

7.30 p.m.

Dialogue session DINNER & NETWORKING

DAY 2 9:00 a.m. – 9.45 a.m.

6 August 2015, Thursday Forum 4

Technology Sharing Moderator : Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal, CEO of Malaysian BiotechCorp Speakers

1) Ms Gigi Wang, Chair Emeritus of the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab 2) Mr Vishnu Swaminathan,Director of Ashoka India 3) Dr Viraj Perera, Executive Director of PlatCom Ventures

9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Dialogue session

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10:15 a.m. – 10:35 a.m.

MORNING TEA

10:35 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.

Forum 5

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Sustainable Financing & Impact Investing Moderator : Dato’ Norhalim Yunus, CEO of Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) Speakers 1) Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank 2) Mr Mark Rozario, CEO of National Innovation Agency Malaysia (AIM) 3) Mr Kristofer Rogers, CEO of Simply Giving

11:20 a.m. – 11:50 p.m.

11:50 p.m. – 2.00 p.m.

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Dialogue session LUNCH & NETWORKING Concluding Panel Session Moderator : YM Tengku Datuk Dr Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen Tengku Ibrahim FASc, ASM Fellow Panelist

1) Prof Dato’ Dr. Asma Ismail FASc 2) Academician Emeritus Professor Tan Sri Datuk Dr Omar Abdul Rahman FASc 3) Mdm Hazami Barmada 4)

Dr Zulkifli Mohamed Hashim

5)

Dato’ Dr Mohd Nazlee Kamal

6)

Dato’ Norhalim Yunus

3:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.

AFTERNOON TEA & NETWORKING

3:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

4:00 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.

Forum Highlights by ASM President Closing Speech

by YAB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Haji Adenan bin Haji Satem, Chief Minister of Sarawak represented by YB Datu Haji Len Talif Salleh, Assistant Minister at Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education) cum Assistant Minister of Environment (Ministry of Resource Planning & Environment)

4:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

PRESS CONFERENCE

4:30 p.m.

END OF FORUM

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Acknowledgement GLOBAL R&D LEADERS AND CEOS FORUM 2015 STEERING COMMITTEE Professor Dato’ Dr Asma Ismail FASc Chairperson Hazami Habib Acting Chief Executive Officer, ASM Professor Datuk Dr Halimaton Hamdan FASc ASM Fellow Datuk Abdul Wahab Abdullah Chief Executive Officer, Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) Berhad Datuk Mazlan Othman FASc Project Director of Mega Science 3.0 ASM Datuk Fadilah Bahrin FASc General Director Department of Standard Datuk Ravindran Palaniappan ASEAN Economic Cooperation Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Professor Dato’ Dr Mohd Kadim Suaidi Vice Chancellor, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Dato’ Norhalim Yunus Chief Executive Officer Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) Professor Dr Noorsaadah Abd Rahman FASc Director, Institute Research Management and Monitoring, Universiti Malaya

Professor Dr Zainul Fadziruddin Zainuddin Director of Advisory Incubation and Nurturing Division, Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) Professor Dr Shavkat Alimov Chief Scientist Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) Berhad Professor Dr Ahmad Fauzi Ismail FASc Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Innovation Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Professor Norazmi Mohd Nor Director, Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), University of Science Malaysia Dr K Harikrishna K Kulaveerasingam FASc Senior Vice President II Sime Darby Technology Centre Dr Ir Cheong Kam Hoong Managing Director, Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research Sdn Bhd Noor Khalidah Md Khalid Deputy Under Secretary National Biotechnology Division, MOSTI Mark Rozario Chief Executive Officer National Innovation Agency Malaysia Kamarul Bahrin Haron Executive Editor, ASTRO AWANI

Professor Dr Raha Abdul Rahim Director, Department of Higher Education Ministry of Education

Patrick Yee Director OSK Technology Ventures Sdn Bhd

Professor Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud FASc Deputy Vice Chancellor Research & Innovation, University of Malaya

Dr Mohd Mokhtar Tahar Under Secretary (Industry Division) Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

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RAPPORTEURS Habibatul Saadiah Isa

Professor Dr Helen Nair FASc Chief Rapporteur

Dr Tan Shu Ying

Esther Wong Kum Yeen

Shaneetha Visuvanathan

Nitia Samuel Associate Professor Dr Abhimanyu Veerakumarasivam

Dr Faisal Ali Anwarali Dr Wong Swee Kiong

Dr Chau De Ming

Dr Rossazana

Dr Radha Kodiappan

Dr Jerome Kueh Swee Hui

Dr Wendy Yeo Wai Yeng

Dr Chiew Kang Leng

Nurfathehah Idris

Mr Muhd Asraf Abdullah

ASM SECRETARIAT Hazami Habib

Abu Hanipah Jalil

Kamaliah Kasmaruddin

Esther Wong Kum Yeen

Nornajihah Mohd Nor

Hazrul Liki

Norazwa Musiran

Dr Tan Shu Ying

Mohd Zairi Mansor

Nitia Samuel

Shaneeta Visuvanathan

Mohd Zefri Mohd Zulkifli

Vinod Gangatharan

Mariatul Kibtiyah Silahudin Jarjis

Nur Idayu Abd Aziz

Seetha Ramasamy Natrah Rafiqah Mohd Jalil Padmini Karananidi Nurfathehah Idris Habibatul Saadiah Isa

Norhafiezah Mohd Asheri

Norehan Kadir

Hermayanti Hairoman

Muhammad Syafiq Mohamad Syafie

Dharshene Rajayah

Nik Siti Nur Farizah Sabri

Rosmaniza Abd Rahman

Nazmi Lao

Nur Syahirah Abdul Ghani

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THANK YOU

MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) was first established in 1973 as the Ministry of Technology, Research and Local Government before the name was changed to MOSTI in order to lead the National ICT Development function and Innovation. MOSTI’s vision is to discover, develop and utilise science, technology and innovation for knowledge generation, wealth creation and societal well-being towards achieving a high income advanced economy that is competitive, sustainable and inclusive.

MOSTI is committed to championing scientific discovery and transforming innovation through efficient, ethical and professional management of funds for Research and Development and Commercialisation (R&D&C); increasing the quantity and quality of human capital in Science, technology and innovation (STI); and wider dissemination and application of technology for the benefit of grassroots.

SARAWAK Sarawak is the largest of 13 states in Malaysia. Located on the north and north-western tip of Borneo, it stretches over 750km across the vast tropical island paradise, east of Peninsular Malaysia. Home to 27 main ethnic groups, each with its distinct language, traditions and way of life, Sarawak offers visitors a myriad of enchanting cultural experiences and exceptional gastronomical encounters.

Kuching means “Cat” in Malay. Like its name, this quaint city has grace and subtlety of its own. Known for its great history and legends, Kuching is often remembered as the Camelot of the White Rajahs. Fun and quirky, Kuching and its region are filled with exciting tourist attractions such as the Bako National Park, Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Borneo Highlands Resort, Sarawak Museum, Sarawak Cultural Village, Fairy Cave and many more.

SARAWAK CONVENTION BUREAU Established in 2006, the Sarawak Convention Bureau is the brain-child of the Sarawak State Government and is a non-profit organisation which aims to bring Sarawak to the forefront of international meetings. Since its inception, the Bureau has been pivotal in facilitating the organisation, development and marketing of conventions, conferences and corporate events in Sarawak; establishing itself as a “one-stop-shop” for independent information and advice on all aspects of the international convention bidding process.

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Malaysia’s eighth university, was officially incorporated on 24 December 1992. Located in Sarawak, at the heart of Borneo, UNIMAS is ideally placed to fully benefit from the many opportunities for research literally in its backyard, with challenges of geography and geology as well as the diversity of biology and ethnicity.

Through its ultra-modern campus, UNIMAS is making strong progress towards becoming a significant centre of higher learning and research in the academic world.

UNIMAS employs innovative approaches to the teaching-learning and offers academic programmes catering to the demands of the market.

UNIMAS is an ISO-certified institution recognised locally and internationally.

Its research projects are focused on public health, medical biotechnology, information technology, tropical biodiversity, renewable energy, environmental conservation, industrial design, international economics and the social-political implications of economic development programmes.

A university that is contemporary in character and forward-looking in outlook, is committed in providing the nation with leaders, managers, scientists and technical specialists as well as thoughtful citizens who are capable of handling the complex challenges of our common future confidently, competently, and creatively.

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system. Building on a proud history of more than 70 years as an effective utility company, Sarawak Energy is taking bold steps to support the transformation of Sarawak in its vision to become a developed state by 2020.

SIME DARBY PLANTATION

Being a proud member and sustainability partner of International Hydropower Association (IHA) since 2010, we adopt best practices according to guidelines set out by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) purely on a voluntary basis and go beyond legislative requirements.

As the flagship energy provider, Sarawak Energy ensures reliable and secure electricity supply to all, continues to light up and provides power to grow for people across Sarawak, especially rural communities.’

The world’s largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) The Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) is the plantation and agri-business arm of Sime Darby Berhad – a Malaysian-based diversified Multinational Corporation with businesses in five key growth sectors as well as operations in more than 25 countries worldwide. SDP is the world’s largest palm oil company with a total land bank that stands at approximately one million hectares, of which more than 600,000 hectares are planted. It is also the world’s largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) and Certified Sustainable Palm Kernel Oil (CSPKO) with an annual production of 2.7 million MT and 0.65 million MT, respectively. The Company is also the leading supplier of fully-segregated, and RSPO certified palm oil products and derivatives with an annual capacity of 385,000 MT. As an integrated plantation company, Sime Darby Plantation is involved in the full spectrum of the palm oil value chain. Its ‘Upstream’ operations, consisting mostly oil palm estates and mills, are established in five countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Its ‘Downstream’ operations, with presence in 17 countries, are involved in the manufacturing as well as the marketing and distribution of oils and fats products, oleochemicals and biodiesel. Alongside palm oil production, SDP is also involved in the cultivation of rubber and other agri-business activities.

As one of the co-founding members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Sime Darby Plantation is committed in ensuring that the principles and values of sustainability are embedded throughout its operations without compromise. It continues to enhance its processes and controls whilst looking for ways to improve beyond the current sustainability best practices.

SARAWAK ENERGY BERHAD Sarawak Energy Berhad (Sarawak Energy), the flagship energy and utility group in Sarawak, Malaysia envisions to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for Sarawak and aspires to meet the region’s need for reliable, renewable energy. With a multi-disciplinary workforce comprising over 4000 employees, Sarawak Energy serves more than 570,000 customers across the state.

Sarawak Energy is principally involved in generation, transmission, distribution and retail of electricity. We generate power through hydro, coal and gas, mostly capitalising on Sarawak’s abundant indigenous resources, and supply to our customers across the state through an extensive network

UEM SUNRISE UEM Sunrise Berhad (“UEM Sunrise” or the “Company”) (Company No. 830144-W) is a public-listed company and one of Malaysia’s top property developers. It is the flagship company for township and property development businesses of UEM Group Berhad (“UEM Group”) and Khazanah Nasional Berhad (“Khazanah”). UEM Group is wholly-owned by Khazanah, an investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia. The Company has core competencies in macro township development; highrise residential, commercial, retail and integrated developments; as well as property management and project & construction services.

In Malaysia, UEM Sunrise is the master developer of Nusajaya, one of the five flagship zones of Iskandar Malaysia, Johor and is currently undertaking the development of the area into a regional city like no other. Upon completion, Nusajaya will become the largest fully integrated urban development in Southeast Asia that will provide significant investment, financial and business opportunities to the economic growth and development of the region.

Gerbang Nusajaya, the second phase development of Nusajaya is a 4,551 acre project which will feature various catalytic developments including Nusajaya Tech Park, Motorsports City, Signature Residences and Gerbang Nusantara. Gerbang Nusajaya will be developed over a period of 25 years and will include components such as retail parks, campus offices & industrial parks as well as residential precincts.

In the Central Region of Malaysia, UEM Sunrise is renowned for its Symphony Hills project in Cyberjaya, an exclusive residential development featuring the country’s first Connected Intelligent Community (“CIC”) as well as the numerous award-winning high rise residential, commercial and mixed-use developments largely within Kuala Lumpur’s affluent Mont’Kiara enclave in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Bangi, Shah Alam and Seremban.

Internationally, UEM Sunrise’s presence extends into Vancouver, Canada via Quintet mixed-use development and Aurora Melbourne Central in Melbourne, Australia. It also oversees the sales and marketing of Marina One and DUO mixed-use developments in Singapore. The Company retains a landbank in Durban, South Africa.

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ABOUT ASM Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) was established in 1995 under the Academy of Sciences Malaysia Act 1994 as the nation’s think tank on matters related to science, engineering, technology and innovation. The Academy is a platform for the pursuit of excellence in these fields for the benefit of all.

Think Science ASM’s fundamental purpose is to be the nation’s thought leader in all areas of science, technology and innovation (STI). With a core membership of the best scientific minds in the country, the Academy is positioned to be the apex advisory body on STI matters. It understands the vital role science plays in the modern world and as such, strives to promote better public perception and awareness in issues like the environment, sustainability, energy and such.

Globally, advancement in STI has paved way for a higher income society which is why ASM endeavours to advance the agenda on science as a basis for long-term economic development and societal wellbeing.

ASM’s commitment lies firmly in fostering a culture of excellence regarding STI in Malaysia. As the national think tank on STI, ASM runs studies and projects that provide the groundwork for government policymaking of national and international importance that will bring positive impact to the country. Scientific breakthroughs in this era have been the direct result of global cooperation, and in order to provide Malaysian scientists with the best opportunities and exposures, ASM actively extends the reach of its undertakings by enhancing its international networks and collaborations. It currently has a range of multilateral engagements with renowned scientific institutions worldwide.

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Another aspect of the Academy is its publishing arm.

In order to highlight the achievements of the local scientific community, ASM publishes quality peerreviewed journals, monographs and books targeted to both science practitioners and the general public.

Celebrate Technology The Academy champions the importance of science, engineering, technology and innovation for the benefit of society. It recognises new possibilities in STI by analysing the crop of current and anticipated problems in national policies. Ongoing projects supporting this include strategic studies on climate change, water resources, rare earths and the Malaysia 2050 studies.

An essential function that ASM plays is its advisory role in influencing policy debate. Through horizon scanning and cutting edge programmes, it is able to provide data to support the science governance of the country.

Human resource element is central to STI. As such, the Academy understands the need to fulfil the high demand for creative, well-trained individuals in scientific endeavours. Hence, ASM supports the training of budding researchers and scientists through development programmes such

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as the CERN Summer Programme, Lindau Young Scientists Meeting and Young Scientists Network (YSN-ASM).

Inspire Innovation ASM is a statutory body under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and its Fellowship consists of distinguished STI experts who have made exceptional contributions in their fields.

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In order to optimise ASM’s pool of talents, membership is also made up of Associates. These are high profile industry players and experts in nonscience fields who are able to connect the scientific community with the industries and provide views from non-science aspect. Young and upcoming scientists like the Young Scientists Network (YSNASM) and the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) are given access to ASM’s networks and programmes such as the international collaboration, research and grants, and opportunities to elevate their works.

The Fellowship is awarded based on a stringent selection process in six different disciplines: Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Engineering and Computer Sciences; Mathematics, Physics and Earth Sciences; Medical and Health Sciences; as well as the Science and Technology Development industry. The most inspiring Fellows with an outstanding body of work will be conferred the designation Senior Fellows, and an Honorary Fellowship is awarded to a nonscientist who has been instrumental in the nation’s STI development.

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Contact Us Academy of Sciences Malaysia Level 20, West Wing, MATRADE Tower, Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Phone : +6 (03) 6203 0633 Fax : +6 (03) 6203 0634 admin@akademisains.gov.my

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