Oct 20, 2008 – The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has proposed to extend legal help to enable small and medium enterprises and industries (SMEs and SMIs) to register their creations as intellectual property.
Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said the proposal was a result of talks with the enterprises and industries which said the costs for registering their creations were very high and as such only about 1,000 works of science and technology were registered.
“The private sector says that to file for a patent a minimum of RM30,000 is needed and to follow-up on legal aspects that figure can go up to RM50,000. So for the SMEs and SMIs, being at their size, this is an impediment,” Ongkili told reporters after paying a visit to the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT)’s premises here today.
Ongkili said the proposal will be tabled at the Cabinet meeting in two weeks and his ministry will cooperate with the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry on the matter.
He said the initiative should be seen as a move to ensure the government’s hope to achieve five per cent commercialisation of research and development (R&D) by the end of the Ninth Malaysia Plan as the present figure was only 3.4 per cent.
Ongkili said his ministry would use its present financial allocation to realise the move but would discuss with the Finance Ministry if increased funding was needed.
In addition, he said, his ministry, through MIGHT, will review the effectiveness of the government’s fund in raising the level of R&D and innovation from the Eight Malayisa Plan to the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
“This will involve determining whether the government’s allocation for R&D and innovation programmes were used for the purposes intended in terms of aims and original objectives and also to identify returns from the government’s investment. It will also involve identifying obstructions from the angle of commercialisation and issuing of patents,” Ongkili said.
Adapted from Bernama.com