3rd Note

I was fortunate to be able to accompany a good friend of mine to an innovation competition held in one of the local universities recently in Selangor. In that competition, she won the Gold Medal in the Innovation Category. Out of some 400 participants, there were also some others who won the diamond, gold, silver and bronze medals as well. She received some extraordinary reviews on her innovative product from the judges, who were from the industry itself. One of the judges said that she was puzzled on how Sarawakians could be so innovative and was able to send a big team every year to this competition compared with other university branches.

This year is the Year of Innovation & Creativity or Malaysia Innovative 2010 (MI2010), as mentioned by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation earlier this year. In his speech during the launching, the Prime Minister emphasized that the right eco-system, where the family and education system, private and public sectors and the grassroots work as one,  must be created to allow ideas and creativity to grow.

It is not fair to compare our country, what more to say to compare our state’s innovation development and progress to that of Silicon Valley. But at the same time, we just cannot be by-standers, watching other countries enjoying the wealth from the innovations sector. Facilities; such as our daily Facebook, updating software like Twitter, the ever popular search engine Google and the much awaited iPad by Apple are some of the successful examples of innovative products.

Where are we on the innovation map? How much have we done to promote local innovations? Do we have enough platforms to showcase our products? I feel that we are still way behind in terms of promoting innovations in our own country. Besides universities and schools, it is difficult to find innovation competitions carried out to challenge the youth to think creatively. There are not many public platforms for our youth to really share their ideas. Yes, we do have a lot of those ICT exhibitions and PC fairs. But those are either exhibitions by the industry players, or profit based ICT fairs.

Innovation programmes should not be restricted to only those in universities and schools. Most of my friends said, that there should be open yet secure platforms for the public to showcase their talents. Proper ones even should have an “industry matching” sessions between industry players and innovators. Just imagine these scenarios; an ordinary mechanic may create an innovative smokeless exhaust system and a farmer who discovers methods or techniques to produce odorless durian. Where do they go to? Where can they sell these innovations? It would be such a waste not to see these innovations in the market.

With the emerging low cost technologies, free software and higher speed of broadband provided by the service providers in the country, I say it’s about time for all, including the local community, service providers, government agencies and the corporate sector to really get involved in research and development efforts, not only in universities, but encourage home based R & D, in your own home garage or even your own room. Family members especially parents should give their full support not only by giving financial support but also by motivating their children to think outside the box over certain problems.

In my 3 years as a multimedia lecturer in a local college, sometimes back, I could detect some hidden talents and some great ideas in our younger generation and they showed signs of creativity in problem-solving. Some of their final projects were really marketable at that time. Why can’t we have our own version of Bill Gates from Saratok? Or create our own social network software such as Sarawak Facebook by a 16 year old programmer from Miri?

I have a strong feeling that the next big thing in innovation will come from our state. It might sound as a big personal dream, but why not just give ourselves a try in inventing things? It is never a sin to dream big, but it sure is a blessing to share wealth through your innovation.

Mark Nyambang is a Communication Officer, with Angkatan Zaman Mansang Sarawak (AZAM).The 3rd Voice, initiated by AZAM and SDI is published fortnightly. Feedback can be channelled to deborah@azam.org.my or (please add AZAM Facebook group link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=94051436143)