During the launch of the Roadmap for Intellectual Property Monetisation, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said, making intellectual property into a new source of wealth can transform the nation’s economy.
It could also make Malaysia competitive with advanced countries, he added.
“We need to be competitive in our bid to become a high-income nation that is not dependent on traditional and physical resources but is based on new sources of wealth such as intellectual property.
“We must double our efforts to boost the non-traditional economic activities. As a high income nation, we need to ensure our economy remains competitive and, to do so, we must look at growth that is based on intangible assets,” Najib said at the National Intellectual Property Awards 2015.
One way for Malaysia to achieve that is to take advantage of the cultural ties with other Asean countries, as well as China and India, and increase its exports of arts and cultural goods through its own creative endeavours.
He also cited South Korea as an example of a nation which had successfully achieved this, through not just technology and telecommunications, but also in the creative industry through films and the phenomenal K-pop. Malaysians were urged to emulate countries, like South Korea, which had successfully created new wealth through innovative creations.
The Prime Minister also said that the effectiveness of initiatives to build and strengthen the national intellectual property ecosystem was shown by the 6% average annual rise in applications.
This shows the potential of intellectual property to contribute to national economic growth, he said, adding the government had agreed to consider providing an allocation to encourage intellectual property rights applications as part of its efforts to raise the number of registrations.
Some 42% of intellectual property rights applications are from within the country.
Financial institutions were also encouraged to enhance their capacity in evaluating projects based on intellectual property rights, pointing out the lack of funds among many intellectual property rights owners.
“Efforts by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry together with interested parties will produce a more dynamic and sustainable ecosystem besides promoting an economic sector based on innovation and creativity in support of our bid for high-income nation status,” he said.
Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin.
