Intellectual properties are a new source of wealth that can generate income for the owners and the institutions involved. They provide another alternative for solving the issue of lack of fund for managing future unexpected turn of events.

Malaysia is the second most innovative country among the 36 nations under the Upper Middle-Income category and also second after Singapore among ASEAN countries.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) Vice Chancellor Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said commercialisation of intellectual properties derived from research and R&D is important to maintain a university’s financial sustainability.

“For 2023, UMT has registered 60 intellectual property rights where 40 have been registered as copyrights, 13 as trade secrets, four as patents, and the remaining as other forms of intellectual properties.

“Efforts to intensify commercialisation activities are very much needed to help universities cover the costs of management and organising activities.    

Prof. Mazlan was speaking during the Licensing Agreement Document Submission Ceremony involving UMT and six startup companies, namely Ocean Hydro Sdn Bhd, Conservation Management Solutions Sdn Bhd, SR Neotech Sdn Bhd, WMM Marketing, Big Bee Honey Sdn Bhd, and K Bees Sdn Bhd.

He said the effort is to support the government’s aim of having public universities generate their own income and reducing around 10-20% of government allocation in stages as stated in Malaysia Education Development Plan 2015-2025 (Higher Education).

As per Prof. Mazlan, UMT has more than 600 intellectual properties with commercialisation potential.

“UMT also has nine startup companies registered by its researchers to facilitate the commercialisation of their research products.

“To date, UMT has more than 686 intellectual property rights comprising patents, industrial designs, innovation utilities, trademarks, copy rights, and trade secrets.

In addition, UMT also has many potential products that can be commercialized immediately, with a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) ranging from 4 to 8.

He added that UMT has obtained a commercialisation proceed of RM200,000 through licensing agreements.

“This achievement shows that the commitment and hard work of UMT researchers have made our work useful for a wider community, and we have managed to translate knowledge into products and services that can benefit society,” he said.

Meanwhile Malaysia remains at 36^th place from among the 132 countries in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023, recording a score increase from 38.7 last year to 40.9 in 2023.

Published by:

Corporate Communications Office

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu