Ministry of Higher Education to provide research matching grants between industries, HPU from next year

The Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) would provide research matching grants between industries and university teaching hospitals (HPUs) from next year, said its minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said this was to encourage industries to use the HPUs in various research being carried out, as well as to produce innovations in the healthcare and health services sectors.

“We must approach and work closely with the industries, especially in carrying out joint research.

“This synergy must be built strategically, especially with big companies that lead and pioneer the development of technology and innovation like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

“This is also crucial because the universities can share the results of their research either in terms of royalties, start-ups and so on,” he said at the launch of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) Research Carnival 2023, here yesterday.

For that purpose, he said MoHE would prepare a strategic paper focusing on two things, namely a review of the ministry’s policies related to start-ups under institutions of higher learning and a more effective strategy and injection to boost the start-ups to make the entity a valuable contributor to the country’s economy.

“I believe that in universities, including in PPUM, there are research innovations already having start-ups but in need of a boost. So, we will study all policies related to start-ups so that we can overcome all challenges and obstacles,” he said.

Mohamed Khaled also wanted any new research findings or innovation results by any HPU to apply to all other HPUs to strengthen cooperation.

“For example, applications like the UMMC’s Patient Journey Apps, which was developed by PPUM, we will ask the other nine HPUs to also use this application and the same goes for other findings.

“The ministry will monitor all this because its allocation for HPU is big. For example, the allocation for PPUM is RM400 million each year and this is used not just to produce doctors and specialists but also to invigorate research and innovations,” he said.

The Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) and PPUM exchanged documents on a collaboration agreement, while the UMMC launched its ‘Patient Journey Apps’ at the function yesterday.