Mosti hopes its two agencies can join NAM S&T industry networks

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry hopes two of its agencies – Scientific and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim) and Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) – will be welcomed to the Science and Technology of the Non–Aligned and Other Developing Countries Industry Networks (NAM S&T Industry Networks).
Its minister, Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said the NAM S&T Centre had taken the initiative to set up the NAM S&T Industry Networks to encourage and provide opportunities to individual scientific agencies, academic and research institutions, centres of excellence and industries in developing countries to participate in the scientific activities of the centre.
"Malaysia believes the two agencies can be of value added to the network and will also open up the possibility of future collaboration programmes," he said at the opening of the 14th Governing Council of NAM S&T Meeting and Forum on Climate Change: Impact and Responses, here, today.
Madius said Malaysia had formed a few platform to facilitate the initiative to enhance collaboration in science, technology and innovation which included the Public Private Research Network that bridged local universities and small and medium enterprises (SME) and the SIRIM Fraunhofer programme focusing on SMEs in the manufacturing sector.
"The same mechanism could be applied for NAM S&T member countries to build up a platform that could nurture the right ecosystem for sharing information, knowledge, experience and expertise," he added.

The NAM S&T Centre is an inter–governmental organisation consisting of 48 non–aligned and other developing countries. The centre is mandated to promote the fullest possible and mutually beneficial technological collaboration among the member countries' scientists and technologists and scientific organisations.
Malaysia joined the centre in 1994 and has played an active role by jointly organising activities with the centre such as workshops and training courses.
On the issue of climate change, Madius said Malaysia believed that international collaboration and cooperation was one of the best ways to achieve a better understanding on climate change and how people use science and technology to mitigate and respond to this issue. — BERNAMA