KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — Malaysia lags behind in science, technology and innovation (STI) initiatives compared to developed nations, a report on the country’s science outlook revealed today.

The Science Outlook by Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) titled "Science Outlook 2017: Converging Towards Progressive Malaysia 2050” said that if nothing is done soon, Malaysia could face difficulties in coping with Industry 4.0 when it fully takes effect on all industries.

"Talent development, governance in STI, research and development, and energising industries are some aspects where we can improve in,” ASM president Professor Datuk Dr Asma Ismail FASc said at the launch.

"If you look at our students performances, only one in a hundred SPM school leavers enrol in PhD programmes, thus, the advent of Industry 4.0 has made it urgent for all stakeholders to collaborate in making sure the country is capable in coping with this change,” said added.

The report said Malaysia ranked 29 out of 128 countries in the Global Innovation Index 2017.

It said that the country focused 91.4 per cent on paper research and only about eight per cent were on pre-commercialisation tests such as prototypes or pilots.

Comparatively in Singapore, the report said that almost 50 per cent of its research and development activities had been tested for commercialisation experiments.

"Malaysia does not have a specific national science agenda to serve as the consolidating guideline of the various STI-related policies and governance at present,” the report said.

According to Datuk Asma, in the first of such outlook three years ago, only 11 recommendations of the 16 initiatives by the government for the development of STI were addressed.

ASM had, in its Science Outlook 2015, proposed 18 recommendations for STI development.

"I therefore hope this report would serve as a useful reference for national STI planning as well as effective monitoring and evaluation,” she said.  —