Johor Bahru, 28th December: Researchers are urged to think commercially rather than just to develop and produce. Nowadays, it has to be beyond the laboratory skills environment and it is timely too that young researchers help the university earn profits by commercializing their new findings and innovations.
In an interview with Skudai Post today, the Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant (CEPP) Director, Prof. Dr. Ramlan Abdul Aziz said, “because of the 30% budget reduction, we have less money to buy new equipments and it is tough to achieve the Key Performance Index (KPI). However, integration is the best way to make it a reality. By referring the UTM’s motto, Inspiring Creative & Innovative Minds, we need to work on important projects instead of the interesting ones”.
He stated that there are five disciplines of critical elements for improving innovation. Important Customers and Market Needs, Value Creation, Innovation Champions, Innovation Teams and Organizational Alignment. These are the market ecosystem elements to ensure success of the products in the market.
Prof Ramlan, who is jointly giving talk with Prof Ahmad Fauzi on Value Creation Workshop at Institute of Bioproduct Development, hope the workshop, will train staff of UTM by giving them exposure towards the 5 disciplines of innovation and to introduce the importance of value creation process.
“If we don’t change our way of thinking, we won’t go far. For example, imagine in Mumbai, the lunch tiffin boxes were sold out everyday using a very traditional innovation, completely manual and most of the workers are illiterate, and yet it is recorded that there is very minimal mistake in their deliveries”.
He said the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is a success because of their strengths and simplicity in organizing the innovative service. They are performing on a low operation cost, with a good team spirit and systematic time management to satisfy the customers.
Prof. Ramlan added, “The crucial parts are how important our customers are to us and what are the market needs. At CEPP, we have started to go for commercialization and as to-date about 50 research products are already in the market. The products include bio fertilizer, herb beverages, herbal tea, goat milk, therapy oil, skincare products, vaccine, anti-dengue protein and anti-mosquitoes herbal formulation”.