Nessa Carey attended the AUTM Asia Conference in Malaysia this month, and combined it with some business development in the country, meeting government representatives and leaders of science parks.
One of the interesting aspects of the Malaysian academic system is that there are very few post-docs.
Qualified people tend to go straight into academic positions in the growing university sector. This affects the innovation culture. There are substantial efforts into creating an innovation culture as early as possible in the wider education sector, even in primary schools.
The University of Nottingham had a strong presence at the conference, reflecting their significant investment into their Malaysian campus. Their speakers highlighted differences in the UK and Malaysian systems, including a less mature IP policy structure in Malaysia. Malaysia’s technology transfer sector is at an interesting stage.
In the university system, professors are frequently co-opted to run technology transfer units for two to three years, after which they transition back into their academic roles. This results in a disjointed system, and problems in building expertise. There are efforts underway to change this and to increase the professional standing of technology transfer. A national association has been set up and is planning to develop in-country training.
Jane Muir and Marc Sedam gave great talks on behalf of AUTM. They both emphasised something we can lose sight of in our daily busy lives – technology transfer is really important and we should remember to be proud of how we help to create a better world.
And here’s a quirky fact that came out of a private conversation with Jane. If you are talking or negotiating with Americans don’t refer to anything as a “scheme”. To Brits, “scheme” is a fairly neutral term. Unfortunately, to Americans it is associated with phrases like “Ponzi” and has very negative connotations. Who knew?!