KUALA LUMPUR: The Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Centre (CREST), a Khazanah Nasional Bhd co-initiative, is set to launch its third phase come 2018.
Within this phase, CREST will look at ways on how to further push the electrical and electronics (E&E) industry further so that it could contribute the multiplier effects it promised to bring.
“We have created clusters and are creating a nice funnel. Phase 3 is about translating all of this technology and intellectual property into the marketplace,” said its chief executive officer Jaffri Ibrahim who was quoted in “Pushing North”, the magazine that was circulated at Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2017, here today.
Jaffri explained at this stage, intellectual property and more financing sources will be crucial to take the research outcome to the next stage; thus the need for CREST to reinvent itself as to attract more funding either through banks, crowdfunding and venture capitalists.
CREST's first phase (2012 to 2014) saw the firm mostly pushing multiple industry driven research and development (R&D) projects, in managing the R&D grants that was given by the government.
CREST had also supported some 13 start-ups involved in the Internet of Things (IoT), integrated circuit design, industry robotics and e-business, during this phase.
According to the magazine, one of these companies also include Crectronics, which is doing integrated circuit design work for companies in China and America.
CREST is currently at the end of Phase 2 (2013 to 2017), where it had deepened its focus on specific technology cluster and collaboration.
“The three clusters we focused on were light emitting diode (LED), integrated circuit design, and embedded systems,” said Jaffri.
“We identified key strategies around the clusters and formulated a strategy to tie everyone together and have them point in the same direction.”
CREST had in 2017 alone helped implemented 10 projects with a collective estimated value of RM58.2 million. It has a total of 115 projects approved and 38 completed since its launch in 2012.
CREST had committed RM39 million in R&D grants with the industry impacted subsequently contributed RM60 million in economic value.