FOR Malaysia to transform into a knowledge economy, it is vital for the country to benchmark itself from a national perspective, particularly in research and innovation, to move forward.
A joint report by Clarivate Analytics and the Education Ministry’s Department of Higher Education on research and innovation performance of local universities last year suggested that funders and policymakers should proactively identify key areas for investment.
This should be done by looking for the most profitable fields and scouting for talents at the universities, where high-quality projects and patents with commercial potential are abundant.
A talent pipeline must be maintained by grooming young researchers who have the skills to succeed, as well as being part of the global research community to push the agenda forward.
Clarivate Analytics Web of Science chief executive officer Annete Thomas said the initiative to transform Malaysia from a manufacturing-strong economy to one that is knowledge-based requires a 10-year view.
“This period is needed to really understand where the country stands with regard to research and innovation, such as using data indicators to establish a baseline to see how things have evolved, determine what areas of research and innovation that are best to invest in, and create frameworks that support and measure those areas.
“Researchers should also be helped, particularly the young ones,” she said during a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur.
This, Thomas said, is where Clarivate Analytics is able to assist. The United States-based company owns and operates a collection of subscription-based services focusing on analytics, including scientific and academic research, patent analytics, regulatory standards, trademark protection, pharmaceutical and biotechnology intelligence, domain brand protection and intellectual property management.
“Those are all the areas we are involved in. With changes here in Malaysia, it seems like an ideal time to be here to see what is happening and where we can offer support,” she said.
Clarivate Analytics, which provides trusted insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, has an authoritative citations’ database to help governments understand their innovation landscape.
Its suite of integrated solutions allows the company to be a strategic partner to help nations like Malaysia transform and advance its innovation, said Thomas.
“The data that forms the basis of our company goes back many years. With regard to scientific research, for example, we have the highest quality flagship database that measures and guides scientific research, with more than 150 million pieces of information that comes from 30,000 journals, and a web of 170 billion citations and connections.
“So we are not just able to look at research that’s relevant for the last two years, we are also able to create a record that goes back decades. That is valuable when you are trying to understand the landscape,” said Thomas.
“The kind of data, tools and products we have had become part of the research infrastructure across the world.
“We have relationships with over 95 per cent of top research universities and all governments of research-intensive countries.
“And why is that? It’s because to really create first-class research, you have to have, in the first instance, first-class information. And the information we produced over the years have been part of how researchers carry out their work,” she said.
Thomas said Clarivate Analytics is also actively supporting young researchers in peer review.
“Peer review is a cornerstone of scholarly communications. Carried out on behalf of the research community, it validates research,” she said, adding that research is a global pursuit and, therefore, peer review should also go global with the right scientists reviewing their most appropriate subject.
“Looking at the connections that Malaysian researchers have in scientific and peer-review communities may give an indication on the kind of areas to focus on,” said Thomas.
Commenting on Malaysia’s quality of research, she said the country can improve the quality of its output and collaborations to bridge the gap between research and innovation.
“In the report, it is stated that even though Malaysia’s total research output was 20 per cent more than Finland, the latter was ranked seventh in last year’s Global Innovation Index (GII) Ranking compared to the former at 35.
“This may be attributed to the significant differences in research quality, percentage of industry collaborations and number of patents produced,” said Thomas.
Finland’s research quality is close to 1.5 times the world average, with three per cent of its research output involving industry collaborations (roughly 5.25 times more than Malaysia), and it has 26,894 patents filed (approximately five times more than Malaysia).
Malaysia’s research quality is on a par with Japan and South Korea when measured by the Category Normalized Citation Index (CNCI), but its 2018 GII Ranking was also far behind those countries, which are at No. 13 and 12, respectively.
This may be due to Japan and South Korea’s higher percentage of industry collaboration (five to six times more) and significant number of patents filed (114 and 112 times more).
“There is this existing gap of knowing what the market needs as well as a gap in capacity building. To become an innovator, the kind of workflow and tools that you need is very different.
“Let’s say you want to carry out an applied research, the outcome you want is to file a patent. But before you work, you need to carry out a search. If you already have researchers filing patents, what is the value of patenting or licensing that project?
“And for that, you need professional training support, which is not very structured in Malaysia,” she said.
“What we advocate is not to identify your strength only, but also what the industry needs so that you are aware on where to focus on and what you can leverage in the industry.”
For capacity-building, Clarivate Analytics has a mentor-mentee programme to provide structured training by pairing up veteran researchers with young ones.
“As innovators, you need different training and tools to translate the existing knowledge into solutions to industry problems.
“In countries that are successful, it is a matter of bringing universities closer to the industry, and fostering that on or close to campus by providing the right environment where innovation can thrive alongside research,” said Thomas.