KUCHING: The state government is currently looking at collaborating with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) to introduce technology incubators to help create world-class companies.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education) Datu Len Talif Salleh said the incubator programme, under Unimas Engage initiative, would see the university working with various industry players to develop ideas and turning them into marketable products.

“This is one project that is currently in the pipeline. It is about translating ideas into business entities. What we need is for the private sector to give input to the university and invest in the generated ideas to be commercialised,” he told a press conference after the opening of the 9th International Conference on IT in Asia 2015 (Cita’15) at Hilton Hotel here yesterday.

Unimas vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, who was also present, mentioned that the incubator programme will specifically look into engagement between the industries and the community.

Unimas Engage encourages the establishment of incubator programmes, where the expertise of the university, staff and students will be utilised to provide technical support to participating industry players.

“Industry players will come out with the ideas and fund. We will work together to incubate ideas that we believe have the potential to develop. Once they are successful, they can go out to create a spin-off company to market these products (ideas),” he explained.

Kadim added that many ideas had been produced through its research. Unimas currently has five research institutes and 15 research centres looking at various aspects of studies from medicine to economics.

The incubator programme is open to all sectors.

“We are seriously looking into further developing this initiative with the state government. The challenge is to get people to be interested in the research output with the university. We welcome all industries to approach Unimas and discuss on how to develop an idea, shift these research products from the lab to be marketed in the outside world,” he continued.

When delivering his speech earlier, Kadim said Big Data was set up in Unimas at its Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology to promote and provide training and research activities with regards to the field of Big Data and Data Science.

To stay relevant with the industry needs, the faculty is collaborating with several industry partners to ensure Computer Science and IT curriculum offered at the university are progressively aligned with the needs of the industry.

Last year, the number of graduates from the faculty was recorded at 85 per cent.

Unimas sponsored 60 students from institutions of higher learning to participate in the conference, to provide exposure and opportunity to interact with industry players.

Len lauded the move which could help improve social skills and confidence of the students especially if they pursue their education overseas.

“We want the students to be able to interact confidently with lecturers, foreign participants so that they have the confidence in terms of articulating ideas as well as gaining exposure.

“We must emphasise on giving exposure to students in giving them the opportunity to interact with foreign delegates. This is not only confined to ICT but also in other areas especially marketing and business.”

He said the state would adopt an approach where students would be invited to attend international conferences as a way to open up their mind, develop confidence and raise awareness.

He also mentioned that the government would continue to collaborate with Unimas to pursue new ways of building knowledge and skills through ICT.