Product, brand need to be supported by good leadership — Saifuddin Nasution

Every new product or brand should be supported by good leadership to ensure its resilience to withstand competition against other global products, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said history had shown that many companies listed in the Fortune 500 in the past failed to maintain their momentum and competitiveness and eventually disappeared.

“In Malaysia, we have MEC, Satay Ria, Mega TV, Metro TV, but they are no more in existence.They did start with innovation, then disappeared.

“Innovations need to be supported by good leadership that can guarantee the model and to elevate the idea so that it can turn into something lucrative,” he said at the award presentation of the 13th National Intellectual Property Awards 2018, organised by the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) here yesterday.

He also said the country was on the right track to become a developed nation based on intellectual property (IP) ownership and increased trademark applications.

In 2017, a total of 50,188 IP applications were filed in Malaysia with an increase of 4.3 per cent compared to the previous year.

He said of the total, 39,736 IP were registered, an increase of 4.4 per cent compared to the previous year, and 35 per cent of them were owned by Malaysians.

“Although the number is still far below the foreign ownership, based on the upward trend of applications every year, I believe we can still achieve the target of 50 per cent if we can continue the momentum in producing intellectual property with the government support,” he said.

At the award presentation yesterday, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) bagged the gold award for the Best IP Management category and took home a cash prize of RM30,000, a championship trophy, an accompanying trophy and a certificate of appreciation.

Apart from UPM that bagged its second gold award for Patent category, other gold winners of five more categories contested were Hipster Pomade (for Trade Mark); D Athirah Enterprise (Industrial Design); Universiti Teknologi Mara (Copyright); Pusat Latihan Teknologi Tinggi Batu Pahat, Johor (Young Inventor of IP for skill training institute students) and Mara Junior Science College, Jeli, Kelantan (Young Inventor of IP for secondary school students). — Bernama