KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday Malaysia must make a creative impact in a competitive global economy by favouring innovation.The prime minister said countries which favoured innovation, such as Japan, Finland and the United States, developed more advanced economies as a result.

“Innovation creates jobs and boosts national competitiveness. This is why we, too, must make a creative impact in a competitive global economy. We must not allow ourselves to be left behind,” he said in his blog www.1malaysia.com.my

Since 2000, Najib said, highly innovative products had emerged such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as the unstoppable rise of Google, which had changed the way people consume media, share information and communicate with one another.

He said when he announced the Budget 2010 recently, he had said that a new economic model, based on innovation, creativity and high value-added activities, would more than double the per capita income of the rakyat over the next 10 years.

“In support of this is the 1Malaysia concept or the need to tap into the creative abilities of all Malaysians.

“As an international expert recognised recently, 1Malaysia fits nicely with innovation. Talent is just not in one culture, it is distributed,” he said.

In line with 2010 being the Year of Creativity and Innovation, a National Innovation Centre (MyNIC) supported by a network of innovation excellence centre would be launched in the first quarter next year, he said.

Najib said the purpose of the MyNIC was simple — to advance the people’s scientific and technological capabilities.

“Measures such as our recently established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and National Key Result Areas (NKRA) will meanwhile instil a culture of innovation in the public sector,” he said.

With the arrival of a 4G Innovation Network by the end of next year, bringing high-speed broadband to all parts of Malaysia, there would be further opportunities to innovate. — Bernama