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This paper explores the effective roles of public research institutions (PRIs) in social innovation and understand the element of communal support in researchers-farmers partnership. The case study on Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) reveals that the partnership between researchers and farmers is limited. The only productive and formal channel for researchers to reach the farmers is through agricultural extension agencies. It found that there are three elements that drive sustainable social innovation in agriculture: (1) quality research by PRIs; (2) efficient extension agency in disseminating knowledge to farmers; and (3) productive farmers in delivering high-yields farming. This paper claimed that the presence of partnership between researchers in PRIs and farmers is the crucial pivot in ensuring innovation reaches the target group. The study also found the potential of civil society organizations to transform farmers into more active innovation actors in the agricultural innovation system.

This article examines the performance of university research commercialisation in Taiwan and Malaysia and specifically discusses the role of incubation intermediaries. Through case study and patent analysis, this article draws lessons from Taiwan and further discusses the mechanisms in place for the successful commercialisation of university research. Lessons from the case offer insights for Malaysia on how university incubation intermediaries can be reorganised to promote better commercialisation outcomes. The Taiwanese experience illustrates that in the right institutional settings—and particularly with the presence of innovative science and technology parks—university incubators tend to promote favourable commercialisation outcomes. More importantly, the ability of university incubators to source for external knowledge and risk capital support positions them to be more effective as intermediaries. Other key success factors include establishing an adequate intellectual property management system and having adequate human resources equipped with intellectual property knowledge. This article further deliberates policy implications.

Globally, entrepreneurship is expected to play a central role in achieving ‘inclusive growth’. This special issue draws on various developments related to the role of business incubators, academia and social enterprises towards achieving inclusive entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable growth. A ‘successful entrepreneurship ecosystem’, which includes business incubation is fundamental for promoting economic growth. Over the years, business incubators are increasingly viewed as the facilitators of social inclusion and inclusive growth. Likewise, there has been an increasing focus on how society at large can gain benefit from the research activities of the academia and also how it can promote social and student entrepreneurship. Because of the positive contributions of the social enterprise sector in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), employment and positive social and environmental impacts, social entrepreneurship has gained recognition as a mainstream activity across the world. Consequently, many Asian countries have initiated a range of policies to support social entrepreneurship because of their perceived contributions towards inclusive growth.

This paper examines the socio-technical elements of Grassroots Innovations (GRIs) cases in Malaysia and draws lessons for public policy intervention by accounting for the contextual nature ...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of leadership styles (paternalistic, authentic and democratic) with relationship-based employee governance and open service innovation. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 422 medical professionals working in the Malaysian healthcare sector. Findings Results of several statistical analyses showed that the three leadership styles positively influence relationship-based employee governance and open service innovation. Results also confirmed the mediating role of relationship-based employee governance in the relationships between the three leadership styles and open service innovation. Research limitations/implications This research used a cross-sectional study design; use of a longitudinal research design in future research can provide a better interpretation of the underlying causality. A policy insight can be drawn from this research to generate awareness about effective leadership styles and the role of relationship-based employee governance in the successful implementation of open service innovation in the Malaysian healthcare sector. Originality/value This paper contributes to leadership, open innovation, and organizational governance literature by highlighting how leadership styles affect relationship-based employee governance and open innovation. It also offers policy insights to practitioners in the Malaysian healthcare sector on how to enhance open service innovation outcomes.

Cities are naturally the center of attention when innovation and its geography are discussed. This paper seeks to elucidate the knowledge structures of the city innovation systems of Hong Kong and ...

This paper takes a clustering approach as it attempts to investigate localised learning within a rice cluster in Malaysia and to examine the role of institutions, social capital and geographical proximity in helping promote localised learning. The paper argues that the development of social capital within a cluster needs to take place in its institutional context, and that development policies must address the ‘soft’ elements of the cluster in fostering cooperative relationships and ‘social contracts’ among the cluster actors. Evidence shows that learning processes and gains from learning in a cluster occur mainly in the form of informal learning – in which the effects of social cohesiveness, trust and connectedness are particularly important. Geographic proximity also plays an important role when it comes to the regional embedding of knowledge and learning processes. This paper shows supporting evidence that social proximity is the main dimension that should be embedded within the geographical and instit...

This paper discusses the dynamics between the pursuit of competitiveness and governance of data security in strengthening the Internet of Things (IoT) readiness in developing economies using Malaysia as a case study. It explores the potential of the IoT regulatory framework in guarding the privacy and interests of IoT users. This paper also reveals the collaborative model of technology push-market pull for technological capabilities development as well as the measures that uphold the principles of good privacy practice. The model incorporates privacy-by-design measures that would result in higher user confidence in this emerging technology, which is vital to a healthy IoT ecosystem. Through the collaborative model of Penang as evidence, our findings indicate that Malaysia seeks to create a structure that fosters technology push-market pull forces for IoT technological capabilities development. While the model paves a co-evolutionary path for diffusion and upgrading of IoT, several issues related to the volatility of online data and databases were identified as well as the lack of responsibility and accountability of corporations in handling the sensitive personal data of customers. We see that it is essential for the regulators to play a (more) significant role in safeguarding the interests of IoT users. In this regard, the privacy-by-design, a citizen-centric regulatory framework should be considered in policy reviews in deploying IoT-based competitive promotion initiatives. This paper breaks new ground by elaborating on the common route of IoT technology capabilities development, which is typical in the developing context. While it highlights the common issues that emerge as technology advances, we propose a regulatory framework that features embedded privacy-by-design to protect the interests of the IoT users.

In the past, studies on inclusive development involve mainly the perspective of equitable distribution of economic and societal outputs. This study, however, takes a different approach and analyses the potential roles of regional coordination mechanisms (RCMs), specifically universities and research council's networks within Southeast Asia, in disseminating the innovation-related activities for inclusive development or Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID). The literature on innovation intermediaries within the realm of innovation systems studies was used to establish the framework of the study. The findings indicate that RCMs have a huge potential role to play. However, due to a number of reasons, including lack of funding support, lack of attention and commitment to IID, weak engagement with industry and non-governmental organisations, the implementation of the IID activities was rather poor. As a whole, the study argues that current approaches are not well positioned and it is fragmented p...

This study empirically models technology diffusion and incorporates a more comprehensive framework in understanding the diffusion process of telecommunications technology in Malaysia. We inductively assess the government's conduct in translating the productive rents for upgrading activities. The results show that the proactive role of the government when intervening in market operations has considerably influenced the technology diffusion process. The telecommunications services industry of Malaysia achieved a critical mass of entrepreneurs by first engaging business entrepreneurs in contract services from Malaysian Telecommunications Department, then moved to business diversification at the end of 1970s and is now developing a market platform to furnish its sustainable telecommunications system. We highlight positive general macro-meso views of our case and provide salient normative principles as guides for transformational policy-making. The principles discussed in this paper provide policy lessons, or at least some initial guide, for other developing economies aspiring to follow the path of technology upgrading and development.