The Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) will deal with alleviating food security issues in Malaysia with technology 4IR, MRANTI Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said today (Mac 4).
Simultaneously, MRANTI looks to accelerate its trajectory with a revenue base and EBITDA growth of 40% -45% respectively this year, and accelerating technology commercialisation rate to 20% by 2025.
Speaking to newsmen at MRANTI’s media luncheon at TPM Bukit Jalil today, Rais said: “Food security is a big issue. The ministry has recently mandated us as an agency responsible to facilitate and address national food security using 4IR and we have been working very hard on it.”
Rais added that the innovation should and must address this issue as such it enables innovation and a system for good food practices in terms of increasing the yield and revenue whilst addressing food security.
He said billions of Ringgit has been spent to import food products including vegetables, meat and others.
Food security issues can be addressed through technology and innovations, he said, adding that the country hopes to learn from Qatar which is seen to have “reinvented” the country from importing most of their fresh produce to now exporting some of these food products.
Reducing imports can also help to lend support ringgit currency which has been depreciating, he added.
He listed autonomous tech, life sciences, sustainability, 5G connectivity and 4IR (fourth industrial revolution) technology as its tech focuses while HealthTech, AgriTech/BioTech come under the life sciences category
“We are to position Malaysia as an innovation nucleus advancing towards a leading technology producer nation through accelerating the demand-driven R&D in technology,” he said.
MRANTI, which is in the midst of rebranding, has been mandated as the agency to address national food security issues using 4IR technologies,” Rais said.
For 5G connectivity, MRANTI is the National Testbed of 5G Innovation and MRANTI is also embracing sustainability-driven technologies as its overarching theme for technological focus.
Rais also shared that MRANTI’s mission is to accelerate the development of demand-driven R&D in technology and innovation across the industries to address national and global challenges. Its vision is to accelerate demand-driven R&D in technology – to position Malaysia as an innovation nucleus advancing towards a leading technology producer nation.
MRANTI, a convergence of Technology Park Malaysia (TPM Corp) and the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center (MaGIC), is Malaysia’s central research commercialisation agency that fast-tracks the development of technology innovations from ideas to impact.
MRANTI serves as a connector, incubator and catalyst to enable early-stage ideation to mature entities to commercialise and scale.
The agency offers innovators and industry access to world-class integrated infrastructure, programs, services, facilities and a suite of resources. In doing so, MRANTI aims to expand Malaysia’s funnel of innovation supply, and unlock new R&D value by ensuring effective transitions in the commercialization lifecycle.
