Yayasan Inovasi Malaysia (YIM), or the Malaysian Foundation for Innovation, was founded by the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) in October 2008 to promote and champion innovation.
Through YIM’s various nationwide initiatives, Malaysians from all walks of life have converged to share and assimilate innovation knowledge and strategic intelligence. Such efforts have results in the empowerment of creativity and innovation through the propagation of innovative mindsets, sustainable support system and innovation ecosystem.
Today, YIM’s role is more significant than ever. Innovation is one of the six strategic thrusts under the 11th Malaysian Plan 2016-2020’s Strategy Paper 21: Translating Innovation to Wealth to “accelerate human capital development for an advanced nation”. It is one of the six game changers; “Translating Innovation to Wealth” whereby YIM was specifically identified as one of the three key Government agencies to catalyse such efforts.
YIM was entrusted to strengthen relational capital through:
the fostering of stronger linkages, collaboration and trust among stakeholders, and
the reinforcement of collaboration between government research institutes (GRIs), institutions of higher learning (IHLs), the government and industry.
This is in line with MOSTI’s Mega Science 4.0 study and Malaysia Foresight Initiative 2050 which align with the country’s 2050 National Transformation (TN50), which aims to help Malaysia rank within the top 20 developed nations in the world in terms of economic output, societal well being, and innovation and creativity.
Towards this goal, YIM has zeroed in on grassroots innovations – using novel or new ideas that are usually developed in unconventional settings to deal with issues that are often neglected in the context of mainstream solutions. These often adopt a “bottom-up” approach for community empowerment through affordable access, enhanced quality and functionality, access for excluded population such as the poor, disabled, women, elderly and disadvantaged groups with significant outreach and sustainable strategies.