The Roles of National and Local Policy and Practices in Support Knowledge Transfer and Commercialisation of Biotechnology in Malaysia

Malaysia has made a major commitment to developing biotechnology since 2005 through the implementation of a comprehensive National Biotechnology Policy (NBP). The NBP was delivered in three phases, each lasting five years and describing the commitments and strategies for biotechnology to reach 5% of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product and create 280,000 jobs. Despite major state support focused on knowledge exchange and commercializing agro-biotechnology, there has only been limited success in growing the domestic industry. One of the reasons for this has been a lack of successful translation of central policy to the local level, especially within research universities, with few spin-off companies created. This thesis therefore aims to examine the reasons behind the slow development of biotechnology commercialization among the research universities in Malaysia. To achieve this, the study will explore the value of the Triple Helix model of innovation as a conceptual framework to understand how research universities, industry and government interact in practice in implementing the NBP. It will focus on the gap between policy aims and the experience of these key actors and add to the critical literature on university-industry collaboration in knowledge sharing activities in Malaysia.