Young people in Malaysia with groundbreaking inventions increasing
07 October 2021
News of young people in Malaysia with groundbreaking inventions is increasing. Take the case of schoolgirl Maryam Muzamir who may get to patent her award-winning livestock feed "YAM 2.0" through the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi, Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, said his government will contribute at least RM10,000 toward the cost of registering the innovation patent for the creation.
MyIPO being a statutory body under the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism bears the responsibility of among other things, to promote awareness on the protection of intellectual property rights and lending support to local inventors.
Still, statistics obtained from The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) show that foreign applicants for patent registration in Malaysia still outnumber that of local applicants.
"Nevertheless, it is known that there are many inventions by children that have been successfully applied and commercialised in the market," says Lim Bee Yi, Partner, Tay & Partners Malaysia. "In Malaysia, other notable inventions by children are the invention of a space toilet for use by astronauts which can operate on the moon by a 9-year old boy and an invention incorporating computing, environment and agriculture elements by children."
She adds, "Given that intellectual property is a form of economic wealth and driving force in the Malaysian economy, Malaysia is also trying to promote and cultivate creativity and inventiveness in its younger generation. Some of the initiatives towards achieving this is the holding of the annual Malaysian Young Inventors Exhibition (MYIE), participation in the World Young Inventors Exhibition (WYIE) and intellectual property awareness programmes being run in schools in Malaysia."
Because of such action. this would encourage other people, not just young people to patent their invention and promote creativity, innovation and respect for other people’s intellectual property rights.
"It may also encourage young people to learn more about patents including the types of inventions that are patentable, patent registration procedures and the advantages of patenting an invention or protecting intellectual property rights," says Yi.
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