NIK MAHERAN NIK MUHAMMAD

NURHUSNA ZULKIFLI

NURUL FADZLYN ENCHE

NADZMY
 EDITORS:
NIK MAHERAN NIK MUHAMMAD
NURHUSNA ZULKIFLI
NURUL FADZLYN ENCHE NADZMY

AKADEMI KEPIMPINAN PENDIDIKAN TINGGI (AKEPT)

NEGERI SEMBILAN
MALAYSIA
2023
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2023
© Akademi Kepimpinan Pendidikan Tinggi (AKEPT)
© Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK)

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written
permission from AKEPT and UMK.

Editors:
Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad
Nurhusnazulkifli
Nurul Fadzlyn Enche Nadzmy

Published in Malaysia by:

Akademi Kepimpinan Pendidikan Tinggi (AKEPT)
Lebuh Enstek, 71760 Bandar Enstek,
Negeri Sembilan
Phone: +606-7979 400 | Fax: +606-7997 440
http://akept.mohe.gov.my/
[email protected]
 Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgment
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: MARKETING & LEADERSHIP IN

POST-PANDEMIC ERA

The Three Principles of Post-Normal Marketing 2

The Strategic Marketing Roadmap 2030 4
Entrepreneurial Marketing 6
Leader Manager Model 7

PART 2: BRIDGING THE GAPS IN

UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

Introduction 9
Promoting Entrepreneurship at HEIs 11
Applied vs Generic Research 12
Benefit vs Risk of Collaboration 13
Tech Ecosystem 17
University-Industry Linkages: The Case of South 19
Korea
Humane Entrepreneurship 21
Types of University-Industry Collaborations 22
Stumbling Blocks 25
Strategies to Encourage Collaborations 27

PART 3: Q&A SESSION

Q&A 29
Key Takeaways 33
COVID-19 is a worldwide crisis that is not only a threat to people’s lives and
safety. It has also adversely affected the Malaysian economy, businesses and
people’s livelihoods. Our entire world has been impacted and we are going to
need our educational institutions to be prepared with a different way of doing
things. Being able to effectively lead an organization through these
transformations is a core competence because it creates a change-agile
organization that is prepared to do things differently to achieve the most
optimal result during and after a transition. Higher education leaders must be
confident to embrace change and uncertainty, and comfortable in not
knowing.

AKEPT’s supra theme for 2022 seminars is Reimagining Leadership: Refocus

and Rethink from Emergent Challenges to Future Growth. The topic of
entrepreneurial leader development is very timely and relevant to what
universities, the Ministry of Education, and the country are facing at the
moment. Leaders in Action is a webinar organised by Higher Education
Leadership Academy (AKEPT) in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia
Kelantan. The webinar featured local and international experts from industry
and academia to share their knowledge of managing successful university-
industry collaboration projects. This book is a compilation of important points
that were highlighted during the webinar. This book targets academia,
administrators, postdoc, postgrad and university students to understand the
expectations and collaborative goals in bridging the knowledge transfer gaps
between universities and industry.
First of all, let us extend our sincere gratitude to Allah S.W.T for giving us the
opportunity to organise the Leaders in Action Program: The Art of Developing
Entrepreneurial Leaders for Entrepreneurial University, Business and Society.
I would also like to congratulate the organizer, Higher Education Leadership
Academy (AKEPT) as well as the co-organizer, Office of Deputy Vice-
Chancellor (Academic and International) Universiti Malaysia Kelantan for
making the webinar and publication of this book a success. I would also like to
take this opportunity to thank Prof. Dr. Nik Maheran bt. Nik Muhammad, the
project leader, for accepting our collaboration invitation.

Recently, the Malaysian government rolled out the Twelfth Malaysia Plan
(12MP) to set a new direction for Malaysia to achieve a prosperous, inclusive
and sustainable country. The 12MP introduces a new transformative
approach based on three themes and one of them is resetting the economy.
The focus is to restore the growth momentum of key economic sectors,
industries as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Education especially tertiary education holds the key to equipping talents with
the right knowledge, skills and values to compete in the rapid change in the
global landscape brought by Industry 4.0 as well as the Covid-19 Pandemic.
At AKEPT, we truly hope that leaders at higher learning institutions will take
advantage of AKEPT’s programs especially the programs that involve industry
or corporate leaders.
Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah for giving us the energy, time and health
complete the Leaders in Action Program. First and foremost, I would like to
take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the speakers and panelists
for their valuable sharing. The valuable sharing inspires us at UMK to publish
this book as the compilation of important points during the webinar. My
deepest gratitude goes to all who attended the program and contributed to
fruitful discussions. Not to forget, sincere gratitude to the Higher Education
Leadership Academy (AKEPT) for your trust and confidence in our ability at
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) to run this virtual seminar.

Undeniably, higher education institutions are at the forefront of public thought

and matters of the collective social intellect. I also believe that being a leader
or academia at university involves more than expertise and an understanding
of current best practices. Successful leader should bring a fresh and insightful
perspective to a common problem as well as being able to anticipate
emerging trends. However, having great insight is not enough. Those insights
need to be widely visible if they are to become influential. I trust that in order
to become thought and visible leader, we have to work hand in hand with
industries. I hope the webinar and this book would benefit the readers in
improving their visibility as well as marketability, particularly in the post-
pandemic era.
In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

All praises are to Allah S.W.T. the Almighty for blessing the Taufik and
Hidayah and giving us the opportunity and strength to accomplish this book. It
is hoped that this book can help the universities' leaders to create an
entrepreneurial ecosystem and understand the expectations and collaborative
goals in bridging the knowledge transfer gaps between universities and
industry.

We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the Higher

Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) for taking the initiative to publish
this book and not forgetting the speakers who have contributed to the
webinar. It was an honor to have a special speaker, (Dr.) Hermawan
Kartajaya or best known as Pak Hermawan from Jakarta Indonesia who had
shared his thought on Marketing and Leadership in the Post-Pandemic Era.
Apart from Pak Hermawan, sincere thanks to our local and international
panelists; Prof Kim Ki Chan (from Catholic University Korea), Datuk Dr.
Hafsah Hashim (Chairman of SIRIM Tech Venture Sdn. Bhd.) and Dr. Nik
Marzuki (Executive Director, MariWealth Engineering and Consultancy Sdn.
Bhd.) for their willingness to join our forum entitled “Bridging the Gaps in
University-Industry Collaboration”. Last but not least, thank you to everyone
who was directly or indirectly involved for being supportive and patient
throughout the accomplishment of this book.
 PART 1:
Marketing and Leadership in the
Post-Pandemic Era

Co-Founder of World Marketing Forum, Chairman of Asia

Marketing Federation (AMF), Chairman of Asia Council for
Small Business (ACSB) and Member of Higher Education
Council, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and
Technology, Republic of Indonesia (2021-2025)

1
 THE THREE PRINCIPLES
POST-NORMAL MARKETING

1
"Marketing is DIGITAL anyway... There is no such
thing as digital marketing. However, businesses
will lag behind competitors if entrepreneurs do not
adopt digital practises."

2
To make an impact, digitalization alone is
insufficient. With HUMANITY, marketers create
impact and with DIGITALIZATION, leaders and
marketers will have the advantage to
communicate the concept of humanity. These two
concepts are related and help set them apart from “Leadership and marketing, in
other marketers. my view, are two sides of the
same coin. Leadership is when
you sell an idea, and

3
It is widely agreed, that marketing must move to
marketing is when you sell a
digitalization in order to compete in the post-
product. In point of fact,
pandemic era. It is a risk if leaders or marketers
marketing and leadership are
just rely on TACTICAL STORYTELLING although
intertwined. This is due to the
one way that could be used to learn how to use
fact that you cannot be a
digitalization is through storytelling. Tactical
leader if you are not actively
storytelling shares the narrative, videos, film, or
marketing your ideas.
design on social media, as many people
However, selling is not the
appreciate reading stories. However, adding
only component of marketing.
storytelling with STRATEGIC THINKING- ESG
Selling is merely one of nine
(environment, social, and governance) is critical.
marketing components.”
“Are you a pro-political in your governance? Are
you an expert in sustainability marketing? And are
you a pro-environment or not? What you share in
the tale must fall under the ESG-STRATEGIC HERMAWAN
umbrella”. KARTAJAYA

Notes: An environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy is defined as a business model that
emphasizes social responsibility. All businesses seek profits, but today's investors and shareholders want
to see businesses making efforts to make the world a better place as they generate those profits

2
THE THREE However, things are getting
increasingly difficult as time goes
PRINCIPLES OF by. Leaders and marketers has to
MARKETING anticipate that the rivalry in the
These are the three principles digital world will be more
referred to as Post-Normal complicated. It will be more
Marketing, rather than the new complex since the competition will
normal. We do realise that in this involve people from all around the
age of pandemics, we are being world. In this Post-Normal-Era,
compelled by nature to adopt strategic thinking, understand what
digitalization and there are is behind the story telling and the
numerous misconceptions technical parts, as well as ESG is
concerning digitization. very important. Hence, in the digital
realm, leaders will fail if they deceit
The three main principles of customers, the environment,
marketing: sustainability, or governance by
customer management utilising digitalization.
product management
brand management.

The 9 components of marketing will never change over the

years :
Segmentation Differentiation Brand Service

Targeting Marketing Mix Process

Positioning Selling Customer

Management

Always start with WHY, WHAT and HOW

3
THE STRATEGIC MARKETING
ROADMAP 2030

Nobody expected the epidemic to happen in the year 2020, thus

everyone had to be adaptable. The ability to adapt was a must for
the professional. Despite the inclination of many people to rely on
government assistance, many public workers were unclear about
what to do. Therefore, cooperation and action from all enterprises,
academic institutions, and the government were vital.

As mentioned before, there are three main components of marketing

which are customer management, product management and brand
management. Entrepreneurs can learn about brand management
from the West, while product management from China. These two
are interrelated. A leader and marketer must therefore have a
thorough knowledge of the customer and apply what has been
learned about managing brands in the west. Entrepreneurs also
cannot afford to ignore the East especially China. They have
reached the point where they are beginning to control the economy.

"If you can't manage your customers well, you'll also have trouble managing
your products and brands, which will ultimately lead to the failure of your
business."

4
 I would like to encourage you to broaden your perspective
and acknowledge due to the fact that the year 2030 will find
us in quite different circumstances. We are going to confer
with a Visionary in order to bring about the NEW WORLD
ORDER as quickly as possible. In comparison to now, new
youth, women, and netizens will hold a significantly greater
amount of influence in 2030. The Metaverse will one day
become our everyday world. There is currently no
Metaverse in existence at this time.

Hermawan Kartajaya, 2022

The metaverse is a vision of what many in the computer

industry believe is the next iteration of the internet: a single,
shared, immersive, persistent, 3D virtual space where
humans experience life in ways they could not in the physical
world. - TechTarget.com

5
 ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING

Pak Hermawan has introduced the Entrepreneurial Marketing Model.

CI-EL stands for Creativity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and
Leadership. Marketing in this era, CI-EL is closely related to PI-PM
which stands for Productivity, Improvement, Professionalism, and
Management.

To be a successful manager, entrepreneurial leaders need to possess

excellent leadership abilities. This term is known as a "leader
manager." If they aspire to excel as professionals, leaders must have
a grasp of entrepreneurship.

For a leader to develop an entrepreneurial marketing strategy that can

propel their organisations, they must combine creativity, innovation,
entrepreneurialism, leadership, productivity, constant improvement,
professionalism, and strong management.

6
 LEADER MANAGER MODEL

When discussing leadership, it is common practise to integrate

leadership and managers’ responsibilities. It is necessary for the LM
(Leader-Manager) to have the ability to combine humanity and
technology; finance and marketing. It's untrue to assume that a
marketer merely understands marketing.

“Finance knowledge is required, but those who work in finance

generally believe that they are better than marketing or just selling
and communicating”.

When it comes to marketing, the goal is to outperform the

competitors. The integration of finance and marketing is the first step,
and the second step is running the business. Machines can only
enhance management, professionalism, productivity, and
improvement. However, human beings continue to be important for
leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, and invention. So let's start
fusing technology and people together.

7
 PART 2:
Bridging the Gaps in University-
Industry Collaboration
This forum is moderated by Puan Kartini Kamalul Ariffin

Chairman, SIRIM Tech. Venture Sdn. Bhd.

Professor of Management,
Catholic University of Korea

Executive Director
MariWealth Engineering & Consultancy Sdn. Bhd.

8
 INTRODUCTION:
TRANSFORMING MALAYSIA INTO A HIGH-
INCOME COUNTRY DRIVEN BY INNOVATION

As a nation, Malaysia is committed to becoming a high-tech, high-

income and developed nation based on knowledge as well as the
competitiveness. Moving towards high-income status would require
economic growth in Malaysia to be sustained by higher productivity
growth, which in turn relies heavily on knowledge, innovation, and
efficient allocation of resources. Malaysia’s main targets are:

To achieve a transition to high-income status between 2024 and

2028 – World Bank Group;
To transform Malaysia into a nation of innovators and
entrepreneurs.

The World Intellectual Property Organization's yearly publication of

the Global Innovative Index (GII) is one of the tools for measuring a
country's innovativeness. The index is a ranking of over 130 countries'
innovation capabilities around the world. Based on the ranking,
Malaysia was placed 36th out of 132 nations in 2021, and it has been
stuck in the 30s position since 2009. Though the position is up to par
considering Malaysia is ranked 2nd among ASEAN countries behind
Singapore, other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia
have been making a lot of progress in the past years. Vietnam, for
example, rose from 71st place in 2014 to 42nd place in 2020.
Malaysia, on the other hand, was ranked 33rd in 2014 and remained
in that spot in 2020. Vietnam's investment in education and
infrastructure has been one of the key reasons for the country's
transformation of its economy and innovation ecosystem.

9
One of Malaysia's targets under the National Entrepreneurship Policy
2030 (DKN 2030) is to be ranked among the top 20 countries in the
GII ranking by 2030. Aside from that, the aspiration of DKN 2030 is to
develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Malaysia that will enhance
the country’s competitiveness thus transforming Malaysia into a truly
entrepreneurial nation driven by innovation by 2030. Various
ministries have been moving in the direction of the national
entrepreneurship agenda. For example, the Ministry of Higher
Education (MoHE) is in charge of cultivating entrepreneurial skills,
while the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI)
has been leading the way to accelerate the entrepreneurship and
innovation agenda.

Between 2008 and 2016, Malaysia's start-up ecosystem contributed

RM3.4 billion to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), creating
80,600 jobs. In 2030, it was projected to contribute RM30.8 billion to
the country’s GDP. Among MOSTI’s targets are to create 5000 start-
up companies including five companies with unicorn status by 2025
that will create job opportunities in the various field of Science,
Technology and Innovation (STI).

10
 PROMOTING
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT HIGHER
EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Entrepreneurship is recognised as a key driver of Malaysia’s

economic growth target to meet an era of innovation. Recognizing the
importance of human capital in the emergence of the new technology
era, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has been maximizing its
effort to inculcate students with the skills and mindset needed to alter
the existing market and create new jobs. Most of the entrepreneurship
programs at universities are focused on encouraging students to look
at entrepreneurship as a profession of choice and not only as a
fallback option in the event that they have no other options. Under the
Entrepreneurship Action Plan (EAP) 2016-2021, the Job Creator
Framework was introduced to strengthen the learning support system
for students and alumni.

Promoting entrepreneurship in the university system began with the

industry-academia council. The involvement of industry captors in
entrepreneurship education at universities enables students as well as
academia to understand things that actually going on at the industrial
level. Based on the data of registered business from SSM, Malaysia
have been making progress toward the goal of an entrepreneur to the
population of 1:30 in a manner that may be described as sluggish but
steady.

11
 APPLIED VERSUS GENERIC
RESEARCH

In a fast-moving world, change is the only constant. Higher Learning

Institutions (HLIs) must be transformed from traditionally focused on
its two main objectives; teaching and research, to the so-called third
mission or the collaboration between the university and external
stakeholders as part of university students' training. This so-called
entrepreneurial university needs to respond to a knowledge-based
economy and prepare students with the necessary skills to be
competitive, not only locally but globally. An entrepreneurial university
is oriented towards and strategically positioned to deliver a range of
societal contributions, focusing on economic impacts. Nonetheless,
the full benefit of knowledge to the economy can only be realised if
there is strong collaboration between all the stakeholders including
the university, industry, government and society.

However, World Bank Report 2020 reported that Malaysian firms

have low uptake of indigenous technologies, low R&D expenditure
and high dependency on foreign technology. This innovation chasm is
due to a lack of collaboration between academia and industry. Moving
forward, university, entrepreneur and industry have to work hand in
hand and understand the need of one another.

“Academia must understand the importance of applied research versus

generic research, which is what we are looking at in the industry. As Chairman
of SIRIM Tech Venture (STV), I am exploring different ways to speed up the
transfer of research from universities to the market, as well as how that
research can assist SMEs and large corporations in accelerating their
ventures.”

Datuk (Dr.) Hafsah Hashim.

12
 BENEFIT VERSUS RISK:
INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA
COLLABORATION

University–industry global collaborations are one of the most

important interactions for transferring knowledge or technologies,
stimulating growth and improving innovative activities. However,
setting up collaborations between universities and industrial firms can
be difficult to achieve. In fact, these institutions often differ in terms of
expectations, requirements, and collaboration goals. Collaboration
between academia and industry has its own set of challenges and
benefits. Before proceeding with the collaboration, both parties must
understand the benefits and drawbacks.

13
 THE PROS AND CONS OF COLLABORATION
FROM THE INDUSTRIAL PERSPECTIVE

From the standpoint of industry, one of the primary benefits of

academia-industry collaboration is access to the university's
specialised (experts) with world-class skills and resources.

“When I was a CEO, we created a platform that we called the

Technology Mart or Technology Supermarket. We made a list of
all the university studies as well as the experts/researchers we
met. The meet-and-match platform enables industries to look
into the studies they want and connect with the experts they
necessitate. In other words, the platform enables industries to
gain immediate access to specialised, world-class skills and
resources from academia.”

Datuk (Dr.) Hafsah Hashim

Secondly, the industry partner will be able to develop and scout new
talent for hire. Working with the students, industries will be able to
scout for first-class university students before the students graduate.
Therefore, it was a direct capability on the part of the industry to
search for newly emerging talent.

“I know a great entrepreneur who had a fantastic time

scouting for top-tier university students specialising in
electrical engineering. He attended several universities and
invested in a top-tier university student who will work with
him after graduation.”

14
The next advantage for the industry is the cost-effectiveness of
research. The fact that some of the industries also support the
research that they desired to be done makes it a cost-effective
solution. Apart from that, industries can also get access to extended
networks and these networks are not just domestic. The international
network is important for industry players because it provides access to
informed consulting and out-of-the-box approaches. Academics and
representatives from various industries are currently engaged in one-
on-one communication, and they can obtain immediate consulting
services from researchers. The collaboration would also contribute to
the encouragement of applied research as opposed to conducting
general research.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of academia-industry

collaboration for industry players include a great deal of debate
surrounding the absence of intellectual property (IP) protection.
Looking further, the other disadvantages include restricted freedom to
share IPs as well as incompatible priorities. These priorities, which are
shared by academic and industry partners, show that certain
universities prioritise generic research above applied research.

Another disadvantage is the disparity in location and culture between

academia and industry. Coming from different cultures, both sides find
it difficult to adjust to other cultures. Industry professionals, for
example, believe that the conservative length of time required to
complete a PhD reduces flexibility. PhD programs are too long, and if
they apply the research findings, it may be too late and the technology
may be obsolete.

15
 THE PROS AND CONS OF COLLABORATION
FROM THE ACADEMIA PERSPECTIVE

The collaboration would benefit academia by providing inspiration and

new information on applied research topics relevant to the industry.
The academia-industry collaboration serves as a launching pad for
young researchers to engage and network with the industry directly,
particularly with c-suite executives and company captains. Academics
would gain a better understanding of industry trends and analyses that
are rarely shared with the public through networking.

Engaging and cultivating positive rapport with corporate leaders would

open doors not only for academia but also for students, who are the
primary stakeholders in universities in terms of career opportunities.
Furthermore, when universities have a good rapport with corporate
leaders, it is easier to secure research grants or contract research from
corporate bodies, resulting in the cost-effectiveness of research, which
is especially important for universities with limited government funding.

However, academic institutions are constrained by the limited

freedom of IP sharing. Academic research publication and teaching are
more important than industrial collaboration and applied research,
despite the fact that most academics recognise their relevance.
Universities also placed restrictions on the flexibility with which
academia could collaborate with industry.

“When I was in SME Corp, we created some Consortia coming

in from the researches as well as the industry. We work together
with academia and researchers from universities to create
Centre or Consortia aiming at provide practical solutions to
academic research and skills”.

Datuk (Dr.) Hafsah Hashim

16
 TECH ECOSYSTEM

STV has established the Technology Enterprise and

Commercialisation Hub (TECH Ecosystem) by encompassing all
activities required for technology commercialisation. It is a
comprehensive framework for addressing commercialisation needs,
with the campaign 'Connect, Collaborate, and Co-Create' in mind. To
facilitate the acceleration of the research to the industry, researchers
need to understand the Technology Research Level (TRL).

17
 “What I noticed as a key driver
that facilitates the acceleration of
research into the market, at least
when I was the STV chairman for
the past four years, is the ability
of our team to connect to the
industry to the funders. So, when
a funder wants to actually fund
their research and bring it to
market, I find that particular
Datuk (Dr.) Hafsah Hashim research is very much expedited
and brought to market very
easily. At the TRL 9 level, this is
where business links occur.
STV's role is to provide advisory
services and to match funders.”

According to previous experience, the majority of research that has

come to the SIRIM Tech Venture (STV) is only at the Level 5 and 6
levels. They are not yet ready for the market. Thus, STV spent time
collaborating with lecturers and researchers to work on their
technology development until they reached TRL 8 and 9 and were
ready to enter the market. ​

18
 UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY
LINKAGES: THE CASE OF SOUTH
KOREA
In Korea, collaboration between universities and industry is very active.
University is a general hospital of a company. The CEO of the
company is looking into the possibility of finding the appropriate
knowledge at the university because the company has had some kind
of issue. Therefore, they contemplate scientific concerns.

“Where exactly does science fit into the academic world?

Academia or Science is explanation. Function of science is
“No description, no strategy “ and a good strategy comes
from a good explanatory model. Aside from that, science also
is measurement – "No measurement, no improvement.”

Prof Kim Ki-Chan

BASIC CONCEPT OF SCIENCE TO SOLVE

COMPANIES ISSUES
Describe (Description function)
1 Science has the effect of explaining the subject under
investigation. It explains why the issue arises.

Predict
The science can then predict based on the description.
2 Science has the ability to forecast the subject of study. It
forecasts how the problem will develop in the future.

Describe (Description function)

3 They get the pre-description based on the description and

prediction. As a result, science has the function of
prescribing research topics.

19
 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) HAS THE
BEST FUNCTIONS OF EXPLANATION,
PREDICTION AND CONTROL

“I have ten years of experience working for Samsung

Electronics as a researcher and advising professor. I am
able to forecast and predict the market for Samsung
Electronics products because of my strong foundation in
research and marketing. As the advising professor, I
advised and guided them based on theory, and we can see
that Samsung performed better as a result of our advice.
Over time, I realised that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a more
useful tool for the business for which I consulted.
Therefore, I believe that discussing about AI analysis is
extremely crucial.”

Prof. Kim Ki-Chan

Companies in Korea use Artificial Intelligence to identify an employee's

resignation and prospect customers who will buy their product.
Machines can learn from experience or relationships, adapt to new
inputs, and perform human-like tasks thanks to artificial intelligence.
This is why the performance gap between companies that use AI in
collaboration with universities and those that do not is so wide. In
academic labs, many artificial intelligence technologies are being
developed. This is also the distinction between businesses that work
with universities and those that do not. Companies in Korea began to
look for knowledge within universities and formed relationships with
academic institutions. As a result, there is a greater level of
collaboration between Korean companies and Korean universities.

20
 HUMANE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

“From my experience of consulting numerous Korean companies,

my advices that are based on the humane entrepreneurship
model have been beneficial in determining the future direction of
Hyundai Motor Company as well as development of Samsung
Electronics' marketing strategy. Aside from that, I used the
Humane Entrepreneurship Model to make suggestions for
improving the service at Incheon International Airport.”

Prof Kim Ki-Chan

University and industry must work together, especially in the age of AI.
However, the process is not simple, but it must begin somewhere. It is
critical to create a scenario in which the company that worked with the
university improved its performance. The successful university-industry
collaboration would serve as a model for future projects. As a result,
more collaborations are likely to take place in the future.

“In University, the

professor is the key.
Invest in faculty and
students. Don't control
them, empathize with
them. Invest in people.
The core of universities
and companies is
people.”

Prof. Kim Ki-Chan

21
THE FOUR TYPES OF UNIVERSITY-
INDUSTRY COLLABORATIONS

Research Collaboration
1 Research collaboration is normally initiated by the industry
which is approaching the university so that they can improve
their product, improve the process, develop a new
methodology or upscale the production.

R&D Commercialization
2 The second one is more well-liked, particularly within the
industry, as R&D commercialization is sometimes supported
by a grant from the government or another institution, and
this is common in Malaysia.

Advisory Services
3 This is also normally initiated by the industry that would like
to get the university’s advice from their improvement and
new product and all.

Incubator Program
4 In some universities, there is a program called an incubator
program, and participants in this program will share their
resources and their skills. The main goal of the incubator
program is to support young entrepreneurs.

22
UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRY

Small and medium-sized businesses are prevalent everywhere,

including Malaysia and the rest of the world. Understanding the
differences between small, medium, and large companies is
necessary before collaborating. They differ in many aspects, including
expectations, requirements, how the firm is run, and the goals of the
collaboration.

SMALL SIZE COMPANIES

Small businesses typically lack experience when compared to

medium and large companies. They also aim for short-term gain. This
means that their goal is to raise money and that once they have it,
they look for additional funding elsewhere. Small businesses that
survive for a long period can expand into medium-sized businesses.
Small businesses usually required mentoring to survive and grow their
businesses.

The advantage of small firms is that they are more flexible. This is
because they usually only have two to three decision-makers; as a
result, they have the flexibility to switch to a more effective goal at any
time if they sense the current plan is failing. In other words, they have
higher tolerance to change.

23
 MEDIUM SIZE COMPANIES

On the other hand, medium-sized businesses are more focused on

medium- to long-term gain and typically have higher expectations.
They are emphasising on the potential profit. As a result, they usually
aim for a greater target or a larger grant. Some of them, nevertheless,
continue to need mentoring or coaching. Despite being of medium
size, several of them have extensive experience working with
universities and managing research, including how to commercialise
research, scale up laboratory research into a pilot project, and from the
pilot project into industrial use. That demands a considerable amount
of knowledge. Additionally, they could have less flexibility because
there are typically many levels of management. Therefore, they will be
not as flexible as the small companies and the goal is more
commercial.

LARGE SIZE COMPANIES

The main goal of large businesses is to become more visible. They

have already grown to be quite enormous. Thus, they are more
interested in visibility than one or two-millions grant. In Malaysia,
multinational corporations frequently approach universities to
collaborate on socially conscious and project-based collaborations.

24
STUMBLING BLOCKS IN UNIVERSITY-
INDUSTRY COLLABORATIONS

SCALING UP

“We have been collaborating with several organisations for some time
now. We do not use grants for our own projects, but we often get
requests from institutions and business owners looking to create
facilities like factories. From our experience in the industry, the scaling
up is not that easy. The entrepreneur is completely oblivious to his or
her own needs. The problem is that they are assuming they have
knowledge without realising that they are wrong. So, one challenge is
transforming the lab skill research into a pilot study.”

It is more difficult to transite from a pilot plant to a commercial

operation. Neither the university nor the entrepreneurs have any prior
experience in the field. Hands-on experience is referred to as "field
experience." Of course, they are experts in their field, but when it
comes to scaling up, the requirements will be different when it comes
to full production, for example, when doing research with apparatus in
the lab. As a result, when the specifications change, certain
measurements may differ and some methods may need to be
modified. Some aspects of the procedure may also require
improvement.

RESOURCES

Clearly, a lack of resources is a problem in every part of the world.

Financial resources, human resources, and other resources may be
included.

25
 DECISION MAKING

Another issue raised by some entrepreneurs is the slow decision-

making process when dealing with universities. This will only apply to
certain universities because some are more productive than others. In
certain universities, in order to make a major decision making, there
are requirements to go through numerous levels of meeting. Some of
them require approval from Senate and other bodies.Thus, reaching a
solution can take several months, which is not sustainable in the world
of entrepreneurship.

COMMITMENT

Aside from that, one of the challenges in university-industry

collaboration is commitment. Academicians, for example, struggle with
commitment issues because they have journals to publish, classes to
attend, and KPIs to meet. At the same time, some businesses' upper
and top management, particularly those of medium and large size,
have a low level of commitment to research. As a result, middle or low
medium level managers are unable to progress because the top level
is unable to make decisions. In a nutshell, both parties' commitment is
required for effective university-industry collaboration.

“We have been in this line of work for over 20

years and can draw on our own personal
experience. I founded a small business in 1998,
which has since grown into a medium-sized
enterprise. From the most minor to the moderately
significant, there are numerous challenges that
we may attempt to address. As a result,
mentoring is required for small businesses.”

Dr. Nik Marzuki

26
STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE
UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY
COLLABORATIONS
EMPHASISE ON INDUSTRY MENTORSHIP AND
1 CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Entrepreneurs no longer have the time to mentor others once they

have achieved a certain level of success. There are very few highly
experienced entrepeneurs who are eager to mentor new
entrepreneurs. Most willing industry coaches are small- and medium-
sized business owners. Therefore is especially important for
organisations that provide grants and prioritise mentoring. It is
conceivable that certain projects may necessitate outside assistance
or consulting. But there is a lack of successful entrepreneurs who are
willing to devote time to coaching.

2 GRANT FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES,

2 MENTORING AND COACHING

Compared to conducting own experiment, hiring a consultant would

result in greater financial savings. Those who believe consulting is
costly and do not require a consultant will ultimately lose more money.
Specific technical skills would be required, for instance, to determine
the appropriate machinery and equipment that complies with the
necessary standards, as well as the procedure flow or even the
process flow. If business owners buy defective equipment, they will
end up losing more money. Therefore, universities should set aside a
considerable proportion of the grant for industry consulting, coaching,
and mentoring

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3 FINANCING MARKETING

Entrepreneurs would benefit from financial coaching as well as good

marketing management. Many businesses in Malaysia, especially
young ones, think that spending money on marketing is a waste.
However, things are now improving as more people realise the
importance of marketing.

28
PART 3:
Question & Answer Session

This forum is moderated by Puan Kartini Kamalul Ariffin

29
 QUESTION 1:
How can universities be visible and how can they create
attraction for big corporations to seek their expertise?

Given that universities have the resources, skill set, and expertise
required by the industry, it is very insightful to consider them as
general hospitals. These resources, however, won't be known unless
they are visible. If the resources are clear, the industry will visit the
university in search of the skills and expertise that may be able to
identify and address the problems that they faced. From this
perspective, universities are seen to be like providing coaches and
also mentors to the industry. As both parties benefit, this would forge a
strong connection. Universities, for instance, are very savvy in cutting-
edge fields like AI and big data analytics. Working with industries will
increase the lecturers' and researchers' visibility.

“As the Chairman for Women Leeadership Foundation (WLF), I want to

highlight on the important of mentoring and coaching. At WLF, we have a
program called ‘Mentorship and Sponsorship program’.The leaders of the
industry, including the official CEOs of Khazanah and Perodua, serve as our
mentors. Depending on their specific needs, our SMEs, who are also our
mentees, can actually get in touch with our mentors. I myself have five
mentees, and one of them owns a scuba diving business. A different one of
my mentees operates a musang king business for export to China. For ten
months, we have regular group and one-on-one meetings.
After completing the mentorship programme, they will enter the sponsorship
and protégé phase. What is sponsorship, exactly? Sponsorship does not
involve sponsor in terms of financial. It actually sponsors their protégé to
penetrate into a global market. For example, my mentee who exported
Musang King to China are penetrating Indonesian market. As mentor, we
provide opportunities, networking, and contacts which are more important than
financial sponsorship. We also give them the training and skill set they need to
advance to the next level.

Datuk (Dr.) Hafsah Hashim

30
 QUESTION 2:
There is a gap between university and industry. How can
universities get organisations to be aware that universities
have researchers and have done a lot of the research?

“From our experience working with the university, the first concern will be the IP.
The industry will be somewhat hesitant to share the intellectual property if the
research idea originated there. However, if the IP originated from the institution,
there shouldn't typically be a problem. Even though it's just an idea, some sectors
still don't want to share their intellectual property. That is the first obstacle.
Therefore, universities need to have a push and pull aspect in order to be more
desirable to the industry.

If you look at university marketing, you'll see that it focuses mostly on recruiting
postgraduate students, unless perhaps for UMK. I know that UMK's participation
in the entrepreneurial program is fairly active. But not all universities are active in
entrepreneurship activities. As a result, some universities lack a lot of the pull
factor. And as I just mentioned, even though companies might have problems that
need to be solved, they lack the funding to work on the solutions with the help of
experts from universities. Little did they know that the government provides the
financing for such.

Unfortunately, Malaysia is still considered a third-world country. So, how to

advance in AI or advances in all other aspects if the industry are not willing to
share yet? I mean, this has to change as well. In some organisations, especially
the bigger ones, they don’t really trust university expertise. When we asked them,
they said we have our own R&D. We have more allocation for R&D, and we also
have PhDs. You know that’s some of the reason why they are not interested
because the economies are not that big yet. If we look at the percentage in the
US, even 2% means a lot. Here in Malaysia, 2% means little because the
economy is small and the number of companies is not many. So, there will be pull
and push factor in it. So, maybe we can look into it on how manage that."

Dr. Nik Marzuki

31
 QUESTION 3:
Dr. Nik mentioned that there is still a lack of trust in the
expertise of universities. In Korea, Prof. Kim mentions that
the landscape is very active between academia and
industry. Maybe you can share the critical success factor
for how this happened, and maybe we can take some key
learnings from there?

University should act as good hospital for companies.A good hospital is one that
has high-quality facilities and equipment in addition to having good doctors who
are experts in that field. My recommendation is to foster more leaders who are
entrepreneurial rather than managers. Being a manager and being an
entrepreneur are very different things. Entrepreneurs are always looking for new
things, whereas managers are always trying to make money. As a result, without
leadership, it is challenging for the university to collaborate with the company.
Therefore, I kindly request that you focus more on people than on facilities.
Managers detest novel ideas, whereas entrepreneurial leaders are willing to take
a chance on them.So, invest in people and that is the right way to increase the
university and industry collaboration.

Prof. Kim Ki-Chan

32
 KEY TAKEAWAYS

An informal and casual conversation between

1 academia and industry would break down the barriers;

Collaboration with industry should be narrowed down

2 to the faculty level, not only the industrial level so that it
is easier for industry people to reach out to academia/
researchers for industrial solutions;

Academia should mingle around with industry players

3 and improve their networking. Both parties should
initiate the collaboration and not wait for the other
parties to start. The academia-industry networking
session should be conducted regularly;

4 The best investment is to invest in people.

33
A webinar titled "Leaders in Action" was organised by the Higher
Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) in collaboration with
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). Local and international
speakers shared their knowledge and experience in managing
industry-university partnership during this webinar. In addition, one of
the presenters discussed leadership and marketing in the post-
pandemic age. The subjects covered in the forum are crucially
important, particularly for comprehending the goals and expectations
of collaboration as well as for identifying gaps in university-industry
collaboration. The publication of this book, which is a compilation of
key themes covered during the webinar, is crucial for ensuring that
the knowledge given is made available to a larger audience.