Left to right: Professor Graham Kendall, CEO; Tuan Haji Sharuddin Jaafar, Board Member; Fion Fah, Business Development Manager; Manjit Kaur, Senior Deputy Director, R&D Design Division, Malaysian Investment Development Authority; Tan Sri Mustafa Mansor, C
Nottingham MyResearch Sdn Bhd, the first company fully owned by a private university that has been awarded MIDA R&D was recently launched in a ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur.
The event also witnessed the signing ceremony of the first Nottingham MyResearch contract with Havys Palm Oil Mill Sdn Bhd, a leading crude palm oil producer in Malaysia. The project will look at an Integrated-aerobic Bioreactor System for the Treatment of POME (Palm Oil Mill Effluent) and co-digestion with underutilised crop biomass waste.
“This is the first time that a company owned by a private university has been granted R&D MIDA status. We are very grateful to MIDA for affording us this exciting opportunity. But this is only the start. We are now looking forward to working with a wide range of companies, who wish to access university expertise. It appears to me to be a win-win situation.
The companies have access to world leading researchers and they are able to benefit from the double taxation benefits that an R&D MIDA status company provides. The University is able to work on an exciting variety of real world problems that can inform both their research and teaching,” said Professor Graham Kendall, CEO of MyResearch.
Nottingham MyResearch is a fully owned entity of The University of Nottingham in Malaysia Sdn. Bhd (UNiM). It serves as a body to connect the business community with researchers at the University of Nottingham, both on its Malaysia campus as well as its campuses in the UK and China.
The launch was marked by a number of keynote talks by Professor Christine Ennew, Board member of MyResearch and CEO & Provost of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and Pro-vice Chancellor of the University of Nottingham; Manjit Kaur, Senior Deputy Director, R&D Design Division of Malaysian Investment Development Authority and Professor Graham Kendall, Chief Executive Officer of Nottingham MyResearch and Nottingham MyRIAD and Vice-Provost (Research and Knowledge Exchange) of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
“I would like to congratulate the board members and management team at MyResearch on this special occasion. University research offers many opportunities for business whether through the commercialisation of innovations or the development of solutions to business problems. MyResearch is a “one stop shop” to enable businesses in Malaysia and the region gain access the University’s outstanding research capabilities” said Professor Christine Ennew.
“One of the benefits of working with the University of Nottingham is that we have campuses in the UK and China, as well as Malaysia. This provides us with greater access to expertise from one of the world’s leading universities,” said Professor Kendall
The formal part of the launch was followed by the networking event that enabled the University and companies to talk, and to discover a little about the capabilities of MyResearch
The attendees at the launch ceremony included, Tan Sri Mustafa Mansor, Chairman of MyResearch; Board Members, Haji Sharuddin Jaafar, Chow Kok Choy and Professor Sayed Azam-Ali; Jason Feehily, Alternate Board Member of MyResearch and the University’s Asia Business Centre; Dr. Angelina Yee, Director of Operations, MyResearch and Fion Fah, Business Development Manager, MyResearch.
For more information on MyResearch, please contact Fion Fah (fion.fah@nottingham.edu.my) or Dr. Angelina Yee (angelina.yee@nottingham.edu.my).
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More information is available from Josephine Dionisappu, PR & Communications Manager on + 6 (03) 8924 8746, josephine.dionisappu@nottingham.edu.my.
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 42,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also one of the most popular universities among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the World’s Top 75 universities by the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy &sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its research into global food security.
Impact:The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fundraising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future.
Posted on 4th December 2013