INNOVATION AND FUNDING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY Dato Ghazali Dato

INNOVATION AND FUNDING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY Dato’ Ghazali Dato’ Mohd. Yusoff Executive Committee Business Council for Sustainable Development Malaysia (BCSDM) 1

I will confine my discussions to current developments in Malaysia generally. No doubt some similar situations may also exist outside Malaysia. 2

Current Scenario : The corporate sector is undergoing extensive change not only in the way it is doing business, but more importantly the way in which the business is being conducted. 3

What do I mean? : Changes are now taking place in the areas of: a)Corporate ethics b)Corporate social responsibility c)Transparency d)Accountability, etc. 4

All are in line towards focusing on the most important element in life and business – the individual and humanity. 5

Sustainable Development or sustainability as a value system and a standard practice is also now becoming apparent within corporations. There are now increasing recognition being given to the private sector in their practice of sustainable development by government and standard institutes and bodies. 6

In this quest for sustainability of their business and their products and services, an accompanying change too is taking place in areas of : a) Corporate policy b) c) d) e) f) g) Human Resource Development Strategies Budgetary priorities Public relations Choice of right technologies or processes in line with occupational, health, social and environmental conditions 7

Business therefore is not as simple as it used to be. In product design and service, there are now standards to be adhered too, in line with customer and marketing needs. Engineering and manufacturing considerations are now involved. 8

These new parameters will therefore require an integrated response from governments, financial institutions, research and development bodies. The next phase of Malaysia’s growth will hopefully see a qualitative change rather than a quantitative change. Again, what does this mean? 9

a) We need to create within our economic structure a flexibility to change quickly to new growth areas or innovation in products or services. b) We need to have sustainability in our programmes. i. e. not growth at all costs. We have to think of the future. c) More SME activity, to ensure flexibility. But, this will require an extensive and intensive SME development programme with the right values basing on sustainability. 10

d) Research and development either within corporations or sourced from research findings will be common e) Knowledge sharing and management will gradually be the norm of business development f) Financial and funding institutions will need to be ‘in the know’ and keep abreast of developments. 11

Summary : Innovation is the catalyst and the human and financial response must be sustainable and available to change at short notice 12

So much for now … “Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines” -Margaret J. Wheatley -Source: ‘Leadership & New Sciences (1992) 13