By Amar Shah Mohsen
SHAH ALAM, Oct 17 — Not content with being the most developed state in the country, Selangor aims to push boundaries in the field of innovation via an all-encompassing approach that encourages the involvement of all segment of the society.
Executive councillor for innovation Dr Fahmi Ngah said the state advocates both civil servants and those outside the administration to continuously contribute new ideas in a bid to foster a culture of innovation.
On the government front, Fahmi pointed out that the state had established the Selangor Public Service Innovation Council (MPIPANS) a few years back, an initiative under the State Secretary Office that serves as a convention to encourage the involvement of civil servants in innovation development.
The ultimate goal, he said, is to improve the delivery of state’s services and introduce new innovative products that can be utilised by the people.
“Specifically, MPIPANS focuses on two primary fields, namely social innovation and service delivery,” he said on RTM’s Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme today.
“In the field of social innovation, we gather input from the users themselves. Service delivery, meanwhile, focuses on the process of digitising government services.”
To better promote public servants’ involvement, Fahmi said the state offers lucrative cash prizes each year for the best ideas, including RM15,000 for the winning entry and RM10,000 and RM7,000 for second and third places respectively.
Fahmi said to further foster innovation, the state government also conducts the annual Selangor State Innovation Award (AINS), which comprises seven different categories.
Other than three categories that involve the participation of government servants — local council (PBT), district and land office (PDT), and agencies other than PBT and PDT — AINS also accept entries from those who are not part of the state administration.
Specifically, these categories are for the private sector, higher education institutions, schools, and grassroots.
“This means even the uncles and aunties can participate if they have innovative ideas,” Fahmi said.
For AINS, the winners of each category will receive a cash prize of RM5,000, while runners-up will get RM2,500.
A special award with a RM3,000 prize will also be given to the best overall product.
Fahmi’s interview with RTM today comes ahead of the four-day Selangor International Business Summit 2023 which kicks off this Thursday at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
The event will feature six primary segments, namely the ninth Selangor International Expo Food and Beverage; eighth Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention; fourth Selangor Research and Development Innovation Expo; ninth Selangor International Expo; seventh Selangor Asean Business Conference; and third Selangor Industrial Park Expo.
