LONDON: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) held a research discussion with Imperial College (IC) in South Kensington here, recently, as one of the efforts to realize the development of a Research and Innovation Incubation Hub at the university.
The UMS delegation was led by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr. Kasim Hj. Mansor while the IC was represented by Provost Professor Dr Ian Walmsley.
According to Dr. Kasim, the state of Sabah is rich in natural resources, particularly those related to biodiversity, marine, oil and gas that can be developed through research and innovation into high value goods.
“Sabah is strategically situated by the sea and is part of the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippine (BIMP-EAGA) East ASEAN Growth Area.
“As a result, Sabah has the ability to contribute resources, and UMS serves as the only public university in the state as a venue for collaborative research in a variety of subjects, particularly engineering, technology, medicine, and business.,” he said.
Also present were UMS Board of Directors Member, Samasuddin Yusop; Registrar, Luqman Ridha Anwar; Treasurer, Badrul Hisyam Ismail; and Deputy Director (Strategic) Research Management Center, Associate Prof. Dr. Fatimah Ahmedy.
In the meantime, Dr Ian appreciated UMS’s efforts in developing a Research and Innovation Incubation Hub.
He also shared the university’s activities in research and product commercialization.
“IC drives research and innovation results through the opening of 373 start-up companies and 370 patents from students and staff for the goal of product commercialization.
“It was successfully implemented through the creation of incubation hubs and scale spaces, creation spaces and research hubs within the university’s special area known as White City,” explained Dr Ian.
Meanwhile, UMS Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Professor Ir. Dr. Rosalam Hj. Sarbatly informed that the development of White City by IC is seen in line with the efforts of UMS which is developing an incubation hub for the commercialization of research and innovation products.
“For the record, throughout the past few years, researchers from UMS and IC have collaborated to build a strong connection.,” he said.
The potential for collaboration in the field of infectious disease simulation was also highlighted at the meeting using artificial intelligence technology, which may quickly and efficiently mitigate epidemics by detecting changes in their dispersion in real time.
In addition, a sharing topic related to ecology and infectious diseases among small animals in the Sabah area was also presented by IC Researcher, Professor Dr Rob Ewars.
Also present, Director of Borneo Medical and Health Research Center UMS, Prof. Dr. Kamruddin Ahmed and IC Infectious Disease Epidemiology Professor, Prof. Dr. Azra Gani.
