Science, technology and innovation minister Chang Lih Kang said while the budget for his ministry has increased in recent years, more investment is needed, and legislation will help ensure this.

“Many other countries do that (benchmarking R&D expenditure targets),” he said in an interview with FMT.

“They have put it in writing that the country must at least invest a certain percentage of their GDP into R&D.”

Although most nations lack legal frameworks to enforce R&D spending as a percentage of their GDP, countries like China and South Korea have set ambitious goals to boost R&D investment and drive innovation.

China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which concluded in 2020, targeted R&D expenditure to reach 2.5% of GDP. Meanwhile, South Korea has aimed to allocate at least 4% of its GDP to R&D.

Malaysia’s investment in R&D has fluctuated significantly over the past years, with the gross expenditure on R&D last peaking at RM17.7 billion in 2016.

As of 2020, Malaysia allocates barely 1% of its GDP to R&D, falling behind nations such as South Korea (4%), Taiwan (3.54%) and Singapore (2.2%).

Asked about the timeline to implement the Science, Technology and Innovation Act, Chang said it would first require significant lobbying and buy-in from various stakeholders.

In addition to the legislative push, he said, the government has launched the Malaysia Science Endowment (MSE), a RM2 billion fund designed to co-finance R&D projects with private and foreign partners.

“By having a fund size of RM2 billion, every year we can easily come up with about RM100 million to do extra R&D,” he said.

Despite the ambitious plans, he said he recognised the challenge of reallocating funds from other areas of interest, but stressed the long-term benefits for the country.

“It’s not about me. It’s not about (my ministry). It’s about the future of the country,” he said.