BRAIN GAIN MALAYSIA (BGM) DIALOGUE SESSION

BRAIN GAIN MALAYSIA (BGM) DIALOGUE SESSION

The Consulate organized a dialogue session with the Malaysian Community to promote the  Brain Gain Malaysia (BGM) Programme in New York on Thursday, 26 July 2007.

The dinner-cum-dialogue session was hosted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia (MOSTI) led by Mr. Ooi Goan Lee, the Director of Brain Gain Malaysia Programme.

According to Mr. Ooi, MOSTI has been tasked to spearhead and promote the ‘Brain Gain Malaysia Programme to the Malaysian scientists, Researchers and Technopreneurs abroad to facilitate R&D collaboration and commercialization with their counterparts in Malaysia and also to introduce the programme to Malaysian post-graduate students in USA’.

More than 20 Malaysians from various professional disciplines including finance and investment institutions, researchers, academicians and post-graduate students participated in the dialogue.

On the whole, the dialogue has attracted interests among the Malaysian professionals and succeeded in reaching out the idea and concept of the Brain Gain Malaysia programme.  The key interesting point about the BGM is that efforts to tap the expertise of international scientists do not involve relocating these individuals.  Instead it links scientists with industry by way of bridging the gap between research and commercialization.    

As this was their first outing, the brain storming session could also be viewed as a fact finding mission drawing inputs and criticisms from which MOSTI could improvise the structure and contents of the BGM programme.

Many feel that the dialogue should not be a one-off event but a continuous exercise in order to create a positive impact towards achieving the objective of the programme.