National Unipreneur Development Programme (NUDP)

Long regarded the world over as a great source of research, innovation and creativity, Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) are the architects of our human capital which will shape the great minds of our future generation.

Building on this notion, the NUDP aims to harness the abundance of talent existing within Malaysian IHLs in developing university entrepreneurs, providing them with the necessary resources and opportunities to realise their full commercial potential. Through the NUDP, we offer technopreneur development support programs and industry collaboration within public and private IHLs in Malaysia to encourage technopreneurship and institutionalise the technopreneurial skills development process amongst the IHL community.

Creating the right in-campus environment which stimulates creativity and allows entrepreneurial activity to thrive:

-          The NUDP is designed to provide proper facilitation to identify viable innovative ideas which can be nurtured and developed into real commercial enterprises with marketable products and solutions. This includes establishing a formal commercialisation process within IHLs that will integrate technology commercialisation and entrepreneurship programs into one seamless process.

-          TeDD conducts, on a regular basis, entrepreneurship and technology seminars, business plan writing and fund-raising clinics and workshops, as well as business plan competitions for the IHL community. Assistance is also offered to IHLs in establishing student technopreneur clubs and facilitating knowledge sharing and networking between faculties and inter-universities.

-          A key long-term focus also is to encourage IHLs to expand and integrate entrepreneurship courses or subjects into all degree courses; and institute changes to the University Act which inhibits the creation of spin-off ventures from IHLs, such as policies on Intellectual Property (IP) and Equity ownership by IHL faculty members.

Facilitating research commercialisation in IHLs:

-          A vast amount of research and development (R&D) is undertaken in IHLs which can potentially be translated into commercial value. Part of the NUDP initiative is aimed at tapping into this rich bank of R&D ideas, and offer facilitation and assistance to bridge the gap between R&D and commercialisation-to-market to eventually generate competitive high-value spin-off ventures, start-ups and sustainable ICT SMEs that will drive the creation of new wealth in a knowledge-based economy.

-          The University-Industry Commercialisation Collaboration Forum (UICCF), hosted bimonthly, seeks to encourage IHLs to transform their research into business ventures and facilitate linkages between IHLs, industry and the investing community. This platform allows researchers to showcase their projects to funding bodies, and at the same time, ensure that these research projects meet industry/market needs. Workshops are conducted to assist promising researchers in developing compelling business plans and successfully pitching their ideas to potential investors. Viable research projects identified through this forum will be aided with pre-seed funding, commercialisation opportunities for the development of proof-of-concepts and prototypes and/or other forms of partnerships/collaborations to bring these innovative ideas to market.

If you are an undergraduate, postgraduate, researcher or faculty member of any IHL, with a viable idea and an entrepreneurial inclination, we can help you. Please contact:

Ø       contact@technopreneurdevelopment.net.my