Innovation is a cornerstone for fostering sustainable economic development, improving quality of life and helping position ourselves in the regional and global economy, said Minister of Transport and Infocommunications Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha. He said this in a keynote address at the Brunei Innovation Lab’s (BIL) second anniversary celebration recently.
The minister underscored the importance of innovation in contributing to the country’s long-term success.
“Fostering an innovative environment also contributes to improved learning and skills development, which are essential for meeting future challenges,” he said.
“Countries that prioritise innovation are also more likely to attract foreign direct investments, as it reflects the dynamism and progressiveness of the market.”
The minister also referred to the Global Innovation Index 2023 report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), saying, “Brunei Darussalam recorded performance improvements in areas of innovation inputs such as education, science and engineering graduates, and information and communication technology (ICT) access.”
However, Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary also noted that there are still improvement to be made in areas of inputs, such as in research and development expenditure and knowledge-intensive employment, as well as in areas of innovation results and outputs, such as market sophistication, and creative, knowledge and technology outputs.
He said, “The areas of improvement were also emphasised in the evaluation of the digital innovation profile for Brunei conducted by Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of 2022, which assessed the capacity and maturity of the Sultanate’s digital innovation ecosystem, especially in creating an ecosystem capable of building new, competitive, sustainable and future capabilities enabled by ICT innovation.”
Among the recommendations being addressed include “strengthening the digital innovation community, networks and platforms to encourage entrepreneurial culture, investment and further increase our technology readiness”, the minister said.
The minister said that BIL’s role is to push to it to the forefront to address some of these identified gaps, adding, “We must focus on translating strong inputs, such as education and digital infrastructure, into impactful outputs that generate long-term economic and societal benefits.” – James Kon
