Research must move beyond the lab, says Julaihi

KUCHING: Sarawak must move beyond developing technology and ensure locally developed research and innovation translate into businesses, investment and economic value.

Utility and Telecommunication Minister Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawi said building technological capabilities alone is insufficient if research remains in laboratories or innovation stops at the prototype stage.

He said stronger pathways are needed to move research into application, innovation into commercialisation and technological capabilities into industry.

“When we develop a new technology, our questions should go further.

“Where can it be tested? What problem does it solve? Which industries can use it? Can intellectual property be created from it? Can a Sarawakian company be built around it? And can that solution eventually compete beyond our own market?

“These are the questions that turn technological capability into economic activity, and the government has an important role in creating the conditions for this to happen,” he said.

He said this in his welcoming remarks at the 9th International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (IDECS) 2026 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today (Oct 5).

Julaihi said the government’s role includes providing enabling infrastructure, creating conducive policies and regulatory environments, investing in talent and providing platforms for different parts of the innovation ecosystem to come together.

However, he said the government cannot build an innovation economy alone, with industry, universities, research institutions, investors and entrepreneurs each having a role in taking ideas to market.

He said industry must contribute investment and market knowledge, while universities and research institutions continue developing knowledge and intellectual property.

“Investors must be prepared to support ideas with commercial potential. Entrepreneurs must be prepared to take those ideas into the market.

“And our young people must be equipped not only to use technology, but to build with it. The strength of our ecosystem will ultimately depend on how well these different parts connect,” he said.

He added that Sarawak’s next phase must turn infrastructure into opportunity, research into application and innovation into businesses and investment.

“The next chapter of Sarawak’s digital economy will not be defined simply by the technology we have.

“It will be defined by what we build with it,” he said.