Fadillah: Government departments should focus on creativity and innovation to boost economy

KUCHING: Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Fadilah Yusuf has  urged government departments to engage in creativity and innovation efforts.
He said creativity and innovation had been identified as the main thrust to boost the country’s economy from 6.2 per cent to 8.0 per cent.
“The current situation has given us signs that we will be the victim of modest income if we do not carry out radical changes,” he said at a 2010 Sarawak Federal Secretary Award Night on Friday.
He said innovation would become the core culture in all departments for the country to achieve its aim of becoming a developed country by 2020.
“Innovation in the context of public service is to produce creative ideas that could improve the quality and productivity in delivering the service.”
“These ideas could be gained from inside or outside or through the process of research and development (R&D), regarded as new ideas or merely an adaptation for the usage of departments or agencies according to their needs,” he said, adding innovation could be in the form of product, service, process or technology.
The Sarawak Federal Secretary Datuk Md Yahya Basimin hoped departmental heads could play their role as the catalyst of quality and innovation initiatives in their departments. He said the government had implemented various initiatives with an aim to inculcate the excellent working culture among government staff.
“Programmes like these are able to give motivation to be more creative to produce new findings that could contribute to the development of organisation, society and country,” he said.
Giat Mara Sadong won in the technical category while the Education Department in the management category, both under the innovation award.
The website award went to the Health Department.


Posted on December 12, 2010, Sunday