Message from Vice Chancellor, UMP

Abstract

Assalamualaikumwarahmatullahiwabarakatuh and Salam i MalaysiaFirst and foremost, I want to thank the International Conference Mechanical Engineering Research (ICMER) organisers for inviting me to address and officiate at this conference. It is a privilege and an honour for me on this momentous occasion to grace the ceremony. The ICMER provides a platform to bring together not only researchers but also postgraduate students in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Biomechanical Engineering, Material Engineering and Industrial Engineering. With this platform, ICMER will embark on a whole process of making new discoveries and then translating them into products and services for the marketplace; this is only made possible by people like all of you. It might be only a starting point but with hard work and perseverance I am sure you will succeed with flying colours. As one of Malaysia's Public Universities, UMP's main challenge is to remain competitive and relevant by offering high quality technical academic programmes and research activities, focusing on its niche areas. New knowledge and findings cannot be generated without research and development (R&D); therefore, Malaysia has had substantial investment in research and development facilities. These efforts will undoubtedly generate lots of interesting results and new knowledge as either further investigation or commercial activities. Therefore, researchers like you must see this as the generator of new knowledge to extend your research outcomes from laboratory experiments to the marketplace and towards commercialisation. Naybe this doesn't appear significant in the short term but it may make a tremendous impact in the future. The Malaysian government has invested a huge sum of Ringgits in R&D over the years. Therefore, public universities such as UMP must produce more quality researchers and graduates to ensure Malaysia reaps the returns from these investments and consequently progressive economic growth for the country. Commensurate with these efforts, the results of research must be commercialised effectively. That is why our 2nd KRA UMP's 2011–2015 Strategic Plan determines that we strengthen and sustain its financial support by allocating research grants and industry collaboration and consultations through its business and commercialisation unit. Commercialisation of research outcomes doesn't happen naturally. It may need many man-hours and effort to be invested rather than just purchasing new tools and equipment for laboratories. Moreover, it would be unfortunate if many research results remain in the form of technical publications and scientific journals rather than actual products. These may of course be valuable in their own right but the impact on society and economies must be the main agenda and one of the objectives of the research. The process of taking technology from laboratories to the marketplace will face challenges and pitfalls. In that case we as researchers must be responsible and willing to create a supportive environment for those who undertake this risky business of commercialising R&D especially for innovative entrepreneurship that carries out a new technological approach out from the laboratories to high-tech ventures.We have achieved many accolades from numerous competitors since we first embarked on our journey to make R&D activities play a more significant role in the economy in Malaysia. Therefore, we must keep up the pace of this journey and maintain our investment in R&D despite facing the unfavourable global financial situation because ultimately we must to remain a top and competitive player in the global economy. This can be done by continuing to produce high quality research and technology which will set a milestone in transforming our economy. On behalf of UMP, I would like to express my appreciation to the all the committee members from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering Centre for their hard work and relentless effort. Without their commitment and contributions, this event would not have been possible at this time. And with that, thank you again and wassalam. YH Profesor Dato' Dr Daing Nasir Ibrahim Vice Chancellor Universiti Malaysia Pahang