Aidil (third right) handing over a memento to Curtin University deputy pro vice-chancellor Lee during the engagement session recently.
KUCHING (Nov 2): Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is building a win-win partnership with institutions of higher learning in Sarawak via the Malaysia Technology Excellence (MTEx) programme to develop a stronger technology system in adding value to business.
Petronas said the programme was stewarded by Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM) with the support of Project Delivery and Technology (PD&T), Centre of Excellence (COE) and Integrated Value Assurance (IVA) initiatives to foster technology collaboration and networking opportunities between the company and academic or research institutions in the state.
It said recently that they had engaged with five universities in the state via a programme called ‘Petronas-Academia Collaboration Dialogue Sarawak Universities Reach-Out’, where it shared its business pain point and research focus, as well as sought deeper understanding of the universities’ expertise and aspiration.
The five local universities involved are Curtin University, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) (Bintulu Campus).
Representatives from Curtin University were its deputy pro vice-chancellor Professor Vincent Lee Chieng Chen and dean of Research and Development Professor Nagarajan Ramasamy, while Unimas was represented by its deputy director (Research, Innovation & Enterprise Centre) Dr Charles Bong Hin Joo.
Swinburne University was represented by its director of School of Research Professor Lau Bee Theng and UTS was represented by senior lecturers Dr Geno Peter and Daniel Tan Yong Wen. Campus director Professor Dr Shahrul Razid Sarbini represented UPM.
At the event, MPM’s head of Resource Development and Management Aidil Shabudin thanked the universities’ representatives for their participation.
“Hopefully, this programme will enable us to better understand key challenges faced by academia in managing industrial oriented research projects and strengthen alignment between industry needs and hunger for solutions with universities’ expertise,” he said.
“This journey of collaboration is set to continue, with the upcoming dialogue session to be conducted in the first quarter of 2023,” he added.
During the Petronas-Academia Collaboration Dialogue last year, Petronas received 100 proposals from 16 universities nationwide.
Out of that, it said 23 proposals from 11 universities had been included in its Petronas research programmes.