Malaysia Can Benefit Much From Saarland State's Research Institutes

By Mansurah Raisa Ab Rahim KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian companies planning to enter the European market have been invited to actively invest in various industries in Saarland, Germany. The general manager of the Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC) Thomas Brandt said Saarland, located in the southwestern portion of Germany, is a modern and highly sophisticated economic and science state. It has a lot of core competences, whilst its industry profits from the renowned research institutions and high quality of the Saarland University. Brandt also said Saarland is an important state located at the center of business for Europe and leverages more on the research institutes to commercialise products. "Malaysia needs to establish strong research institutions to experience a very fertile and fruitful landscape for research and product development," he told Bernama at an interview here Monday. Brandt is confident Malaysia will benefit greatly from the investment relationship with Saarland, as more research is needed, with products easily becoming outdated as players like China dominate the world economy. He said in Germany, 95 per cent of the research and invention of products, comes from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of the country's economy, while contributing 70 per cent to the GDP. "SMEs are the backbone of the German economy as they are very inventive in developing new products and bring them to different product cycle stages," he added. Brandt sees strong potential in Saarland establishing a bilateral relationship with Malaysia because of the government's vision to fuel the nation's economy by emphasising the role played by SMEs. "By establishing a bilateral relationship, Malaysia can benefit from our technology transfer, which is the product of the research institutes to create new companies locally," he explained. He urged Malaysian companies to be as active as those from Singapore and China to penetrate further the German market as it is the largest economy in Europe. "Malaysian companies should actively move out and Saarland, is therefore, a very good partner in terms of access to the European market," Brandt said. Meanwhile, a German business delegation comprising mostly delegates from Saarland, is on a two-day visit starting Monday, to Malaysia. The MGCC is assisting the delegation in their search for potential business partners for investments, bilateral trade, joint ventures and other forms of cooperation. -- BERNAMA