The Motorola Solutions Foundation Continues Driving Research and Innovation with Universiti Sains Malaysia

USD20,000 contribution for the Novel Research and Innovation Competition 2012

Pulau Pinang – July 19, 2012 – The Motorola Solutions Foundation, (the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions, Inc.) is continuing its partnership with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as a main sponsor for its annual Novel Research and Innovation Competition (NRIC) 2012, which aims to promote excellence in research and development and spur a new generation of budding innovators among young talents by giving recognition for best research and innovation project and ideas submitted in the competition.

Key Facts
• The Motorola Solutions Foundation has been collaborating with USM since the inception of NRIC in 2008 (formerly known as National Research and Innovation Competition). NRIC is an established platform for quality projects and ideas submitted by final-year undergraduates from local and international universities. Winners from USM are also entitled to represent the university to participate in various international competitions, for example the yearly British Invention Show (BIS) to fame the good name of the university and the nation.
• Apart from medals awarded to winners, USM has also announced additional titles to be won in the competition. The Motorola Solutions Foundation will be presenting the "NRIC Best Award" and the "Moto-Invention Award" for this year’s competition to further encourage young talents towards a research and innovating mindset.
• A 3-day exhibition held in conjunction with the competition offers exposure to potential industry opportunities for undergraduates in Malaysia to widen their industry knowledge in research and development areas through face to face industry-academia interaction and knowledge sharing.
• As a part of the event, senior engineers from Motorola Solutions Malaysia will be providing personal development talk, educational sharing sessions at its exhibition booth, and participate as judging committee members for entries under the Engineering and Technology category in the competition.
• The Motorola Solutions Foundation believes that education remains a strong tenet in talent development. Apart from supporting the NRIC event, Motorola Solutions Malaysia have been collaborating with local universities, Penang Skills Development Center, Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology Center (CREST) and Talent Corp to support initiatives that will develop and groom young talent that best matches industry needs to support the nations’ transformation plans.

SUPPORTING QUOTES
Matt Blakely, director, Motorola Solutions Foundation
“USM has successfully organized National Research and Innovation Competitions (NRIC) for the last 4 years, and developed this competition into a platform designed to spur talented young innovators. Motorola Solutions Foundation is pleased to have contributed to this significant initiative since its inception, and we are looking forward to the NRIC 2012 competition.”

Professor Dato' Omar Osman, Vice-Chancellor, USM
“The NRIC event offers an opportunity for new talents to be discovered in the various disciplines of research. We appreciate the support provided by Motorola Solutions Foundation to USM over the years to promote the importance of research and innovation and provide talents an opportunity to present their creativity.”

Mohd Rauf Nasir, Country President, Motorola Solutions Malaysia
“At Motorola Solutions, we strongly believe in innovation and have spent 80 years growing our company by building upon our constant pursuit of innovation. We are pleased to support USM and government’s aspirations to nurture the next generation of talented homegrown innovators and to drive national development through an emphasis on research and innovation in science and technology”.