CRADLE, TeAM IN PARTNERSHIP

Collaboration Aimed At Boosting Malaysia ’s Technopreneurial Growth

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 – Cradle Investment Programme (CIP), a fund managed by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM), which will see both parties collaborating to boost to the country’s technopreneurial growth.

The MoU signed today, saw representatives from both parties which included Cradle Fund’s Chairman Dato’ Sallehuddin Othman, its Chief Executive Officer Nazrin Hassan and Senior Vice President Kasmawati Sulong.

TeAM was represented by Renuka Sena, Deputy President 1 and Koh Lee Ching, the organization’s Honorary Secretary.

According to Dato’ Sallehuddin, while Cradle would continue its role in providing pre-seed funding for technology related ideas and commercialisation support to the technopreneurs, the partnership with TeAM would see an increase in the quality of technology ideas to produce more commercially viable ventures.

“The move would churn and boost the number of successful technopreneurs in the country, and in the long run narrow the gap in the innovation value chain -- from the generation of ideas to the commercialization stage.”

He added that CIP and TeAM are two of the early industry pioneers of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and linkages concept, and the MoU signed today illustrates CIP’s belief in the importance of collaboration, mentoring and partnerships to ensure benefits are gained by technopreneurs in ensuring the quality and long-term sustainability of their ideas and ventures.

The partnership, said Dato’ Sallehuddin, would strengthen Cradle’s conviction that technopreneurs should not work in a vacuum and that they need a community to grow which could lead to various opportunities including idea marketability and enhancement.

“The collaboration with TeAM inculcates the spirit of networking, especially amongst the younger technopreneurs who may not have had much experience within the business and technology industry.”

The CIP and TeAM partnership will result in both parties establishing various programmes – the first of which is the Idea Reflow Programme, which would see TeAM assisting CIP applicants to modify as well as enhance their ideas or business models for the purpose of obtaining the grant. This serves to increase the number of successful applicants to CIP, but without compromising on the quality of ideas.

The Idea Refinement and Monitoring Programme, on the other hand, would focus on successful CIP applicants where TeAM would provide guidance, recommendations and suggestions for idea improvements during the disbursement and monitoring phase of the CIP grant.

In addition to the two programmes, CIP and TeAM will also collaborate to assist CIP applicants in other areas including technopreneur development, strategy and business models, branding and marketing as well as issues related to intellectual property and legal matters.

According to Renuka Sena of TeAM, the collaborative efforts will be conducted via various means including trainings, brainstorming sessions and one-to-one discussions.

Commenting on the partnership, Renuka said, “We are pleased to be working with Cradle and assisting the country’s technopreneurs in refining and enhancing their ideas to meet the requirements of the CIP funding, not to mention produce more commercially viable products and services”.

“We believe that such partnerships could assist local technopreneurs to overcome various obstacles and to address the changing needs faced by aspiring technopreneurs, with TeAM assuming the role of advisor to technopreneurs to ensure the success of the technology idea.

“The collaboration, we believe, could be one of the catalysts to stimulate the growth of Malaysian technopreneurs and the generation of better quality ideas for an innovative society with technology oriented ideas,” she added.

CIP is Malaysia ’s first development and pre-seed funding programme that enables budding innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs to transform their raw technology ideas into commercially viable ventures.

It recently announced a revamp of its pre-seed funding, now known as CIP Catalyst, where individuals with technology-oriented ideas can now apply for conditional grants comprising a maximum of three conditional tranches of up to RM50,000 per tranche to groups of innovative individuals for their technology ideas in the ICT, non-ICT and high-growth technology industries. A sum of RM100 million has been allocated by MOF for this programme, which began in June 2003.

CIP Catalyst has expanded the ambit of funding areas from just the development of prototype, proofs of concept and / or business plans, to include purchase of market feasibility research, Intellectual Property (IP) search and registration, surveys on concrete statistical data and product sampling expenses.

Since its inception in 2003, CIP has disbursed a total of RM15.7 million to some 270 innovative entrepreneurs and to date has successfully commercialized about 42 percent of the completed ideas it has funded – one of the highest thus far throughout the nation.

CRADLE与 TeAM缔结伙伴关系
旨在促进大马科技创业领域的成长

（吉隆坡30日讯）财政部旗下由摇篮基金公司 (Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd) 管理的摇篮投资专案(Cradle Investment Programme, 简称CIP)与Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (简称TeAM) 已签署了一份谅解备忘录，双方将合力促进大马科技创业领域的成长。

出席今日备忘录签署仪式的，包括摇篮基金公司主席Dato’ Sallehuddin Othman、首席执行员Nazrin Hassan和高级副总裁Kasmawati Sulong。

TeAM则是由第一副主席Renuka Sena和该协会的名誉秘书长Koh Lee Ching代表。

根据Dato’ Sallehuddin表示，摇篮基金将继续充当提供前种子资金 (pre-seed funding) 的角色，给予科技为基础的原创构想商业化支援，以支撑国内的科技创业家，摇篮基金与TeAM 的合作，将目睹更多有素质的原创构思，开发为商业化的投资。

“这项行动有助于孕育更多科技创业家，提高成功人数，长远能够拉近-从开发构思至商业化商品阶段-鸿沟。”

他补充说，摇篮投资专案和TeAM，两者是在创业生态环境 (entrepreneurial ecosystem) 和思想概念连结的工业领域的先驱。今日签署的谅解备忘录，阐明了摇篮投资专案对于合作、引导和合伙的重要信念，这无疑有利于科技创业家，确保他们的构想与投资维持一定水平和永久性。

Dato’ Sallehuddin说，这项合伙关系将巩固摇篮基金的信念，即科技创业家不应流于空谈， 他们需依靠社群成长并融溶入其中，因为这将引导他们迈向更多良机，包括让构想走向市场化及获得改善。

“我们与TeAM的合作将提倡互动的精神，尤其让缺乏商业和科技领域经验的年轻一代科技创业家参与。”

摇篮投资专案与TeAM的合伙将促使双方推动更多计划，第一项是“构想流回专案”(Idea Reflow Programme) ，透过这项专案，TeAM将协助摇篮投资专案申请者修改及改善他们的构想或商业模式，让他们成功获取辅导金。在未对构想水平作出妥协的情况下，专案冀望增加成功申请摇篮投资专案的人数。

另一方面，通过“构想精致与监护专案”(Idea Refinement and Monitoring Programme)，TeAM 也将于拨出辅导金和监督阶段，为成功申请摇篮投资专案的人，提供构想方面的咨询、建议、意见和改善构想。

除了上述两项专案，摇篮投资专案和TeAM也将在其他方面合作，协助专案申请者，包括科技创业发展、策划与商业模式、建立品牌与市场行销及有关知识产权与法律事务。

来自TeAM的 Renuka Sena指出，两者的合作包括进行培训、脑力激荡会议和一对一讨论。

对于这项合伙关系，Renuka说：“我们感到欣慰能与摇篮基金合作，协助国内的科技创业家改善和提升构想，以符合摇篮投资专案辅导金所列下的规定，并且生产更多具商业价值的产品和服务。”

“我们深信这项合伙将援助科技企业家克服各种障碍和求变，TeAM将扮演指导顾问的角色，以确保他们的构想成功。”

她补充：“我们相信，这项合伙关系将作为催化剂，激发大马科技创业家的成长及打造卓越素质的科技构想。”

摇篮投资专案是大马第一个前种子资金专案，协助创意家和雄心创业家，将科技为基础的原创构想实现成具商业价值的投资。

最近该公司宣布整顿其前种子资金，至今，该资金已命名为摇篮投资专案催化剂 (CIP Catalyst) 。拥有科技以基础的构想的人，可申请条件性辅导金，本案共分三期，每期资金拨出高达5万令吉，给予在资讯工艺、非资讯工艺和高成长率的科技工业具备创新构思的人。财政部从2003年6月开始，已拨出1亿令吉给予本专案。

摇篮投资专案催化剂已扩大辅导金涵盖的范围，不只涵盖发展原型产品、验证构想、以及/ 或商务企划，还加入了市场可行性研究、知识产权的搜寻与注册、具体的统计数据调查及产品抽样调查开销。

自2003创办以来，摇篮投资专案已拨出总值1570万令吉予270名创意企业家，目前已成功商业化42% 该专案的融资构想，是国内最高成功率之一的专案。