UTeM Leads Industrial Playground Development To Spur Industrial And Economic Growth

MELAKA, July 3 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) is spearheading the development of an ‘Industrial Playground’, based on the concept of ‘University in Industry and Industry in University’, to catalyse the country’s industrial and economic growth.

UTeM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Massila Kamalrudin said the initiative aims to integrate the academic and industrial spheres through the exploration of new technologies while strengthening the innovation and commercialisation ecosystem.

“This initiative encompasses four main ecosystem components: Technology-Industry Centre of Excellence (Ti-CoE), Manufacturing Centre, Design House, and Incubator. It forms a dynamic network that connects companies, technology, innovation, and infrastructure to collaboratively create value with the industry,” she said in a statement issued today.

Elaborating further, Massila said the Industrial Playground serves as a platform to accelerate the development of new products, advanced technologies, and cutting-edge services, as well as their commercialisation through smart partnerships with the industry.

She said the initiative also aims to establish more spin-off and start-up companies, derived from university research that have been transformed into real products.

“At the same time, it will spur the creation of new technologies involving inventions, methods, or systems that are more modern and efficient. It will also promote the creation of a skilled and high-income workforce,” she said.

She added that UTeM is taking a serious and committed approach to realising high-impact and internationally competitive projects, and several achievements have been attained.

“The four core components have been implemented, including UTeM’s collaboration with industry, which resulted in an in-kind endowment of machinery and equipment worth RM10 million from Maxeon Solar Technologies.

“The second is the establishment of an industrial laboratory focused on the development and testing of thermoplastic and thermoset composite materials for aerospace applications, in partnership with the Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC).

“The third is the development of an Advanced CNC Training Centre in collaboration with Def Advance Technologies, and the fourth is the empowerment of UTeM’s Teaching Factory (TF) concept, which introduces an innovative teaching approach by bringing practical projects into the classrooms or laboratories,” she said.

The initiative also involves the use of real-life industrial case studies in teaching and learning, and in return, workable engineering solutions are shared with industry partners.

-- BERNAMA