6 August 2021 – At the opening of the Virtual Convention on Promotion of Best Practice in Energy Sustainability COPE-BEST 2021, Prof Zainuddin Abdul Manan, the chair of COPE-BEST 2021 touched on the need for organisations to rapidly adapt and innovate in order to survive under the current challenging business climate. He highlighted on R&D intensity (company R&D spending as a percentage of sales) as a key contributor to a company’s resilience.  Fondly known as Prof Zain, the COPE-BEST chair cited the 2018 Global Innovation 1000 study which indicates that world’s top-performing companies are among those consistently recording high R&D intensity, and leveraged well on their R&D investments.

and innovate in order to survive under the current challenging business climate. He highlighted on R&D intensity (company R&D spending as a percentage of sales) as a key contributor to a company’s resilience.  Fondly known as Prof Zain, the COPE-BEST chair cited the 2018 Global Innovation 1000 study which indicates that world’s top-performing companies are among those consistently recording high R&D intensity, and leveraged well on their R&D investments.

Prof Zain said that, the lack of a platform to synergise best practices and innovations among stakeholders of the energy industry is the call-to-action for Optimal Systems Engineering (OPTIMISE), the UTM spinoff company, to establish COPE-BEST as a hub for the energy industry to collaboratively drive a resilient industrial growth through open innovation.  He envisions connecting ASEAN and beyond through COPE-BEST community of practice in years to come. 

Prof Zain, who is the CEO and founder of the OPTIMISE announced that COPE-BEST quadruple-helix collaborative organizing team that also includes UTM, MGTC and MAESCO has managed to attract more than 240 participants from among energy industry stakeholders comprising policy makers from 6 ministries, 70 private companies from SME and large corporations, 25 universities & research institutions, and also members of numerous professional societies.