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Private Sector Called to Support Innovators CIPTA 2011 THE private sector could play a crucial role in supporting innovation that could spur the  economy of Brunei, Malaysian educators said yesterday. Prof Dr Abdul Rahman, assistant vice-chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Mara,  Prof Dr Hussin Ahmad from Technical University of Malaysia and  Associate Prof Dr Hj Mohd Idrus Hj Masirin from Universiti Tun Hussien Onn Malaysia  said during a press conference held at the Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) that innovators  need support so that they could harness their creativity to produce better products. They were judges for the Crown Prince Creative, Innovative Product and Technological Advancement (Cipta) 2011, a biennial competition. Prof Dr Hussin noted that there are improvements in the submission of products for this  year's Cipta. However, "we need to assist innovators to produce better products," he said. On his part, Prof Dr Abdul Rahman said multinational companies must play some role in  creating this environment by giving grants to universities. 'If companies in Brunei can pump in money in endowment fund open lab of world standards  for cipta and for other endeavour," he said. Prof Dr Abdul Rahman further said that innovation is important for every country to develop  and prosper. "Innovation will spur the economy; many countries in the world are prosperous now because  of a lot of innovation," he said. Noting that this year's Cipta lacks variation, particularly in the fields of photonics, biotechnology , nano materials, and biomedical invention or innovation, he said he remained hopeful that in  the upcoming Cipta 2013, more diverse products would be showcased. "I'm very optimistic of the level of products taking place in the future, because ITB (was recently  elevated) to university (level)," he said. Dr Hj Mohd Idrus said that there should be succession planning for inventors and innovators. "This is what Cipta is all about, not only come up with new products and innovation, but (to)  create an environment for new young inventors and innovators," he said. He further said that the facility to encourage innovation is yet to be available in schools and  added it was important that the infrastructure and facility must be there. Efforts to groom young inventors and innovators should also be continuous, he added. A new category for the secondary and upper school was introduced in this year's Cipta, which  is aimed at encouraging young innovators and creating awareness among young inventors.