Kuala Lampur, Oct. 24 -- The 2027 budget's strategic areas - AI, digital services, the energy transition - all sound right. But beneath these ambitions lies a stark, uncomfortable reality that has gone under-addressed for years: Malaysia's R&D spending is stuck at roughly 1 per cent of GDP, and more critically, it is overwhelmingly shouldered by the government.

Malaysia's public-to-private R&D funding ratio stands at an inverted 59:41, with the government bearing the bulk of a burden. South Korea spends nearly 5.2 per cent of its GDP on R&D - roughly RM368 billion in 2022 - compared to Malaysia's approximately RM20 billion. In Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the private sector funds the vast majority of busines...