With the vision of ‘Transforming Society Through Innovation’ and being a government-linked university owned by Telekom Malaysia (TM), Multimedia University prioritises industry-driven research that will generate innovations that cut across various disciplines, to be meaningful and impactful to our society. In MMU, several key departments exist to spearhead research and innovation in the university. These departments include Research Management, Technology Transfer Office, and Entrepreneurship Development Centre.
Interdisciplinary Science Research in MMU
As a research-led, industry-driven university, MMU organises its research activities under 7 dynamic Centres of Excellence (COE) which are the COE for Advanced Cloud, COE for Artificial Intelligence, COE for Intelligent Network, COE for Immersive Experience, COE for Robotics and Sensing Technologies, COE for Sustainability and Governance, and COE for Business Innovation and Communication. Within these COEs, various research centres and labs exist to drive the research activities in these COEs and they work seamlessly across labs and COEs to conduct impactful research. These research centres and labs have dedicated physical facilities and spaces as well as administrative and professional support staff. The Research Management division provides a wide range of support staff for all researchers and COEs in the university.
Measuring Interdisciplinary Research Success
The interdisciplinary focus of MMU’s COEs and research centres are essential in driving the growth and development of research excellence in MMU. Measures of interdisciplinary research success are evaluated through several measures which include but are not limited to the following:
1. Interdisciplinary Science Publications Output A target of 65% publications that are interdisciplinary is targeted for the university. Over the past few years, MMU has been able to move closer to this target with the following metrics from Elsevier Scopus. Since 2019, the number of interdisciplinary science publications by the university has increased from 311 publications in 2019 to 618 publications in 2024, marking a growth of 98.7%.
Year
Total Papers
Interdisciplinary Science Publications
% Interdisciplinary Science Publications
2019
510
311
60.98%
2020
435
251
57.70%
2021
535
315
58.88%
2022
754
497
65.92%
2023
797
511
64.12%
2024*
977
618
63.25%
* Indexing in Scopus for publications in that year is still in progress Table 1 Interdisciplinary Science Publications in MMU (2019-2024)
2. Citations In terms of citations, the university has managed to witness a steady growth in the net citations in Scopus over a 6-year window from 13,479 in 2020 to 21,560 in 2023.
3. Topic Analysis The topic analysis and scatterplots provide insights on the research output that MMU is producing especially in terms of interdisciplinary science topics that inform the research portfolio analysis process to strategically prioritise interdisciplinary research projects and their topics at Research Management. At present, the research are anchored on Engineering and Computer Science with interdisciplinary research between these two key disciplines and other disciplines in the university i.e. Business, Economics, Sciences, Energy, Mathematics, Arts, Design etc.
Figure 1 Interdisciplinary Science Research in MMU (2024)
4. Personal Growth and Development A major success metric for interdisciplinary research is the personal growth of our staff and researchers who are able to develop their skills in various disciplines. This is measured in the annual ‘Individual Development Plan’ of all staff and is tracked annually by the heads of departments to ensure holistic development of their team members. This is also a crucial element in the academic staff promotion exercise where they need to explain on their contributions with regard to interdisciplinary research and innovation.
Interdisciplinary Science Research and Academic Promotion
MMU recognises the excellent work of our researchers in their specific faculty disciplines and interdisciplinary research. Interdisciplinary research work by researchers is evaluated for the academic promotion and it is recognised within the applicable disciplines or domains in the university.
In addition, staff will need to comment on the extent to which their research and publication outputs/activities have contributed towards the development and advancement of knowledge, interdisciplinary research and innovation as well as on consultancy as a key element of their promotion submission.
Research Management (RM) serves as a depository and management centre for research grant and as information centre for statistics related to the R&I activities in MMU. RM also plays a key role in:
• Facilitating and supporting research activities.
• Managing and monitoring utilisation of research funding.
• Processing internal and external funding applications.
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION CENTRE (CIC)
The primary aim of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) is to implant and nurture the culture of innovation and commercialisation of research among MMU staff and students. It is also committed to inculcate effective and ethical research culture through building research innovation collaboration, capacity and capability in the university. We are now enhancing support for technology transfer matters by strengthening our functions and realigning the centre as follows:
•Public Disclosure
•Intellectual Property Protection
•Intellectual Property Management
•Access New Knowledge & Expertise Through Research / Final Year Projects
•Intangible Technology Transfer
•Technology Readiness Level / Social Readiness Level
•IP Business Opportunities
•IP Valuation for MMU Products/Technologies
•IP Commercialisation (IP Licensing, Know-How Licensing, Outright Sale, etc.)
In 2017, MMU raised RM50,000 to become the finalist of the Most Entrepreneurial Private University in the MOHE Entrepreneurial Awards (MEA) 2016. The centre is also working towards completing the InnoLab hub which is the centre of entrepreneurship for our entrepreneurs to stay committed towards becoming an entrepreneurial university and continuing to generate our country’s iconic entrepreneurship. The EDC also initiates:
• Awareness and education programmes to enhance appreciation of entrepreneurship within MMU.
• Entrepreneur development programmes, work space and support services for start-ups and stage funding for MMU start-ups and spin-offs.
• Partnerships with players within the broader entrepreneurship network in Malaysia.
• MMU community initiatives through early-stage funding; MMU Start-up Scheme and MMU Spin-Off Scheme.
