Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Lim Kok Wing

Strategic collaboration with industry and government

Tan Sri Lim established his university’s main campus in Cyberjaya, the creativity and innovation heart of Malaysia alongside the country’s administrative capital, Putrajaya and just outside the country’s business centre Kuala Lumpur, in a strategic collaboration with the government-supported Malaysia Design Innovation (MDI) Centre.

MDI unites academia with industry and the government in an endeavour to promote design knowledge and skills, develop quality Malaysian brands, inspire the entrepreneurial spirit, promote innovative thinking among Malaysians and change the way Malaysian companies build their businesses. The ultimate goal is to help propel Malaysia into the ranks of the world’s most successful nations.

Tan Sri Lim knows that although Malaysia is progressing rapidly, it has another rung to climb before it can truly move to the next level. For decades, the country has been making products very well and selling them very well all over the world. But the best made-in-Malaysia products are mainly designed by non-Malaysians, manufactured by non-Malaysian companies and marketed under brands owned by non-Malaysians.

The most successful countries own internationally - known brands which are the most admired and trusted in the world. And because they produce the best quality goods and services which the world wants, they become the most competitive.

That is why Tan Sri Lim wants Malaysia to move up the value chain, by helping it to develop the capacity to make more Malaysian-designed products and create more Malaysian-own global brands.

And he is convinced that design plays a major role to give products a competitive edge in the international arena. That is because he has spent the best part of his life developing brands and building corporate identities.