This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 8, 2024 - April 14, 2024

When the Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (CREST) announced that the government was providing it with a RM30 million upskilling grant to address the talent gap, Jaffri Ibrahim, CEO of CREST, was glad that the grant’s focus was on the aerospace and medical device industries.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity for the aerospace and medical devices [industries in Malaysia] because they are high-value industries and [Malaysia has] already been in that space for a number of years,” he says.

CREST was selected to execute this grant, and a memorandum of understanding was signed on March 13 with the Malaysia Aerospace Industry Association (MAIA) and the Association of Malaysian Medical Industries (AMMI).

This push in closing the talent gap is aligned with the New Industrial Master Plan 2030’s (NIMP) goals of nurturing high-value and innovation-driven sectors such as aerospace and medical devices.

The use of the grant goes beyond upskilling talent for local companies as geopolitical factors have caused more foreign companies in these two industries to pour into Malaysia. A case in point is the China Plus One strategy, where businesses diversify their production and supply chain activities outside of China.

“The China Plus One situation [got] everybody looking for alternatives,” says Jaffri. “Large multinationals are looking into relocating outside of China and we’ve been talking to some of the bigger [players, like some] aerospace companies, and they look to Malaysia as a destination for them.”

This is due to the country having a strong presence in both of these industries. Jaffri notes that the country’s medical devices industry is No 1 in Asean with at least RM1.8 billion in revenue.

Malaysia has been doing business with some of the biggest names in the aerospace industry for years, with a current workforce of 27,500. Despite this, both industries require further talent growth, especially in meeting NIMP’s goal of 30,000 personnel in aerospace alone.

“[The] advanced sectors are still struggling, in the sense that it’s still not meeting the needs of the industry. And when you speak to these companies there is a need for us to do the upskilling and to retrain some of the current workforce to be ready,” says Jaffri.

“Part of the problem is that as we train a number of this workforce, [these new talents] become attractive to all the other countries. They’ll be attracted to move to the Middle East, Singapore and other places. But, you know, these things happen. So, we need to quickly build up the talent.”

Jaffri sees the brain drain as a continuous challenge to upskilling efforts, noting that companies need to find ways to make local companies more attractive to retain talent or to simply fill the talent pool faster than it leaks.

CREST’s strategy in utilising the RM30 million grant is to organise three programmes to attract a variety of participants to arm them with the tools and skills to join one of the two industries.

Jaffri says “the first one is the [Upskilling Grant for Industry Current Workforce] and that is focused on basically upskilling the current workforce of the companies,” which includes AMMI and MAIA members.

The second one is the Train and Place Programme which is primarily focused on school leavers and the unemployed, as well as those who are looking at these sectors as a career option.

Thirdly, the Grant to Upgrade Technical Capabilities of Educational Institutions targets tertiary education institutions to provide funds to upgrade their technical capabilities in the fields of aerospace and medical devices.

The last programme, not open to the public, is The Finishing School Programme, organised in partnership with MAIA and AMMI along with educational institutions.

All programmes are designed to cover key technology focus areas that fit the needs of the industry currently.

Jaffri expresses excitement as well as nervousness in utilising the grant and launching these programmes, as the grant’s tight deadline is the end of 2024.

“Time is running out, so we have to optimise on that [RM30 million grant],” says Jaffri. “We will give as many opportunities to both sectors in these programmes as we can, we have to promote it very well, to make sure that everybody understands it, and can come forward to take full advantage [of it].”

CREST has done most of the preparation for the programmes, such as launching their website, with Jaffri noting they have gained a lot of interest with participants waiting for applications to begin go online. “Hopefully, by the end of April or May, we will start the programmes and [draw in as many participants] as we can.”

While the upskilling grant covers only 2024, Jaffri notes that CREST is already in talks with potential collaborators about the future. The sum of RM30 million is not small, but much more is needed to fully address the talent gap in these high-value industries. In the meantime, Jaffri is focused on making the most of what CREST has.

“The challenge is to have a huge impact on the timeframe that we’re given,” he says. “We have done similar things in the past, so we more or less understand how to go about it. But this sector has to basically move quickly in order for us to optimise [the grant]. We know the people involved, we try to cut to the chase and get the funds moving [to get the programmes going].”

Jaffri says CREST will be keeping a close eye on the impact of the training and beyond to see how it affects the industry, and how their trainees can demonstrate their capabilities at work.

CREST is also in talks on what lies beyond 2024, discussing plans in the pipeline.

“There’s huge progress in the two sectors [involving] generative AI and simulation programmes from service providers abroad, who are already talking to us about how we can help the sectors beyond this year,” Jaffri says.

With the programmes set, the biggest hurdle Jaffri finds in closing the talent gap is ensuring they have the numbers joining the programmes. This is a challenge as it is not getting the word out enough to convince people that it is worthwhile to join these industries.

An example he gave was attracting new talent from universities due to the breadth of job options as many youths prefer to “earn their money straight away versus getting them to invest a bit of time to be more focused in a particular sector”.

Jaffri’s solution is to convince youths “that a career in medical devices and aerospace is a very fulfilling choice”. It is more fulfilling because it is something that the nation needs, he adds.

Additionally, he notes that CREST has been holding workshops and hackathons for students to experience the life of an engineer or medical device professional.

As for attracting the unemployed or those who require upskilling or going through a career change, the challenge is tackling the misconception that it is difficult to join these industries.

“I think there is some apprehension, where they think that [it takes a lot of time] for them to be skilled enough [to join the industry],” says Jaffri. “But we need to alleviate that fear because a lot of people went through that process and gone on with really successful careers.”

He suggests that companies showcase people with such success stories to convince those who are in two minds about joining these industries.

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