Third, public grants to research programmes should be extended to priority sectors other than the E&E and biotech industry. In Penang, collaborative research programmes should draw together the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Universiti Malaysia Perlis and other regional higher education institutions. Collaborative programmes taking advantage of complementarities between Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Universiti Teknologi MARA (engineering) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas could tap the interdisciplinary innovation potential of the region.