Malaysia & Japan Launch $100 Million Clean Tech Fund

Malaysia and Japan are partnering on a $100 million fund to seed green energy products and businesses in Southeast Asia.

AsianScientist (Sep. 24, 2013) – To accelerate the national and regional development and manufacture of green energy products and businesses, Malaysia has partnered with Japan-based Asian Energy Investments Pte Ltd. (AIE) in a $100 million investment mega-fund to seed promising new ideas and innovators in Southeast Asia.

A new Malaysia-based fund management company, Putra Eco Ventures Inc., will manage the investments and provide business consultancy services to green technology companies.

The Fund will focus on investments in small- to mid-size technologies and enterprises, according to Dr. Zakri Abdul Hamid, Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Dr Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Chairman of AEI and former Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak presided over the announcement at a meeting in San Francisco of the Prime Minister’s Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council. The Council consists of leading global sustainable development experts including Dr. Kurokawa. Dr. Zakri co-chairs the Council secretariat.

“This new green energy venture capital fund is a wise investment in developing a family of new technologies able to draw and store energy from renewable, inexhaustible sources such as the sun, wind or tides,” said Dr. Zakri. “Demand for these products and businesses will be again driven by consumer convenience, cost advantage and environmental necessity, and logic dictates that they will eventually trump non-renewable fossil fuels in global markets short years or decades from now.”

The fund management company will also be charged with helping revive Malaysian biodiesel industry made idle by sharp increases in the price of crude palm oil, on which the plants depended for feedstock. It will also fund research into cheaper biodiesel feedstocks, including municipal waste and waste oil palm biomass.

Malaysia’s interests in the new fund will be managed by the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT), represented by its wholly-owned subsidiary, MIGHT Technology Nurturing Sdn Bhd. MIGHT is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee under the purview of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The public-private partnership has more than 100 international and local members dedicated to advancing high technology competency in Malaysia.

AEI is an offshore investment arm of Industrial Decisions, Inc. (IDI) of Japan, which is under the umbrella of Mizuho Financial Group.

Malaysia will also accelerate its electricity smart grid modernization in a second, parallel agreement announced between General Electric, Green Tech, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

“Moving forward, the nation strives for a sustainable growth where science, technology and industry will be expected to play a key role. We hope to leverage on science and technology, including in green technology, to further transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy that is environmentally friendly while aiming to join the ranks of developed nations,” said Prime minister Razak.

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Source: MIGHT; Photo: epSos.de/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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