Seek Greater Usage And Innovation To Create Demand For Bamboo

SHAH ALAM, April 15 (Bernama) -- Innovators and entrepreneurs were on Thursday urged to find greater usage and innovative applications for bamboo to create more demand for the material which has a lot of untapped potentials, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said.

"Bamboo is a material that held much promise, which should be explored and exploited to create more demand," he said in his speech at the Third Creativity and Innovation Week here.

His speech was delivered by his deputy Fadillah Yusof.

Dr Ongkili said from the economic viewpoint, it had been reported that the global trade for the bamboo industry was projected to exceed RM50 billion by 2015.

"This will be a great impetus for our communities as bamboo grows abundantly in our backyards."

He said in structural engineering tests, bamboo was proven to have a high tensile strength than many alloys of steel and a higher compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete.

Therefore, he said to further explore usage and ideas for bamboo, a national level competition titled "Malaysia's Dream Bamboo Super Hybrid Car" was launched today.

The competition is organised by the Malaysian Association of Creativity and Innovation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysian Innovation Foundation, Sirim Bhd and supported by the ministry.

The challenge is open to all Malaysians and divided into three categories namely interior design, exterior design and power or energy system. The main prize for each category is RM5,000.

The dateline for submission is on July 15 and the winners will be announced at the Malaysia Innovative 2010 Festival.