MIRI: The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Malaysia above New Zealand, China and Italy in terms of business sophistication and innovation, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan said here, yesterday.He said according to the recent WEF “Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010”, Malaysia was placed 24th among 133 nations, while New Zealand was at 27th, China 29th and Italy 34th spots respectively. Malaysia’s ranking in international reports can be improved further by instilling an innovation culture in the public service and private sector, he said when officiating the seminar on “Creativity and Innovativeness” here yesterday.

The Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) organised the one-day seminar which drew about 200 participants, comprising representatives from the public and private sectors here.

“Organisations are encouraged to further improve their work systems and procedures, so that their efficiency level, is on par with higher ranked countries,” he added.

He said the government had already placed innovation as the main agenda in its Budget 2010 to undertake a complete transformation of public and private sector governances, as well as the socio-economic sector in the country.

Some of the innovation processes are currently being implemented through various approaches such as the 1Malaysia concept, the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs), the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and the new economic model.

“The government is committed to ensure that innovation can be imple-mented comprehensively at the private and public sector levels, in order to advance the country’s economy to a higher level,” he added.

-- Bernama