MALAYSIA is targeting a bigger economic payoff from its medical-device industry by moving beyond manufacturing for global companies towards designing, developing and owning more of the technologies it exports.
Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said on Thursday that the shift was critical if Malaysia was to convert its established position in global medical-device supply chains into higher-value investment, better-paying jobs, stronger local companies and greater domestic ownership of technology.
“Made in Malaysia remains a strength. Made by Malaysia must increasingly become a source of future growth,” he said.
Speaking at the International Medical Device Exhibition and Conference (IMDEC) 2026 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur today, Akmal said Malaysia could no longer measure the sector’s success solely by production volumes or export value.
Instead, the country needed to capture more value from the products it manufactured by strengthening capabilities in design, engineering, research and development, software, regulatory expertise and commercialisation.
The stakes are significant. Malaysia’s medical-device exports reached RM34.54 billion in 2025, while RM4 billion in investments were approved for 46 projects, with 3,393 potential employment opportunities.
Akmal said these figures showed that Malaysia had already established a strong foothold in the global healthcare supply chain, supported by expertise in electronics, precision engineering, plastics and rubber, packaging, sterilisation and advanced manufacturing.
The challenge now was to ensure a greater share of the economic and technological value generated by the industry remained in Malaysia.
“MIDA has also highlighted the industry’s transition from a traditional ‘Build-to-Print’ model towards higher-value ‘Build-to-Design’ activities,” he said.
“That is the right direction. The next phase of Malaysia’s MedTech journey should not be defined only by how much we manufacture. It should also be defined by how much value we create around what we manufacture — through design, engineering, R&D, software, regulatory capability and commercialisation.”
The push comes as Malaysia seeks to improve the quality of its economic growth under the Thirteenth Malaysia Plan, 2026-2030, particularly by developing industries with greater economic complexity, productivity and technological depth.
Malaysia’s economy grew 6.0 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, bringing first-half growth to 5.7 per cent, while manufacturing expanded 7.3 per cent during the quarter. Labour productivity per hour worked increased 5.5 per cent.
Akmal said MedTech was strategically positioned to contribute to this transformation because it brought together advanced manufacturing, engineering, software, data, clinical expertise, regulatory science and highly skilled talent.
He said Malaysia’s innovation performance also showed that the country had the manufacturing capabilities needed to move further up the value chain.
Under the Global Innovation Index 2025, Malaysia ranked first globally for high-tech exports as a share of total trade, but stood at 28th for production and export complexity and 67th for patents by origin.
“The next step is to move beyond producing sophisticated products towards creating and owning more of the technology, design and intellectual property behind them,” he said.
“We should remain excellent at making, but become better at designing, developing and owning.”
For Malaysian companies, Akmal said this meant creating pathways from contract manufacturing to co-development, from suppliers to technology partners and, where capabilities allowed, to developing proprietary products and intellectual property.
The objective, he said, was to create more Malaysian technologies capable of being commercialised and competing in regional and international markets.
Foreign investment would remain an important part of the strategy, but Akmal said Malaysia increasingly wanted investment to generate lasting domestic capabilities rather than simply bring capital into the country.
The New Incentive Framework for manufacturing, implemented from March 1, 2026, links incentives to outcomes including job quality, technology transfer, stronger domestic supply chains, economic complexity and sustainability.
“For MedTech, quality investment should therefore support higher-skilled employment, stronger local supplier linkages, engineering and R&D functions, technology transfer and greater participation by Malaysian companies in higher-value activities,” he said.
“The quality of investment is measured not only by the capital that comes in, but by the capability that stays and grows here.”
Akmal also stressed that Malaysia’s ability to compete in MedTech would depend on having a regulatory system that could simultaneously protect patients and accelerate credible innovation.
Malaysia has regulatory-reliance arrangements with Singapore and Thailand, while regulatory cooperation with China has progressed through joint evaluation.
The Medical Device Authority also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Japan in June covering regulatory information exchange, scientific cooperation, training, evaluation and post-market surveillance.
Such arrangements could reduce duplication, shorten time-to-market and strengthen Malaysia’s position as a regional base for medical technology while maintaining safety and quality standards, he said.
Domestic reforms include the Medical Device Authority’s Innovative Medical Device Review pathway, which provides regulatory advice from early development through pre-commercial stages, as well as an AI Regulatory Sandbox for emerging technologies.
“In MedTech, regulation must protect patients but good regulation can also enable innovation and market access,” Akmal said.
“This is the balance we need: rigorous standards, predictable regulation and a system that helps credible innovation move from the laboratory to the market without compromising safety or public trust.”
He said stronger Malaysian participation was also needed across the MedTech ecosystem, particularly among SMEs and mid-tier companies.
Developing specialised suppliers, product developers, technology partners and regional exporters would require closer collaboration among clinicians, researchers, engineers, manufacturers, regulators, investors and markets.
The country would also need more talent in biomedical engineering, software, data science, clinical research, regulatory affairs and advanced manufacturing.
Akmal said the sector offered Malaysia a “double dividend” — generating investment, exports, innovation and productive employment while also improving healthcare through better diagnostics, digital health, connected devices and AI-enabled solutions.
“A healthier population is also a more productive population. So, in MedTech, industrial development and societal wellbeing are not competing objectives. Done well, they strengthen each other,” he said.
He said government policies on investment, innovation, talent, regulation and commercialisation must work together to shorten the journey from research and design to validation, investment, production and ultimately global markets.
Ultimately, he said, Malaysia’s progress should be measured not simply by how much it produces, but by how much technology it develops, commercialises and owns.
“Transformation is ultimately measured by what we build, what we commercialise, what we own and what the world is willing to buy from us,” he said.
Akmal said Malaysia had the foundations to become a stronger regional MedTech hub, but the next stage would depend on its ability to convert manufacturing strength into technological ownership and higher-value economic activity.
“If we sustain this direction, MedTech can contribute to Malaysia’s wider structural transformation towards a more complex, innovative, productive and resilient economy,” he said. - August 27, 2026
