THE Government is calling for more local companies to come forward and take advantage of the Technology Investment Fund (TIF) to acquire equity in foreign companies or invest in start-up companies innew growth sectors.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said to date, only 10 per cent of the RM500 million TIF had been taken up.

Similarly, a RM100 million allocation administered by Malaysian Venture Capital Bhd has also not been fully taken up.

Set up under the Economic Stimulus Package, the RM100 million fund is to spearhead seed investment, nurture entrepreneurial development and generate new opportunities in information and communications technology (ICT).

Jamaludin called on returning Malaysians holding a Master’s degree or a Doctor of Philosophy, and those formerly working for foreign ICT companies overseas to take up the seed venture capital if they have new ideas for business.

“Since the past few months, only RM50 million of the TIF and RM10 million of the seed venture capital has been disbursed to successful applicants.

“Due to this, we are urging more Malaysian companies and young Malaysians with new ideas in the ICT sector to come forward and take this opportunity,” he said.

Jamaludin was speaking to reporters after launching the National Computer’s (Nascom) Pioneer Project for School Laboratories at Sekolah Kebangsaan Keratong 10 in Malacca recently.

Also present at the launch were DRB-HICOM Bhd Group chairman Tan Sri Saleh Sulong, DRB-HICOM Information Technologies Sdn Bhd (DHIT) chairman Datuk Yatina Yahaya and state education director Abdul Rahim Noh.

Under the Nascom project, two schools – SK Keratong 10 and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Simpang Bekoh in Asahan, Malacca – will have a computer laboratory set up by DHIT to test the open source computer system.