FOI PUTRAJAYA TO BE EXPANDED TO ASEAN LEVEL – ZAMBRY

PUTRAJAYA, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- The Festival of Ideas (FOI) Putrajaya 2025 will be expanded to the regional level, with Malaysia proposed as its permanent host, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

He said the proposal emerged from discussions with ASEAN higher education ministers attending FOI 2025, including those from Indonesia and the Philippines, who viewed the event as a promising regional platform for higher education and idea development.

“This is something they find unique because such programmes rarely happen elsewhere in ASEAN. Normally, government-led initiatives are held at the university level, but in Malaysia, we turn it into a national movement that engages young people in generating ideas,” he said.

Zambry said this to reporters after the FOI Putrajaya closing ceremony, officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here today.

He said the proposal was also supported by ASEAN secretary-general Dr Kao Kim Hourn, who suggested that FOI be upgraded into an official programme under the ASEAN Higher Education framework.

Among the initial proposals, Zambry said, is to make FOI an annual back-to-back event with the national-level programme, dedicating at least one day to ASEAN participation, involving ministers, professors and universities from across the region.

He said the initiative would position Malaysia as a hub for higher education thought and innovation in ASEAN, in line with the MADANI government’s aspiration to strengthen regional academic diplomacy and knowledge networks.

Earlier, Zambry said FOI, spearheaded by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), had earned recognition from the Malaysia Book of Records for hosting the ‘Most Intellectual Discourse Sessions in an Innovation Ideas Event’.

He said the event, which concludes tomorrow, attracted 300,000 visitors and featured over 120 programmes, including policy forums, academic dialogues, community workshops, university exhibitions, job fairs, robotics competitions and art performances.

The event also featured more than 200 pavilions and booths, involving over 2,000 exhibitors, and witnessed the signing of over 100 memoranda of understanding and agreements (MoUs and MoAs), as well as product launches worth more than RM160 million.

He added that IdeaVault, the Higher Education Ministry’s signature project, was created to elevate public creativity as a driver of national progress and had collected nearly 10,000 ideas nationwide, of which 500 were shortlisted, 100 finalists presented, with 15 winners announced.

Now in its second year, FOI Putrajaya serves not only as a platform for idea exchange, but also as a key forum transforming knowledge and creativity into solutions that advance societal well-being and national development.

-- BERNAMA