One year into his leadership of MIMOS Berhad, decades of engineering, industry and national technology experience are converging into a bigger mission — building an institution ready for Malaysia’s technological future.
On 14 July 2025, Dr Saat Shukri Embong formally assumed the role of President and Group Chief Executive Officer of MIMOS Berhad.
For many organisations, the appointment of a new CEO marks the beginning of a new chapter.
At MIMOS, it was different.
Dr Shukri was not stepping into an unfamiliar institution. He had been part of MIMOS since 2010, leading research, technology development, corporate strategy and technology ventures before being entrusted with its overall leadership. He had also served as Acting President and CEO since December 2023.
More importantly, he brought with him more than three decades of experience spanning engineering, semiconductors, research, industry, national technology policy, commercialisation and institution building.
One year later, perhaps the more meaningful question is not simply what has Dr Shukri achieved?
It is:
What is MIMOS becoming under his leadership?
And increasingly, the answer is becoming clearer.
A Lifetime of Experience, Applied to One Responsibility
Dr Shukri’s career began not in a boardroom, but in engineering and semiconductor environments.
His professional journey took him through major technology organisations including Motorola, ON Semiconductor, STATSChipPAC, Infineon Technologies, Texas Instruments and Freescale Semiconductor, where he gained experience across research and development, product development, manufacturing, quality, reliability, technology transfer and international operations.
Along the way came inventions, patents, products and leadership responsibilities across Asia and Europe.
These experiences taught him an important lesson:
Technology only creates value when it works in the real world.
That philosophy followed him into his subsequent work with the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) and the Office of the Science Advisor to the Prime Minister, where the questions moved from engineering problems to national ones: how Malaysia builds technological capability, strengthens innovation and turns knowledge into economic and national value.
When he returned to MIMOS, he brought an unusual combination of perspectives.
He understood the engineer.
He understood industry.
He understood government and national strategy.
And he understood the challenge of turning technology into something people and markets can actually use.
Today, those experiences converge in one responsibility: leading MIMOS into its next chapter.
From “What Can We Invent?” to “What Can We Solve?”
MIMOS has a proud history of research excellence, technological innovation and national contribution.
Dr Shukri’s leadership has not been about replacing that heritage.
It has been about asking what that heritage must become for the next generation.
One of the clearest shifts has been towards connecting research more deliberately with real-world problems, industry needs and market opportunities.
The question is no longer only:
What technology can we develop?
It is also:
What problem can this technology solve?
That shift has implications across the innovation journey, from research and intellectual property to product development, partnerships, deployment and commercialisation.
Under Dr Shukri’s leadership, MIMOS’ Go-To-Market agenda has increasingly focused on giving commercially ready Malaysian technologies pathways into pilots, partnerships and international markets.
The objective is bigger than generating revenue.
It is about creating a sustainable cycle:
Research → Technology → Product → Market → Value → Reinvestment.
For a national R&D institution, successful commercialisation means more than financial returns. It can create industrial opportunities, strengthen Malaysian intellectual property, develop talent and generate resources to support the next generation of innovation.
That is the institutional cycle Dr Shukri is seeking to build.
Building Technology Capability for Malaysia
Another defining theme of his leadership is technology sovereignty.
For Dr Shukri, sovereignty does not mean Malaysia developing technology in isolation.
It means having sufficient indigenous capability, intellectual property, infrastructure and talent, alongside strong international partnerships, to ensure Malaysia has meaningful choices in technologies critical to its future.
This thinking is reflected in MIMOS’ work across semiconductors, advanced electronics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, trusted technologies, blockchain and quantum intelligence.
These are not simply technology trends.
They are increasingly connected to Malaysia’s economic resilience, competitiveness and strategic future.
Dr Shukri’s own semiconductor background gives particular relevance to this agenda.
Having spent years inside the global semiconductor industry, he understands both the complexity of the ecosystem and the opportunity for Malaysia to move progressively higher in the value chain, towards greater technology ownership, design capability, intellectual property and indigenous innovation.
The ambition is not simply for Malaysia to participate in global technology supply chains.
It is to ensure that Malaysia also has technology to contribute, own and export.
From Malaysia to the World
That ambition is also reflected in MIMOS’ growing international engagement.
Under Dr Shukri’s leadership, MIMOS has increasingly explored opportunities across Central Asia, the Middle East and other international markets.
The significance goes beyond business development.
It reflects a shift in mindset.
Malaysia does not always have to enter international technology partnerships as a recipient.
Sometimes, Malaysia can arrive as a technology partner and provider.
When Malaysian-developed capabilities find applications overseas, they demonstrate that our knowledge, talent and technology can compete and contribute on a global stage.
For MIMOS, internationalisation is therefore not simply about expanding its footprint.
It is about putting Malaysian innovation on the global table.
Innovation Must Become an Institution
Dr Shukri’s leadership is also characterised by a strong belief that innovation cannot depend solely on individual brilliance.
It must become institutional.
In November 2025, MIMOS became the first organisation in Malaysia and among the pioneers in Asia Pacific to receive ISO 56001:2024 Innovation Management System certification.
Beyond the certification itself is a larger principle:
Ideas need systems.
Development needs discipline.
Lessons need to be captured.
And innovation must become something an organisation can continuously reproduce.
This reflects a broader aspect of Dr Shukri’s leadership, building systems and capabilities that can outlast any one individual.
That is the quieter work of institution building, but often the work that matters most in the long term.
People at the Centre
For all the focus on technology, Dr Shukri recognises that transformation ultimately depends on people.
His emphasis on kekeluargaan dan kebersamaan, family and togetherness, sits alongside equally strong expectations of performance, quality, accountability and excellence.
It is a balance that matters.
MIMOS must develop technologies, but it must also develop the people capable of taking those technologies further.
Dr Shukri believes Malaysia needs more researchers, engineers, inventors, technopreneurs, entrepreneurs and technology leaders.
And he believes MIMOS has a role in developing them.
Perhaps one of the strongest measures of leadership is whether a leader creates followers who depend on him, or leaders who can eventually take the institution further without him.
Dr Shukri’s emphasis is firmly on the latter.
One Year Is a Beginning, Not a Finish Line
There is still much to do.
Commercialisation must accelerate.
More technologies must reach the market.
International partnerships must deliver lasting outcomes.
New businesses and opportunities must emerge.
Talent must continue to grow.
And MIMOS must continue demonstrating that scientific excellence can coexist with commercial discipline and national purpose.
But perhaps that is precisely what makes the first year significant.
The transformation is not being presented as complete.
Instead, a clearer direction is emerging.
Dr Shukri has brought together decades of experience across engineering, industry, government, research and technology ventures and is applying that experience to one of Malaysia’s most important technology institutions.
His contribution is therefore not simply measured by the initiatives launched during one year.
It is reflected in the direction MIMOS is taking, from research towards impact, from technology towards value, from national capability towards global relevance, and from individual achievement towards institutional strength.
For those of us who call ourselves MIMOSians, that journey matters.
Because ultimately, leadership is not about occupying a position.
It is about what we build while we are entrusted with it.
Dr Shukri is building what comes next.
And the work continues.
— A MIMOSian
