SIRIM-Fraunhofer Programme — Malaysia's National Technology-Audit Scheme for Manufacturing SMEs

SIRIM Berhad, Malaysia's government-owned standards and technology body, partnered with Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in 2015 to adapt its applied-research methodology into a national scheme for manufacturing SMEs, built around four pillars — innovation management, technology uptake, SME growth and cross-cutting support — anchored by an in-depth 'Technology Audit' of each firm's production, labour, management and technology capabilities.
The programme's own materials report that 1,898 companies were assisted between 2016 and 2021, with participating SMEs self-reporting a 60% increase in production capacity and a 40% rise in sales. Independently, The Star newspaper reported that Bank Muamalat Malaysia signed a 2020 memorandum of understanding allocating RM10 million to finance around 200 SMEs specifically under the SIRIM-Fraunhofer programme, confirming the scheme's real institutional weight and its alignment with national policy under the Industry4WRD framework and the 12th Malaysia Plan.
The headline productivity and sales figures originate from SIRIM's own promotional account of the programme rather than an independent econometric evaluation, so they should be read as indicative rather than rigorously verified; the financing partnership and continued policy backing are the most solidly corroborated facts.

Read the full analysis: https://www.sirim.my/innovation-by-programme/sirim-fraunhofer-programme