The government has reassured that it will be receptive to new ideas which will lead to innovation, said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

He said the country needed the ideas that could lead to innovation which subsequently, would improve the life of the people.

"We need an ecosystem, culture of innovation and education system that would encourage people to think innovatively and creatively.

"For example, parents should bring up their children in different ways and encourage the inquisitive mind of their children so that they would raise questions in respective matters," he said.

Najib said this in his speech at Yayasan Sime Darby Young Innovators Challenge 2016 Awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur today before presenting awards to the winners.

He said innovation was key for a nation to succeed and an innovative nation was one that could stay ahead in a competition.

"As a nation, we must encourage innovation if we want to progress because in an increasingly competitive environment, only nations that are capable of innovating will succeed," he added.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said Malaysians must be brave enough to celebrate failure as it was a journey towards success.

"Today, we must be brave enough to celebrate failure, ironically, because if you are bold enough to innovate, or try to innovate, some will fail along the way.

"But failure, in Silicon Valley, is celebrated as it is a step towards success," Najib said, adding that the people also should not be afraid of changes.

"Changes can be productive, creative or disruptive. However, we cannot afford to stand still. We need to innovate and be competitive as only nations that can innovate will succeed," he said.

Earlier, the prime minister presented awards to winners of the Yayasan Sime Darby Young Innovators Challenge 2016, which was won by the Robin Food team.

The team, with its project 'Turning Waste into Millions', has provided a solution via an application to reduce food wastage by bridging communities such as charity homes and non-governmental organisations with hotels and restaurants which have excess food.

The four-member team was awarded RM10,000 and a laptop for each of the members.

Themed 'Fighting Poverty Through Innovation', the award, organised for the first time by Sime Darby, aimed to encourage youths residing in Malaysia, aged from 13 to 16 to collaborate and discover actionable solutions to make the world a better place.

- Bernama