The Fifth Malaysia Plan, implemented from 1986 to 1990, stipulated that universities would give greater emphasis to basic research (40%) relative to GRIs (10%) (Cheng 2009). Likewise, the rapid rise in patenting among the leading Asian universities such as National University of Singapore and Tsinghua over the last ten years coincided with a growing emphasis on basic research. Rather than the basic vs. applied distinction, it seems that the quality of the research and its strategic focus on economic significance (the so-called strategic basic research or “Pasteur quadrant”), are the main parameters that matter.