The Board of Directors of K-One Technology Berhad announced that the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, K-One MediTech Sdn Bhd and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (“MIDA”) has on 6 September 2021 entered into an agreement (“Grant Agreement”) to facilitate the latter to disburse matching grants (“Grant”) not exceeding MYR 12,258,000 for the purpose of further developing and manufacturing the ventilator licensed by NASA-JPL (“Project”). MIDA’s Grant is offered under the Domestic Investment Strategic Fund (“DISF”). It is a 1:1 matching grant not exceeding MYR 12,258,000 given by MIDA which covers mainly R&D expenses, training expenses, specialized equipment cum facilities upgrade expenditures and certification fees for the Project for a period of 3 years commencing 8 September 2020 to 7 September 2023 (“Grant Period”). The Grant is subject to the Company fulfilling the Project’s deliverables and milestones during the Grant Period. All deliverables and other materials originally developed by the Company for the Project shall be owned exclusively by the Company. MIDA is entitled to require the Company to immediately repay all monies or any part thereof disbursed to the Company in the event that the Company fails to execute the Project and/or comply with any of the conditions under the Grant Agreement without reasonable cause. Otherwise, the Grant offered by MIDA not exceeding MYR 12,258,000 is not subject to repayment. The Grant is for the further development of the NASA-JPL ventilator to cater to broader requirements and specific objectives during and going beyond the COVID-19 pandemic period. The NASA-JPL ventilator has been approved by the Food & Drug Administration, US (FDA) under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Therefore, it is a product which meets stringent requirements stipulated by FDA and should not be mistaken otherwise. However, the Company is looking ahead in the horizon, during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic period. Using the NASA-JPL ventilator platform, it intends to further develop the said platform and adopt the enhanced product(s) as its own brand product line in the near future. The enhancements shall focus on widening the ventilator’s scope of applications to include other acute respiratory diseases, add-ons such as IoT enabled features and other value-adds which are in line with technology advancements moving forward. The Company expects to benefit commercially from the enhanced NASA-JPL ventilator platform by local manufacturing the variation(s) for worldwide supply in the long term. Of utmost importance, the Company’s local development and manufacturing of its enhanced ventilator(s) will enable Malaysia to be self-reliant in ventilator supply, be it during normal times or in the event that there is a recurrence of a similar COVID-19 pandemic in the future. The Grant of MYR 12,258,000 will help to defray R&D expenses, training expenses, specialized equipment cum facilities upgrade expenditures and certification fees, in particular FDA and CE marking to meet US and European Union (“EU”) standards respectively which are considered as gold standards. Ventilator technology is hi-tech which requires specialized competencies and testing and manufacturing equipment. The Company believes that the further development and manufacturing of the ventilator will make it the first locally produced ventilator in Malaysia with home-grown enhanced technology. The development and manufacturing processes involved will generate:- a) the spawning of specialized expertise in the local technical staff by collaboration with the local universities and/or university hospitals and training on specific medical protocols by medical device specialists and b) development of unique competencies in the supply chain to support the ventilator ecosystem. The Company is appreciative of MIDA’s support in offering the said Grant so that it can achieve its aspirations and milestones set. The Company views that the Grant is testimony to MIDA’s strong support to nurture local companies like the K-One Group to develop indigenous technology, along which will consequently uplift local talents, enhance supply chain competencies and earn foreign exchange via export. This is besides making Malaysia self-sufficient in critical medical devices such as the ventilator by manufacturing it domestically which is crucial in times of crisis.