TDA is an entity under the auspicious of Ministry of Finance. The inception of TDA was mooted from a Cabinet decision in 2002. TDA’s core function is to manage, administer and monitor all Industrial Collaboration Program (ICP) activities implementation in Malaysia to ensure those comply to the processes and requirements as stipulated in the Malaysian ICP Management Framework.

The role of TDA is governed by the Policy and Guidelines on ICP in Government Procurement published by the Government of Malaysia. The strategic intent of ICP is to ensure national procurements in the category of supply, works and services which the value is above the threshold are effectively leveraged to support local industry and technology development needs in contributing to the national economic growth. In doing so, TDA is guided by the current national initiatives promoted by the Government.

Through the ICP, TDA is to develop platforms for activities that the country – through involvement and support of local industry players - able to generate "positive net revenue" from investments made by (but not limited to):

• Fostering strategic international partnership;
• Maximising the usage of local contents;
• Establishing a sustainable Malaysian industrial, economic and technological base;
• Encouraging technology and know-how development;
• Strategic R&D&C collaborations; and
• Facilitating investments and human resource development collaborations.