If we look at Nadiem\'s background, we imagine that research and technology at the Education and Culture Ministry is not oriented toward pure research, for the advancement of science and knowledge.
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KOMPAS EDITOR
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TANGKAPAN LAYAR VIDEO REKAMAN SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
The Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, delivers a press statement after the inauguration by President Joko Widodo at the State Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday (28/04/2021). Standing on the right and left are the Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia and the Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency Laksana Tri Handoko.
Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim and National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) head Laksana Tri Handoko are shouldering no light task.
The two were appointed by President Joko Widodo to take up the new responsibilities on Wednesday (28/4/2021). For Nadiem, the addition of research and technology functions in the ministry is undoubtedly another burden, because for education and culture there are already many new initiatives that require hard work to be successful, especially the Kampus Merdeka (Freedom Campus) Study Program.
In concept, we support, especially programs that bring campus and industrial research closer. Students are encouraged to take longer internships and industrialists share their experiences on campus.
However, as the saying goes, "the devil is in the detail". Calculating the credit equivalent figure for such a program still needs further details. Then, in terms of time and amid a pandemic, we are limited in the application of this concept. Ministers in subsequent governments may not necessarily adopt this program.
We are also still grasping how the Education and Culture and Research and Technology Minister will share the work with the head of BRIN. The two institutions carry "research" in their nomenclature. Will the research at the Education and Culture Ministry be more upstream than the research at BRIN, which is more downstream and closer to commercialization?
If we look at Nadiem\'s background, we imagine that research and technology at the Education and Culture Ministry is not oriented toward pure research, for the advancement of science and knowledge, but also tends to be directed to be more downstream in nature, in line with the spirit of Freedom to Learn-Freedom Campus.
This is where the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister and the head of BRIN need to explain their respective work programs. The two of them still need to continue to coordinate to avoid overlapping and duplication.
We also remember another obstacle, namely the budget. There are other countries in the Asian region that reach 2 percent or more of gross domestic product (GDP). Indonesia is still at 0.25 percent of GDP. This is also spread across various institutions, which is likely to lead to duplication and inefficiency.
For BRIN, the challenges are not easy either. In the 13th edition of the Global Innovation Index, September 2020, Indonesia\'s position was in 85th place, unchanged for three consecutive years
in a survey of 131 countries. The factors that influenced the ranking included, among other things, institutions, business sophistication, knowledge and technology output, creative output, infrastructure, as well as human capital and research.
We hope that campuses and government R&D institutions will learn from the success of GeNose.
The pandemic has brought about around 1,000 innovations, but only one has been phenomenal, namely GeNose for the Covid-19 test from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. We hope that campuses and government R&D institutions will learn from the success of GeNose. In this regard, we also need to eradicate the mentality of "if you can buy, why make your own", which is eliminating the spirit of national innovation.
