Institutionalization of Research and Innovation in Higher Education for Downstreaming

Since 28 April 2021, the agency that handles research, technology and innovation in this country has been divided into two different organizational levels, namely the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the National Research and Innovation Agency.

For adjustment of its organizational structure with the addition of research and technology management tasks at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), the government has issued Presidential Regulation No. 31/2021, which mandates that the organizational structuring of the Ministry of Education and Technology be completed no later than 31 July 2021.

Meanwhile, the government has also issued Presidential Regulation No. 33/2021 concerning the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), which includes, among other things, the integration of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) to become the Litbangjirap Implementing Organization (OPL) within BRIN.

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Regarding the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 33/2021, on 5 May 2021, the head of BRIN conveyed three directives and seven BRIN targets to the public through a press release. We hope that the determination of governance, policy and implementation of research, technology and innovation can be completed soon so that research and innovative work can run well for the technology and innovation-based economic development of Indonesia.

The governance of research and innovation at the Ministry of Education and Culture and at BRIN must be intertwined to build and strengthen the ecosystem of science, research and innovation in the country.

College research

Law No. 12/2012 concerning Higher Education states that higher education aims to develop student potential, produce graduates who master science and technology, produce science and technology through research and realize community service based on logic and research work.

Then in Law No. 11/2019 concerning the National System of Science and Technology, it is stipulated that the implementation of science and technology can be carried out, one of them by universities. Science and technology are created and developed through research. Research and development activities that are carried out consistently can produce various innovations. In innovation there are elements of invention (creation) and commercialization.

Based on its nature that is related to education, research in universities is generally more academic in nature, which is for the creation and development of science and technology in the form of new findings, the results of which are published in various seminars and scientific journals, both nationally and internationally.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A researcher works at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology after the inauguration of the facility on Thursday (26/4/2018). The center is equipped with the latest genetic sequence devices, which makes Indonesia an international-level laboratory. The center focuses on the research to identify infectious and genetic diseases, develop diagnostic test devices and study new medicines or vaccines for infection.

The number of scientific publications produced by researchers at Indonesian universities has increased sharply since 2016. The results of this research are mostly at the Technology Readiness Level (TKT) between 1 and 5 (scale 1-9). However, in recent years, quite a lot of research and innovation results from Indonesian universities, both the work of independent universities and the collaboration between universities and industry, have emerged as commercial products.

There are quite a number of university research results that have the potential to become commercial products, but they still require further development and effort.

The thing that benefits universities in the field of research and innovation is the availability of human resources consisting of lecturers and students, especially postgraduate students. In well-established tertiary institutions, the availability of lecturers with doctoral degrees with high research abilities and experience is generally available and postgraduate students are the driving force for research.

Students take turns, there are students who graduate and there are students who get enrolled. This is very helpful for continuous long-term research work so as to enable research targets to be achieved. Things that are still a problem for research in universities in general are inadequate laboratory facilities and limited research funds.

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In some universities the number of postgraduate students is also still limited. Therefore, efforts to increase postgraduate students, both in terms of quantity and quality, are imperative for better research performance in higher education. Meanwhile, the focus of research between one university and another has not been well coordinated nationally, so there are still a lot of overlaps that are unfavorable in terms of the interests of the nation.

Government support

The support from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education which is continued by the Ministry of Education and Culture in the field of higher education research, among others, is by establishing study centers and research groups at universities that meet the requirements to become Centers for Excellence in Higher Education Science and Technology (PUI-PT) with the aim of increasing capacity and its capability to become a superior R&D institution of international standard in certain fields in order to increase the relevance and productivity as well as the utilization of science and technology in the production sector to grow the national economy and have an impact on improving people\'s welfare.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Researchers from the Institute of Sciences (LIPI) install a prototype of a wind turbine at the Physics Research Center Laboratory at LIPI Puspitek, South Tangerang, Banten, Tuesday (2/7/2019).

Other support is the establishment of Science and Techno Parks (STP) at universities in addition to non-ministerial government institutions in accordance with Presidential Regulation No. 106/2017 concerning

Science and Technology Areas and the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministerial Regulation No. 25/2019 concerning Governance. Implementation of the Science and Technology Area. STP is a vehicle to develop and encourage sustainable economic growth through the development, application of science and technology, and the growth of technology-based start-ups.

Activities at STP are product incubation and incubation of prospective start-ups until the time when the startup is ready to stand on its own.

To encourage and accelerate research collaboration between universities and the business and industrial world in order to produce research that can be downstreamed into commercial products, the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which has changed to the Kemendikbudristek, has launched Kedaireka which provides part of grants to support funding needed for joint research between universities and industry.

Another effort to encourage industry and the private sector to enter the world of research with universities and government-owned research institutions is the issuance of Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 153/PMK.010/2020 concerning Provision of Gross Income Reduction for Certain Research and Development Activities in Indonesia. In this PMK, it is regulated that corporate taxpayers who carry out research and development activities are given a reduction in gross income of up to 300 percent of the total costs incurred for research and development activities within a certain period of time.

Until now, this regulation has not been effective in attracting the business world to conduct research collaborations with universities. Socialization is needed regarding the technical implementation of this regulation.

The involvement of business actors, industry, and philanthropists in research and innovation in universities must continue to be pursued with the triple helix or penta helix cooperation pattern that we have been talking about for a long time, but its implementation is not easy.

Various schemes of government support for research and innovation in universities have more or less increased the performance of research and innovation at universities. However, this support has not been able to significantly boost and accelerate the progress of research and innovation at higher education in general. The involvement of business actors, industry, and philanthropists in research and innovation in universities must continue to be pursued with the triple helix or penta helix cooperation pattern that we have been talking about for a long time, but its implementation is not easy.

Institutionalizing research and innovation

The expectations of the community and the government for higher education continue to increase. The public and the government hope that universities are not only agents of education and research, but also centers of entrepreneurship. In addition to producing capable graduates as well as creating and developing science and technology, universities must also be able to produce innovations and downstream their research results into commercial products. Many start-up companies are expected to emerge from the results of research in universities. Therefore, the institutionalization of research and innovation in universities is very important.

The limited resources owned by universities must be overcome by exploring the potential and setting strategies. Limited funding and research facilities can be overcome by access to external funding sources both nationally and globally, collaboration with strategic partners, exploring creative funding sources, human resource reliability and building close relationships with various related communities (Utomo and Ana, 2020) . These factors determine the success of research and innovation in universities.

AFP/WANG ZHAO

This picture taken on May 14, 2020 shows a researcher at Peking University\'s Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics conducting tests at their laboratory in Beijing. - The Chinese laboratory says it has developed a drug it believes has the power to bring the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to a halt, shortening the recovery time for those infected and even offering short-term immunity from the virus.

The institutional structure that handles research and innovation must be flexible to handle collaboration with strategic partners. The ability to build partnerships with fellow universities (domestic and foreign) and industry is a demand for research and innovation success in universities. Therefore, universities must have strong institutions or units to network continuously with other universities and industry so that they can offer solutions to problems faced by society and industry with the results of research and innovation which is carried out.

The direction and priority of leading research at higher education are then determined together with the industry to produce products that support the industry. The success of establishing institutional cooperation between universities and industry determines the success of research and innovation that not only produces science and technology, but also produces downstream products that support the industry.

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided valuable lessons for universities in building collaboration among themselves and also between universities, industry and the government. Collaboration and synergy among universities and universities with the industry and government which has been often discussed, but difficult to implement, has been accelerated by the pandemic. The pandemic has made us realize the importance of collaboration and mutual cooperation in research and innovation.

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The academicians that have been fragmented in the field of science, which seem to be able to stand on their own with their advantages, are also aware of the importance of collaboration and synergy among them to be able to play a role in overcoming problems faced together. Innovations that have commercial value are mostly the result of collaboration from several scientific fields based on institutional interaction with the spirit of “gotong royong”. The collaboration and synergy of various multi-helix institutions can accelerate the downstreaming of innovation results into commercial products to overcome the problems we face and have an impact on improving the community\'s economy.

To ensure the continuity of university’s innovation through research, the institutional foundation structure must be firmly built. The efforts to strengthen the institutionalization of higher education innovation through the STP can accelerate the process of innovation diffusion to the community. Universities must prepare a new, cohesive culture with the support of reliability and institutional capacity of research and innovation. The application of good governance on research and innovation at universities will make research and innovation a pillar in building the nation\'s competitiveness to win global competitions.

KOMPAS/NINO CITRA ANUGRAHANTO

Panut Mulyono

Panut Mulyono, Rector of Gadjah Mada University

(This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko).