Sweet Fruit of Researchers and Industry Partnership

Kompas/Hendra A Setyawan

Researchers from the Metallurgy and Materials Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) made ultra fine grain magnesium carbonate from dolomite material, at the LIPI Metallurgical and Materials Research Center laboratory, Puspitek, South Tangerang, Banten, on Tuesday (13/8/2019) .

The lack of the implementation of research results due to a lack of relations between innovation products and industrial needs remain a challenge in Indonesia. However, there are a number of good examples of research relations with industrial needs that can be commercialized.

Without a partnership between researchers and industry, it is almost impossible for research or innovation results to be optimally distributed or commercialized. This has been proven by Hendri Maja Saputra, the head of the Industrial Automation Research Group for the Electric Power and Mechatronics Research Center at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

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The researchers have established a research partnership with PT Gerlink Utama Mandiri, a manufacturing company in the geotechnical and medical fields.

"So, last year, we [LIPI and Gerlink] agreed on the same goal of how to contribute to the community, and later initiated research to develop a breathing apparatus that was really needed at that time," Hendri said on Saturday (7/8/2021).

The research team consisting of four LIPI employees and three people representing PT Gerlink developed the High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC), a kind of a high-flow breathing apparatus for a patient with shortness of breath. The HFNC became the first domestically made breathing apparatus that passed the Health Ministry’s Health Facility Security Center in mid-May 2020.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

The public enthusiastically attended the Indonesia Science Expo at Balai Kartini, Jakarta, Monday (23/10/2017). This activity is driven by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) to display the research results of researchers, both ministries and state institutions, universities, LIPI, and industry.

Hendri said he did not have any problems in research collaboration with the industry. Researchers helped each other and exchanged ideas to produce the required products .

When LIPI researchers provided designs during product development, the industry also provided input for an improvement. As a result, the breathing tool could be produced within two months, although the efforts of the researchers in finding raw materials were hampered by large-scale social restrictions (PSBB).

Without the involvement of researchers, the development of technology at an industrial company would be very expensive.

The director of operations at PT Gerlink, Ruchimat, also said that the research collaboration enabled the company to improve efficiency, thanks to the use of the research infrastructure and resources owned by LIPI. Without the involvement of researchers, the development of technology at an industrial company would be very expensive.

"Considering that at the beginning of the pandemic, breathing equipment was urgently needed, LIPI decided to conduct research and we later commercialized the results of the research. We established this collaboration because we believed that LIPI had produced a lot of research results," he said.

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Up to 2,000 units of HFNC equipment have so far been sold through distributors to a number of hospitals in Indonesia. In fact, PT Gerlink is currently working on an order for 200 units from the Health Ministry.

Diaspora

The research collaboration is also carried out by a diaspora researcher, Herry Utomo. This professor at Louisiana State University, the United States, with his research team that also consists of industry people, have succeeded in developing research on rice that has a low glycemic index.

The role of the industry in determining research products that can be commercialized and distributed to the public is considered very strategic because the industry is usually more aware of the needs and demands of the market.

The head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Laksana Tri Handoko, appreciated the research collaboration carried out by LIPI and Gerlink, which had successfully produced a breathing apparatus.

TANGKAPAN LAYAR

The head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Laksana Tri Handoko.

He said the research process and research facilities owned by the government would be opened to the public so that they could be used by researchers from private companies or from other institutions.

Such a mechanism is believed to be able to the industrial sector, researchers in general and the state. The industry can take advantage of government laboratories and researchers. Then, industry, researchers and the state can share the intellectual property rights of the technology that can be commercialized.

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi)