Universitas Indonesia (UI) through the Directorate of Innovation and Science Techno Park (DISTP) held the UI Innovation Festival, on 13rd–14th of November 2023, at FX Mall Senayan Jakarta. The festival entitled “Downstreaming Research and Innovation Products to Encourage National Independence” is one of a series of Innovation Month programs that UI regularly holds every year. At this innovation festival, UI presented various activities, including Business Matching, Innovation Exhibition, and Talk Show.
In the opening, the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation at UI, drg. Nurtami, Ph.D., Sp, OF(K), said that this festival was held to introduce innovative products resulting from collaboration between UI academic community inventors and industrial partners, as well as strengthening the cooperation that exists between the two. “This festival is a real manifestation of the innovative spirit of UI researchers. I express my highest appreciation to the UI inventors who have been dedicated to creating innovative products. Thank you to the industrial partners who have collaborated to turn research results into real solutions for the nation’s development. To the government, thank you for the financial support that revives research that is up to date with the current technological era,” he said.
Increasing collaboration between academics and industrial partners is considered important by drg. Nurtami, considering Indonesia’s increasingly better position in the world innovation ranking. Based on data from the 2023 Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Indonesia is the country with the highest increase in innovation ranking. Indonesia’s ranking continues to rise from 85 in 2019, to 75 in 2022, and 61 this year. Meanwhile, in the category “University R&D Collaboration with Industry, Cluster Development Conditions, and Entrepreneurship and Cultural Policies”, Indonesia is ranked 5th in the world.
Deputy Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Resident Mission, Renadi Budiman, also sees the importance of downstreaming innovative products produced by academics. According to him, the aims of the UI Innovation Festival—namely commercializing research results, building a startup ecosystem, as well as startup demo day pitching—are in line with the mission of the Promoting Research and Innovation through Modern and Efficient Science and Techno Park (PRIME STeP) project which is being run by ADB together with the government on four campuses, namely UI, IPB, ITB and UGM.
He said, “We are happy to have supported UI STP in promoting research and innovation in a more modern direction. The PRIME STeP project started earlier this year and will be implemented over the next five years. Through this project, we want to support the government’s strategy to commercialize research results and increase the success of startup incubation on four campuses in Indonesia.”
The downstreaming of innovative products from UI inventors have shown results. On this occasion, royalties were handed over to five UI innovations, namely the Indonesian UKM Brand, Virna Glaucoma Eye Implant, Flocked Swab, Degastab, and Belimbing Island Beauty Products. The total royalties given to inventors reached more than 360 million rupiah.
Apart from handing over royalties, UI is also establishing new collaborations with partners. Two of them are the signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with PT Graha Teknomedia and a Cooperation Agreement (PKS) with PT Usaha Indonesia Medikal. UI also signed a Licensing Cooperation Agreement with 5 partners for 9 innovation products. The five partners are PT Inovasi Material Metalurgi, PT Eshbi Putra Indonesia, PT Danatek Indera Indonesia, CV Madu Apriari Mutiara, and PT Tahop Antar Buana.
PT Innovation Material Metalurgi will work together to license the products of Incubation and Fluidity Measuring Tools (APIF) and Mullite Ceramic Foam Filter (MCFF), Anerthite Ceramic Foam Filter (ACFF), and Zircon Coating. PT Eshbi Putra Indonesia is collaborating to license Propolis Toothpaste products, Propolis Liquid Soap Products, and Propolis Bar Soap Products. Meanwhile, CV Madu Apriari Mutiara is collaborating on Liquid Propolis products. Meanwhile, PT Danatek Indera Indonesia is collaborating to license Uroflowmetry Toilet products; and PT Tahop Antar Buana are working together to license 5GT Steel Ship products.
Director of Innovation and Science Techno Park UI, Ahmad Gamal, S.Ars., M.U.P., Ph.D., hoped that with this collaboration, the relationship between industry and universities will run even better. He said, “’Impactful collaboration starts with meaningful communication’. Since 2020, we have changed the role of DISTP to not only be a research facilitator, but also an intermediary between industry and researchers. Through various invention auctions, we try to ensure that industry knows about campus inventions. Moreover, through various matchmaking activities, we try to encourage researchers to understand market needs, industry standards and regulatory requirements, to encourage improvements in the quality of research output that is more worthy of being downstream.”
