JAKARTA -Today people are living in the world of big data, and AI. Every aspect of human life is affected by big data and AI. Governments around the world, for instance, have relied on data collection and analysis to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Contact tracing, identifying hotspots would now have been possible with the use of AI and big data. However, society is just at the beginning of Industry 4.0. The Internet of Things, Big Data, and AI will shape the future in ways that are unimaginable today.
To understand how AI and Big Data will reshape society, more research is needed. Universities and Institutes of Higher Learning need to collaborate and work together for the benefit of society at large.
To explore more on this theme, the Indonesia Economic Forum in collaboration with Victorian Government Trade and Investment (VGTI) held a roundtable titled “The Future Of Research In Indonesia: The Role Of Government, Universities, And Industry”. The discussion brought views from many stakeholders and was moderated by Shoeb Kagda, Founder and CEO of Indonesia Economic Forum.
“Big data technologies and fundamental research have become a new focus within academia. A new interdisciplinary discipline called Data Science has emerged, taking Data as the core research object and aims at generalizing the extraction of knowledge from Data,” said Shoeb Kagda, Founder and CEO of Indonesia Economic Forum.
“Universities have for centuries been at the heart of both knowledge sharing and knowledge forming. As such universities play a critical role in transforming societies from various aspects: teaching and learning but also in education and research and in generating new ideas and knowledge. Under IA-EPA, universities and Institutions of Higher Learning from both sides have unique opportunities to collaborate including undertaking joint research projects,” Mr. Kagda added.
Several ideas emerged during the discussion. First, VGTI is currently looking to co-locate their researchers, industry, and global investment, particularly in several key areas such as manufacturing; aerospace; agriculture, bioscience, and food technology; biomedical, as well as technology. Victoria itself is a state within Australia that aims to foster broader Australian – Indonesia partnership and particularly on research with the focus on areas that are aligned with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Rebecca Hall, Commissioner for Victoria, South East Asia at Victorian Government Trade and Investment (VGTI) said.
Does it include topics like how do we mitigate against the Covid-19 pandemic? How do we mitigate the impact of disasters such as drought, wildfires, and floods? How do we create a hydrogen industry? How do we create national climate capability and navigate climate change uncertainty? How do we work with our farmers to overcome drought or to mitigate other impacts? How do we use technology to navigate Australia’s transition to zero emissions? How do we end plastic waste? How do we add values like those in the critical energy? How do we safeguard the health and manage our water resources?
These are the questions that can be answered by joint research and collaboration.
As the home of more than 10,000 researchers and 7,000 biomedical health and medical students, and ICT driven economy (generating globally A$34 billion in revenue and generating exports of about A$2.5 billion annually), Australia especially Victoria has its unique role to play while still learning from the Indonesia experience.
“We can partner together in these research endeavors and missions. We intend to continue to work closely with our researchers and research institutions in Victoria and Indonesia and we are working with our team to develop the international research partnerships program. It’s quite a niche program and we will be able to work directly with the individual researchers or with partner institutes to address some of those program areas. Now, this is not a major national investment fund, so don’t expect billions but this is a program which we think can have an important impact,” said Ms. Hall.
I Nyoman Adhiarna, Digital Economy Acting Director, Ministry of Information and Communication stated that collaboration among stakeholders is a key factor as the government shifts focus to accelerate digital transformation both in the ministerial scope and society in general.
Indonesia aims to be a digital nation. But there is still a huge gap in terms of digital literacy among society. More and more people should apply and use digital technology to increase their productivity, particularly the farmers, fishermen, and also the small-medium enterprise group.
Indonesia has to build better policy, better regulation, and better human resources since infrastructure alone are not enough.
At the intermediary digital skill, the government will provide a free short course for those who are fresh graduates but want to learn more about information technology topics such as big data, cybersecurity, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, AI. The government will also provide advanced digital for the top business leaders in public and practitioners. The goal is to train 9 million people in the next 15 years.
“So it is not only the job of that ministry but together with the minister of Education and Culture, Minister of Research and Technology and also other ministries. Also of course ICT is very close with Research and Innovation. We have to work together in this research and innovation,” said Mr. I Nyoman Adhiarna.
Prof. Ismunandar, Acting Deputy for Strengthening Research and Development, Ministry of Research and Technology/BRIN noted that during the Covid-19 pandemic era, or what they called a less context society, a lot of human aspects are affected. And it brought a huge change in the world and especially economic aspects such as the stock market recession and major setbacks on the tourism sector in several provinces in Indonesia. The pandemic is also likely to affect Indonesia’s innovation index, which is already lower than compared to neighboring countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
“Our national priority in the national development plan is that our development has to shift from resource-driven economy to innovation-driven economy. We focus now on the triple helix innovation process between an academic, researcher in universities or institution to have more close contact and communication with industry so the problem in the industry can be solved in research in university and research institution at the same time, academic and researchers are more aware of the challenges facing the industry and can suggest solutions,” said Prof. Ismunandar.
Wisnu Sardjono Soenarso, Director of Research and Rehabilitation Facilities, LPDP added that LPDP has a role in supporting the research and innovation ecosystem in Indonesia. Through research funding called Rispro since 2013, LPDP is encouraging strategic or innovative research that is implemented and creates value add through research funding. To date, LPDP manages about Rp70.1 trillion or equal to US$4 billion. This fund is managed to increase the research per GDP ratio which currently is only 2.3 percent.
“With this issue, where do we stand? We operate Rispro and the total funding commitment until today is Rp 2.14 trillion. And total research funded until now is 958 projects and includes 113 ministries agencies, universities, and industries. We are also collaborating directly with the industry. The dropout rate is varied. From 2013 until today, Rispo so far, from 958 and also 77 completed projects, we have 15 products that already launched, 7 governance models, 4 policy regulations, 1 standardization, and 227research of car. It means that the LPDP research funding program has been succeeding to deliver research ideas to the market,” said Mr. Wisnu Sardjono.
Two of the examples for LPDP’s triple helix programs (co-operation between government, industries, and also academia) is Glucodiab Drink from IPB and electric motorcycle products by ITS Surabaya (Garasindo Electric Scooter or Gesits). This research project was funded by LPDP in collaboration with BRIN and the Ministry of Education and Culture.