With An Ambition To Build A Technology Base, What Is Indonesia's Track Record In The World Of Research And Innovation?

YOGYAKARTA - The Algorithm Hill commotion is still rolling. The discourse leads to the development of special economic zones (KEK) which will later become centers of technology and research such as Silicon Valley which belongs to the United States (US).

The Technology Headquarters to be built in Indonesia was developed by a state-owned construction company, PT Amarta Karya (Persero). The construction is predicted to require funds of up to 1 billion Euros or the equivalent of IDR 18 trillion.

Algorithm Hill is planned to be built on 888 hectares of land in Cikidang and Cibadak, Sukabumi. In the future, this hill is expected to become a center for research and technology development and a center for human resource development in the future.

Indonesia can indeed dream as high as the sky, but the dream must be measured by what has been done so far, especially in the world of research and technology. These two fields will at least become the foundation in running the Silicon Valley Sukabumi.

In the field of research, the Indonesian Minister of Research and Technology / Head of the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency Bambang Brodjonegoro stated that Indonesia's awareness in supporting research and innovation is very low.

This is known from the state budget funds for research and innovation, whose nominal value is very far compared to developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, the United States and China.

"The state budget allocation for Indonesian research is still very small, in contrast to the conditions of several developed countries such as South Korea, Japan, the US and China," said Bambang in an online talkshow entitled "Success Story Products Made by the Nation's Children, Research and Innovation as an Economic Driver during the Pandemic" , quoted from Antara, Tuesday.

The participation of the private sector in funding research is actually greater than that of the state itself, namely 60 percent to 80 percent.

In 2021 alone, research policies in Indonesia will focus on efforts to help solve economic problems.

"Namely, with downstreaming by encouraging appropriate technology, the creation of major added values, production of natural resources and efforts to play an active role in the response to the pandemic," he said.

The government has complained about the small amount of research funds disbursed since 2017. At that time, the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti) admitted that it was constrained by the lack of research funding. Even in the 2017 APBD, the research budget is only around 0.2 percent of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"Our research budget is still very small. Malaysia alone is already above 1 percent, Korea, which is currently leading in the research budget industry, is 4.5 percent, "said Director General of Research Strengthening and Development of the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti), Muhammad Dimyati, as quoted from the risbang website. ristekbrin.go.id.

In addition, research conducted by Indonesian scientists has not been focused and is still broad. This is said to be one of Indonesia's weaknesses in the field of research and innovation.

"Now that's research from A to Z, you should just focus. In the future, we will only focus on 8 sectors, but they are applied, "he said.

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