Receiving 5,407 Reka Cipta Proposals, Kedaireka Finally Completing The Matching Fund 2022 Program

JAKARTA - The Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology, through Kedaireka, has officially completed the Matching Fund 2022 program. For seven months since the opening of registration in 2022, Kedaireka has managed to collect 5,407 proposed creations from 509 universities, 27,184 lecturers and 143,683 students.

Program Matching Fund Kedaireka adalah program pendanaan dari Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Tinggi, Research, dan Teknologi yang melibatkan manusia perguruan tinggi dan Dunia Usaha Dunia Industri (DUDI) untuk bersama-sama terlibat dalam menjawab tantangan di dalam dunia industri serta membentuk ekosistem Merdekajar - Campus Merdeka.

The Kedaireka platform has been launched since 2020 and the target of this program is public universities and private universities under the guidance of the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology (University, Institutes and High Schools) in collaboration with DUDI. After universities and DUDI agreed on a partnership through Kedaireka, university lecturers can submit a Matching Fund proposal.

Of the total 5,407 proposals that entered, they were divided into two parts, namely 4,761 university category proposals (Dikti) and 616 vocational or applied category proposals (Diksi) categories. This figure increased 410% compared to 2021 with the number of incoming proposals as many as 1,231 consisting of 1,050 Dikti proposals and 181 Diction proposals.

Plt. Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nizam welcomed the soaring number of copyrighted proposals in 2022. Nizam hopes that this can be an indicator of increasing public awareness to want to innovate and make it happen through collaboration.

I would like to thank you for the great enthusiasm for the Matching Fund Kedaireka Program, especially for the third period in 2022. Through collaboration between universities and industry, I hope that innovation will soon eliminate and the problems experienced by the industry will immediately lead to a research agenda in universities. Hopefully, the synergy of pentahelix innovation (the spirit of the Merdeka Campus) really has an impact on the development of the nation's economy and sovereignty," said Nizam.

In the implementation of the 2022 Kedaireka Matching Fund, the amount of DKti and DUDI collaboration funds increased by 420% from 2021. In 2021 the total collaboration funds collected amounted to Rp2,670,107,369,726, while in 2022 it increased to Rp11,201,828,441,989.

Regarding the distribution of proposal areas at the Matching Fund Kedaireka, several regions also experienced a significant increase from 2021 to 2022. The largest spike came from NTB, NTT, Maluku and Papua, which were originally only 20 proposals, but increased 700% to 145 proposals. Meanwhile, in second place, Sumatra experienced an increase of 440% from 130 proposals to 702 proposals. Following Java and Bali with an increase of 351% from 914 proposals to 4,122 proposals. In fourth place, the Sulawesi area experienced an increase of 257% from 93 proposals to 332 proposals. Meanwhile, from the Kalimantan area, it also increased from 74 proposals to 122 proposals or an increase of 65%.

According to the Acting Secretary of the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Tjitjik Srie Tjahjandarie, the increase in collaboration funds collected cannot be separated from the increasing number of DUDI partners who take part in line with the increasing number of proposals from participants.

So far, we have processed 5,407 proposals to the fullest. Hopefully in the future, more people from universities and corporate partners will register to create synergies between universities and industry," he said.

In line with Tjitjik, Head of Sub-Division of Administration of the Directorate General of Diktiristek, Didi Rustam also hopes that the hard work of all parties in pursuing the Matching Fund Kedaireka Program can be useful in producing innovative ideas and supporting its implementation with a matching fund funding scheme. He also thanked all partners who had been involved in synergizing at the Kedaireka Matching Fund 2022.

The 2022 Matching Fund Kedaireka Program has been held with extraordinary efforts by all parties. Of course, we also use this implementation as a lesson to organize a better Matching Fund Kedaireka program in the future. I hope that high school people and industry partners who have not registered or have not received funding this year will continue to be enthusiastic about registering again next year," Didi urged.

Carrying the Five Priority Themes

In addition, the Matching Fund Kedaireka 2022 continues to carry five priority themes consisting of the Green Economy, Blue Economy, Digital Economy, Health Independence and Tourism. The 2022 Kedaireka Matching Fund also opens a common theme for proposals beyond the five priority themes.

The green economy includes sustainable agriculture, resource conservation, renewable energy. The blue economy includes the cultivation and management of marine resources and the development of marine resource management technology. The digital economy is in the form of developing the game and animation industry, the creation and development of technology-based services for MSMEs.

The theme of health independence includes the manufacture and development of medical devices, the manufacture and development of herbal and non-herbal medicines and the handling of stunting problems. Tourism includes the development of support for tourism programs in five super priority destinations, development of platforms and databases to perform cultural curation.

Through these themes, universities and industrial partners in the country are given the opportunity to collaborate to produce solutions and innovative works in the midst of people's needs and challenges.