Science event draws more participants

Judges at the 23rd University Students National Scientific Week in Denpasar picked out 350 scientific papers from a pool of 27,000 for consideration at the event.

Surya Hapsoro Tri Utomo, director of research and community service at the National Education Ministry, said he was glad to see the increase in the number of scientific papers registered with the
committee.

Last year, the committee received 13,000 papers. “This shows an increased interest by students to conduct research and experiments,” he said.

The papers outline ideas and proposals on various subjects ranging from scientific projects to applied technology, community service and entrepreneurship.

The increasing demand for participation in scientific forums may prove a good indicator of the improvement in the Indonesian universities, he said.

In 2009, the event attracted participants from 70 universities, whereas this year, participants come from 113 universities and colleges.

The annual event is aimed at encouraging students to become more creative and innovative.

“We need creative and innovative people to compete at national and global levels,” he said.

Creative industries could dominate the nation’s economy in the future, he said.

Creative industries contributed 6.4 percent to the national eco-
nomy and employed 5.4 million workers.

Many scientific papers contain brilliant and applicable ideas and therefore the students’ research must be registered to secure intellectual property rights, Surya said.

“We still face difficulties in registering students’ works. Since 2008, we have been fighting to get intellectual property rights for four selected scientific works, but we have not received any news from the related agency.”

The ministry allocated Rp 28 billion in 2010 to support students’ creative efforts. It says it would increase the amount to Rp 30 billion next year.

Saraswati University lecturer Made Suryawan said most students were eager to participate in the national scientific event. Three scientific papers from Saraswati University students were among the selected papers.

“We are very proud to be able to represent Bali,” he said. Of the 350 selected papers, 11 were from universities in Bali.