Former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair, the executive chair of the London-based think-tank, visited the IKN Authority’s satellite office in Jakarta on Wednesday to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU), which marks an official partnership between the IKN Authority and the TBI after Blair had shown his support for the new capital since 2020. Blair last met with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2022 to talk about IKN.

“Under the extraordinary endeavor of the IKN Authority, Nusantara is a reality. It’s taking shape,” Blair said on Wednesday after signing the MoU.

Blair said that he was impressed by the progress of the construction of the new capital city that is of “enormous importance” for Indonesia and that he hoped that Nusantara could be a world-class education city.

“Nusantara is situated in a beautiful part of the world that is rich in biodiversity, and it's going to be a sign of modern living that is sustainable and protects our environment,” he said.

“One of the things we want to do as an institute is to help create a center of research, innovation and technology in Nusantara,” Blair said.

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Founded in 2016, the TBI is a non-profit organization that is home to a global team of political strategists and policy experts. It operates in more than 30 countries around the world.

TBI Indonesia country director Shuhaela Haqim said the planned research and development center would focus on energy transition, the climate and technology.

“We are planning to have detailed [talks] on the size of investment needed [to build the research center],” Shuhaela said.

The new partnership is also expected to see Blair's think-tank invite higher education institutions around the world, especially those in the UK, to build branch campuses in Nusantara.

The IKN Authority has been pushing to provide a world-level education center in the capital and is seeking cooperation with overseas universities.

“There are a few higher education institutions that we can’t name yet, but we’re pushing to have them in Nusantara,” IKN Authority secretary Achmad Jaka Santos Adiwijaya told the press.

Recently, his office said that it had received a letter of intent from United States-based Stanford University's Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability to open a branch campus in Nusantara.

The TBI center is planned to be located in Nusantara's Zone 5, dedicated for research and development. IKN Authority head Bambang Susantono said he hoped that the zone would generate not only cutting-edge but also eco-friendly technologies.

Previously, the new capital city authority said in September that it needed an additional Rp 3.15 trillion (US$204.9 million) on top of the existing Rp 434 billion IKN budget to cover higher infrastructure spending in the new capital project.

Nusantara is expected to be officially launched on Aug. 17 next year to mark the country’s independence day.

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