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Foreign collaboration welcome for research improvement as endowment fund increased
The government has allocated Rp 5 trillion (US$356.4 million) for research endowment funds in 2020, five times the allocated Rp 990 billion in 2019.
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The budget allocation for education, which accounts for 20 percent of overall spending as required by law, is projected to rise by 5.7 percent to surpass the half-a-quadrillion mark, totaling Rp 505.8 trillion. (Shutterstock/99Art)
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ndonesia is gearing up efforts to improve research and innovation in the country amid an increase in research endowment funds allocated for next year, in addition to plans to widen the opportunity for collaboration with foreign universities and academics.
The government has allocated Rp 5 trillion (US$356.4 million) for research endowment funds in 2020, five times the allocated Rp 990 billion in 2019.
The budget allocation for education, which accounts for 20 percent of overall spending as required by law, is projected to rise by 5.7 percent to surpass the half-a-quadrillion mark, totaling Rp 505.8 trillion.
The Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry’s research enhancement and development director general, Muhammad Dimyati, told The Jakarta Post recently that the endowment funds would be used to finance the National Research Priorities that would be detailed further in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
Dimyati said the priorities would cover more than a dozen focus areas, including food and agriculture; renewable energy; medicine; transportation; technical engineering; security and defense; maritime; social and humanities, arts and culture, education; multidisciplinary fields including disasters, biodiversity, stunting and environment, water and climate.
“From our latest meeting, we feel that 49 national products could be generated from said areas by 2024,” he said.
Indonesia still lags behind in terms of research and innovation, as shown by the 2018 Global Innovation Index (GII) that placed the country in 85th place of 126 countries, or 14th out of 15 Southeast Asian and Oceania countries.
