Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, who is also BRIN head, said the agency currently held a sort of nonpermanent status, with a small-scale organizational structure, in the absence of a new decree. The agency was established in October 2019 following the issuance of Perpres No. 74/2019, which was valid only until the end of last year.

“We are awaiting the [new] Perpres as the legal basis for our establishment […] Currently, BRIN only has a chairman, two deputies, two experts and one secretary in its organizational structure. We need a more complete organization in order to execute our programs swiftly,” Bambang told reporters recently.

The 2019 decree served as a legal basis for BRIN’s establishment and mandated the agency to coordinate the government’s efforts in improving the country’s research and technology competitiveness on a global scale, along with other related tasks.

It also mandated the agency to reorganize itself to adapt to any potential strategy in the future, which should be in line with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s vision.

Bambang said the newly established research coordinating agency was responsible for helping commercialize products manufactured by state-owned enterprises under its coordination in such a way that they would reduce the import rate because more and more high-tech products could be produced domestically.

Among home-made high-tech products is the runway radar at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which was designed and made by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). The existing law regulates that the BMKG cannot sell the radar to other airports on their own and, therefore, it needs BRIN’s assistance in doing so.

Besides the runway radar, BRIN is also helping commercialize another notable product — the medium-altitude long-endurance military drone, nicknamed Elang Hitam or black eagle — created by state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia. The drone is undergoing a certification process by the Transportation Ministry.

Bambang dismissed speculation that the existence of BRIN would mean an end to the two science- and technology-related institutions — the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) — which are rumored to be soon merged with BRIN.

“Both organizations [LIPI and BPPT] will continue to exist and contribute results of their research to us and other organizations,” he said.

“However, we will soon change their legal entity status in such a way that they can operate in a less-restricted bureaucratic environment,” the minister added.

According to Bambang, LIPI would then act as an initiator for research, while the BPPT would act as an executor of LIPI’s research. “Both will complement each other for the sake of BRIN’s future agenda, which is to research, develop, review and apply the research’s products,” he said.

He also added that BRIN would become the government’s sole research and development institution.

President Jokowi had earlier this year called on BRIN to take an increased role in coordinating government research efforts, which, according to him, must be undertaken to improve the nation's competitiveness going forward. He also instructed BRIN to consolidate the government’s budget allocation for research and development, which had been spread between various ministries and other government institutions.

Bambang has said that Indonesia’s research spending is still heavily reliant on budget allocations from the government, estimating that 84 percent of total research and development spending in the country is funded by the government, while only 8 percent of the spending comes from the private sector. (hpw)

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