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A bleak future for research and development in Indonesia?
Indonesia spends a mere 0.2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development (R&D) compared with 0.7 percent in India and 2 percent in China, the United States and Singapore.
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Testing and experimenting: Researchers work in the genomic laboratory belonging to the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Cibinong, West Java, on Aug. 10.
(Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
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cientific research and technological advances have been the foundations of progress in human development over the past century. From the discovery of antibiotics to the industrial and digital revolutions, they have given us the means to enjoy an unprecedented level of wealth and well-being in rich and poor nations alike.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful reminder of the value and power of science. To have nine COVID-19 vaccines developed, tested, approved and delivered into the arms of billions of people around the world in just under two years is totally unprecedented in the history of medicine, science and vaccine development.
Indonesia has not lagged behind in developing COVID-19 vaccines. In October 2022, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the country’s first domestically produced COVID-19 shot, IndoVac, marking an important milestone on the country’s road to vaccine independence and self-sufficiency, and in reducing inequities in vaccine access around the world, especially in developing countries. The IndoVac vaccine was developed jointly by Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, the United States.
Despite the encouraging news around COVID-19 vaccines, what about the research scene in Indonesia more broadly? Regretfully, the picture is not so rosy.
Indonesia’s research innovation ecosystem, ranked 85th out of 131 countries across the world in the Global Innovation Index Ranking of 2020, is not an encouraging state of affairs and there is clearly much room for improvement. Indonesia spends a mere 0.2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on research and development (R&D) compared with 0.7 percent in India and 2 percent in China, the United States and Singapore.
Singapore, for example, spends 45 percent more than Indonesia on R&D and received 21 percent more patent applications in 2018. While it has been estimated that Indonesia's research funding amounts to Rp 27 trillion (US$1.8 billion), which is much higher than those of the Philippines and Vietnam, it has just 89 researchers for every 1 million population.
Referring to the 2019 Global Innovation Index, Vietnam has 673 researchers per million people and among the ASEAN member states, Indonesia ranked second-last in research, with institutional weakness being a major identified flaw.
