BPPT set to sell expertise to private sector<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The state-run Agency for the Assessment and
\nApplication of Technology (BPPT) is formulating a new policy
\nwhich will enable it to sell its expertise to the private sector,
\naccording to a senior official of the agency.<\/p>\n
Deputy head of the BPPT Jana Tjahjana Anggadiredja said on
\nMonday that the policy would allow the agency's work units to
\nenter into partnerships with the private sector.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the new policy can help local industry to benefit
\nfrom our cheaper technology products to cut their high technology
\ncosts,\" Jana told The Jakarta Post following a seminar on
\ntechnology.<\/p>\n
But Jana did not provide any details of the new policy or the
\ntime frame.<\/p>\n
He explained that many local companies had been severely hit
\nby rising technology costs following the sharp fall in the value
\nof the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, given that many of them
\nused imported technology.<\/p>\n
Jana said many work units of the BPPT were ready to provide
\nthe advanced technology needed to support local industry.<\/p>\n
There are 38 work units under the BPPT, which employs some
\n3,000 researchers.<\/p>\n
Agribusiness, energy and the environment, and design and
\nengineering were among of the divisions of the BPPT which were
\nready to collaborate with the private sector, Jana said.<\/p>\n
The BPPT was established in 1978 by B.J. Habibie, who was a
\nvery influential minister for research and technology during the
\nera of former president Soeharto. Habibie was later handpicked by
\nSoeharto to succeed him as the country's third president in 1998.<\/p>\n
While the BPPT can list many admirable breakthroughs in its
\nmore than two decades of existence, the agency has not been
\nwithout its critics who claim that it has usurped state funds for
\nnumerous high-tech schemes that have yet to bear fruit.<\/p>\n
Following the 1997 economic crisis and the downfall of
\nSoeharto, the BPPT could no longer obtain enough funds to finance
\nits operations and properly pay the large number of researchers
\nattached to it.<\/p>\n
Jana admitted that many companies still doubted the BPPT's
\ncapabilities.<\/p>\n
\"This is mainly due to a lack of information,\" Jana said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, State Minister of Research and Technology Muhammad
\nA.S. Hikam, who was also present at the seminar, regretted the
\npoor dissemination of the BPPT's technology products.<\/p>\n
\"We have invented many kinds of technology here. But we have
\nnever been successful in applying this technology in the
\ncountry's industry,\" Hikam said.(03)<\/p>",
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