BPPT changes focus to meet crisis demands

JAKARTA (JP): The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), known for its preoccupation with hi-tech research, claims it is now shifting its focus to simple and applied technology which can directly benefit the people.

BPPT chairman Zuhal, who is also state minister of research and technology, said the shift was prompted by a realization that people needed applicable technology to help them survive the harsh economic crisis.

Zuhal announced the new policy at a media conference here yesterday, during which he pledged to allocate 30 percent of the agency's 1998/1999 budget, about Rp 32 billion, for such programs.

The new focus is aimed at developing and encouraging the use of certain technologies in small and medium-sized industries and cooperatives in rural areas.

The agency launched 24 such programs last month, he said, citing schemes helping small-scale shrimp farmers in Kulon Progo, Central Java, hydroponic agriculture in Serang, West Java, and the establishment of rural technology service centers in industrial villages in several regencies.

"BPPT's support for the social safety net program is evidence of its sense of crisis. This shows another side of BPPT," Zuhal said.

The agency celebrates its 20th anniversary tomorrow. It was established by B.J. Habibie, who headed the agency until he became vice president last March.

While BPPT can list many admirable breakthroughs in its two decades of existence, the agency has not been without its critics who claim that it has usurped state funds for many high-tech schemes which have yet to bear fruit.

Habibie himself admitted recently that as state minister of research and technology, he was obsessed with the development of technology in Indonesia.

The President even said he might have been overly selfish in his efforts to advance the country's technological capability, and that the government may have subsequently neglected other sectors requiring more of its attention than his costly projects.

Zuhal claimed yesterday that the agency had launched various projects in the past to help small enterprises with more applicable technology, but that such schemes had received little exposure.

When asked whether the agency would allocate 30 percent of its funds for applicable technology on a permanent basis, Zuhal said he would have to reevaluate the policy again in a couple of years.

Zuhal also announced yesterday that the agency would provide greater incentives for its researchers to develop applicable technologies.

Researchers will now receive 40 percent of the royalties from their work, with the agency also getting 40 percent and the researcher's division at the agency receiving the remaining 20 percent.

The new reward system is aimed at encouraging thousands of researchers at the agency to be more productive, he said, adding that the previous arrangement had been ambiguous with no clear division of the royalties of the intellectual property rights.

To commemorate its anniversary tomorrow, the agency will hold a ceremony at its headquarters in Central Jakarta which will include the launching of Technology for the Nation, a self- praising book on the agency's achievements.

The ceremony, expected to be attended by Habibie, will also unveil its new logo and a limited edition commemorative stamp issued by PT Pos Indonesia. (01)