BPPT changes focus to meet crisis demands

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)