Industry research projects continue

Industry research projects continue

JAKARTA (JP): More small industries will hopefully benefit
from the research conducted by higher education institutes, as
the Ministry of Education and Culture launches the second phase
of a cooperation program between companies and universities.

Bambang Soehendro, the Director General of Higher Education,
said yesterday that the Voucher Program is entering its second
phase and that the on-going first pilot project has shown some
encouraging results.

"Industries need assistance in producing better products to
help them compete," Soehendro said during a meeting with House of
Representatives' Commission X which oversees education, research
and technology.

Research conducted under the program in the last fiscal year
of 1994/1995 involved 44 studies, selected from 239 proposals.
Most research was conducted in Bogor, Bandung and Yogyakarta for
industries with assets under Rp 600 million ($267,000).

The Ministry of Education and Culture hopes to expand the
program in 1995/96 to include: South Sumatra; East Java; Bali;
South Sulawesi; and West and East Nusa Tenggara.

Efforts from the first pilot project have focussed on water
filter equipment and waste treatment for a tahu (soybean curd)
industry in Sawargi, Bandung, developed with the assistance of
engineers from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Other projects include: processing technology in carpentry and
honey; waste treatment in the leather industry; and the
development of an accounting system for village-level
cooperatives.

Soehendro said the program, which depends on funding from
sources outside the Ministry, aims to bridge the gap between
academic circles and small industries which lack expertise in
technology.

"Much applied research work from academia tends to be stored
as mere reports," Soehendro said. "They have never been tested
for commercial purposes."

The program, which budgets approximately Rp 10 million per
project, researchers and entrepreneurs work together to identify
significant problems before seeking a solution.

Last year's projects were encouraging in that they led to
improvements in the designs of machineries used by the industries
involved, according to a report on the evaluation of the project.

The report also found that these projects enhanced
communication between researches and small scale entrepreneurs
and provided a forum for constructive cooperation.

Areas for improvement were also identified, including a lack
of involvement by industries in the design of their own
machinery, according to the booklet produced by the Ministry's
Directorate of Research Guidance and Service to Communities.

Soehendro, who teaches at the Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta, said that while there is an increasing interest among
scholars to conduct scientific research, poor supervision and
practices by the research staff have resulted in some of the
project's results being "disheartening."

He noted that research proposals submitted to the Ministry
have increased from 921 in 1988 to 3,000 this year. The projects
are funded by a World Bank program which runs until the end of
this year.

Some proposals have been rejected due to the fact that they
lack references, or have little practical application, said
Soehendro. (anr)