Minister Calls for Inter-University Collaboration to Boost Research Commercialisation

Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Brian Yuliarto has called on the Indonesian Rectors Forum (FRI) to realise inter-university collaboration aimed at accelerating the downstreaming of research and innovation. “When we encounter many problems, that is precisely the role of higher education. We need to make many breakthroughs. We need to produce works that can become solutions for the nation,” the Minister said in a statement in Jakarta on Tuesday. The Minister stated that the government continues to encourage the strengthening of higher education governance while accelerating the commercialisation of research results. He stressed that universities must strengthen cross-institutional collaboration with the government and the business sector so that innovations do not stop at scientific publications but develop into technologies and products that provide added value for society and the national economy. The Minister emphasised that strengthening internationalisation, developing collaborative research, and utilising research results that can be commercialised must be continuously realised to enhance the global competitiveness of universities. The Ministry is currently focusing various collaborative programmes on the fields of food, health, energy, industrial downstreaming, digitalisation, advanced materials, maritime, and defence through three commissions and several thematic working groups. It is hoped that the Indonesian Rectors Forum can become a policy support system, a dialogue platform, a collaborative forum for research and innovation, and a vehicle for improving academic standards in higher education.