Tight Budget Leaves Many Research Proposals Unfunded by Government

The government has acknowledged that budgetary constraints prevent the funding of the majority of research proposals in Indonesia. Amid a surge in research interest, the state can only finance around one-sixth of the total submissions received.

Director General of Research and Development at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Fauzan Adziman, stated that the number of research proposals received by the government has increased sharply in the past year. By the end of 2025, he said the total submissions reached around 120,000 proposals. This figure is double that of the previous year, which was around 60,000 proposals.

However, from this number, the government can only fund about 20,000 research projects. “With the increasing enthusiasm for research, we usually can only fund around 20,000 research projects,” Fauzan said at the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIE) Jakarta Summit, held at the Shangri-La in Jakarta, on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.

Fauzan explained that this limitation occurs amid government efforts to direct research to be more relevant to industry and societal needs. One strategy implemented is to compile a research agenda based on problem formulations gathered from various parties, from local governments and industries to the public.

Through forums such as the Indonesian Science, Technology, and Industry Conference (KSTI), organised by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology starting from last year, the government collects concrete issues that then serve as the basis for proposal submissions. This approach is said to increase researcher participation while making research more targeted.

However, the surge in the number of proposals actually reveals the gap between the state’s funding capacity and the growing research needs. On the other hand, the government also claims to have mapped priority research needs based on public surveys.

The results show that society most anticipates research in the fields of food, health, and poverty alleviation. “So indeed, food agriculture and health sectors, these are recurring, which are awaited by our society,” Fauzan stated.

Fauzan said that currently, the government is preparing a more flexible national research roadmap together with the National Research and Innovation Agency to adapt to changing dynamics and resource limitations.

Nevertheless, with only a small portion of proposals that can be funded, Fauzan stated that the main challenge remains the state’s ability to ensure that research is not only plentiful in quantity but also sustainable and impactful.