UI Transforms to Become an 'Entrepreneurial University'

The Head of the Entrepreneurship and Inter-Institutional Relations Agency at the University of Indonesia (UI), Budi Wiweko, stated that transformation is part of the effort to build an entrepreneurial university based on a knowledge-based economy. “Transformation requires a supportive ecosystem, starting from strengthening the quality of education, laboratories, and research groups to simple, adaptive, and integrated governance. At the same time, cross-unit collaboration, digital transformation, and strengthening the institution’s reputation are important factors to increase UI’s competitiveness at the global level,” said Budi Wiweko at the UI Campus in Depok on Friday. According to him, the university’s main strength lies in its ability to turn knowledge into impactful solutions. “Research must not stop at scientific publications. Research results need to be downstreamed into innovations that can be patented, commercialised, and utilised by society and industry,” he said. Therefore, every UI service and business unit needs to be built on academic excellence to have differentiation and competitiveness. In this approach, academic and business activities are no longer viewed as two separate things. Research results are expected to develop into prototypes, products, services, or technologies that can be utilised by industry and society. Thus, the success of research is measured not only by scientific output but also by the resulting economic and social impact. Hamdi also emphasised the importance of building an ecosystem that allows lecturers to carry out roles as both academics and innovators. Downstreaming research results is one way to strengthen academic reputation while creating sustainability for the university. Improvements are focused on strengthening administration, tax compliance, an integrated accounting system, and increasing human resource capacity. These steps are expected to create more accountable governance and support the sustainability of business unit management. He said that going forward, UI will develop a business ecosystem that is increasingly close to research activities. Various services, such as training, consulting, assessment, and product development, will be directed to support the downstreaming of research results, thereby opening new sources of income while expanding the utilisation of innovations produced by the academic community. Through strengthening the synergy between academics, research, innovation, and business governance, UI continues to build a foundation as an entrepreneurial university that generates value for society.