Indonesia Collaborates with MIT REAP to Build an Innovation Ecosystem

Jakarta, MINA – The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) is collaborating with MIT REAP to build an innovation ecosystem in Indonesia.

For this reason, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Paragon Corp, and Gajah Mada University (UGM) held a discussion event with the theme “Building Innovation Ecosystem in Indonesia -The MIT REAP framework” in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to the Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology, Prof. Ir. Nizam, this event is a new breakthrough because it is the first time for the government in building an innovation ecosystem, using a multi-stakeholder approach.

“There will be many roles that universities, the government and the private sector can play together. Usually we work separately, but now we are trying to build an innovation ecosystem together,” said Nizam.

Nizam also hopes that with this collaboration, the entrepreneurial ecosystem will thrive on campuses.

“The most important thing is socio-entrepreneurship, which is not for personal gain but brings progress in society,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to Marina Kusumawardhani, Program Manager, the event was held because achieving Advanced Indonesia requires technological innovation which can only be achieved with an ecosystem approach.

“And for this, we intend to learn from the best source: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), which has decades of experience in building innovation ecosystems in dozens of countries,” he said.

Shari Loessberg, MIT Sloan lecturer who was the main guest at the event explained the most important things to build an innovation ecosystem in a country.

“What is most important is collaboration between stakeholders in a country. But also strong private involvement in pioneering the development of an innovation ecosystem,” he said.

However, according to Salman Subakat, CEO of Paragon Corp, the MIT experience must be adapted to the Indonesian context.

“Because based on Paragon’s experience in building ecosystems in Indonesia, there are many obstacles that must be overcome, and also the specific case in Indonesia,” he said. (L/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)