We should be able to come up with innovative products that we can take pride in
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Research and Technology Minister/Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Bambang P. S. Brodjonegoro urged researchers to concentrate on four areas, including import substitution and frontier technology.

"We should be able to come up with innovative products that we can take pride in," Brodjonegoro noted while delivering the National Priority Research Fund (PRN) to incentive receipt institutions here on Friday.

The call was made to cover four areas of concern -- applicable technology, value-added products and downstreaming, import substitution and local content improvement, and frontier technology -- during research and development.

"We want that research and innovation should yield applicable technology, as most of our people are residing in rural areas, with access to some not being easy. Hence, they would need applicable technology to make their lives better," Brodjonegoro noted.

The BRIN head remarked that research and innovation should also boost the value of natural resources, such as in the plantation and mining sectors. Thus, Indonesia can increase the exports of processed products rather than raw materials.

"It is time for Indonesia to strengthen its position as an exporter of processed and natural resource-based innovative products," he emphasized.

The minister affirmed that the efforts directed at boosting local content and import substitution aimed at stabilizing the economy. Dependency on imports should be reduced by increasing import substitution as well as the local content without lowering the quality of goods and services.

"We have to strengthen technology and encourage all Indonesians to support the use of domestic products," he stated.

The minister has urged researchers to adopt the latest technology. "We should not lag behind in the field of technology and at the end only become a consumer of the technology," he emphasized.

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Translator: Martha H, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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