"The BPPT is also ready to make a huge leap in innovation and to support the aspirations of Advanced Indonesia towards an innovation-based country," Riza noted in his statement at the 42nd anniversary of BPPT in Jakarta, Monday.
The BPPT head expounded that Law No.11 of 2019 on the National System of Science and Technology (Sisnas Iptek) offered a crucial mandate for the agency to continue to produce technological innovations in supporting the national priority programs.
"Science and technology had become a scientific basis in the formulation and determination of national development policies and for driving advancement," he remarked.
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Riza highlighted the need for all stakeholders to collaborate in strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Indonesia to bring the best technological innovations and services to realize the vision of Indonesia Gold 2045.
The pentahelix innovation ecosystem is based on a pattern of cooperation between governments, industry/business, and academics to community support and the mass media, which are stakeholders in science and technology in producing innovative products made in Indonesia.
The BPPT also seeks to build a national innovation ecosystem, such as when it formed the Task Forces for Research and Technology Innovation for Handling the COVID-19 Pandemic (TFRIC-19).
Riza noted that the TFRIC-19, formed by the BPPT, was a concrete manifestation of the success of the national innovation ecosystem.
With members from eight government R&D institutions, 18 universities, four national industries, six startups, three hospitals, and 15 communities, the TFRIC-19 has produced five innovative medical device products used to support the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia.
The five products described by Riza are the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit, PCR (swab) test kit, Mobile Laboratory Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2), Emergency Ventilator, and a COVID-19 detection system using Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based medical imaging.
"All five of these have been produced and were officially launched by President Joko Widodo on the commemoration of National Awakening Day in 2020," he added.
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Translator: Indriani, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
