"Developing human resources takes a long time. One of the ways to accelerate it is by bringing the diaspora home," BRIN head Laksana Tri Handoko said at a press conference on the 28th National Technological Awakening Day in Jakarta on Thursday.
He noted that the main reason why the diaspora is reluctant to return to Indonesia is that the infrastructures, namely laboratories, that can support research activities are not ready.
To this end, for the last two years, after the agency's transformation, BRIN has continued to build laboratory facilities to prepare research infrastructure so that the diaspora becomes interested in returning home and continuing their research activities in the country.
The research infrastructure that is currently being developed is also aimed at improving the competency of the diaspora in accordance with their respective expertise.
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He further said that a strong research ecosystem would be able to generate excellent innovation to encourage economic growth in Indonesia.
Currently, Indonesia is caught in the middle-income trap. Not many countries can get out of this trap without struggle.
According to Handoko, Indonesia needs to achieve economic growth of above seven percent in order to escape the middle-income country trap and become a developed country.
The BRIN head added that economic growth of higher than seven percent can only be achieved with the help of excellent human resources because the main component of research is humans.
"We can accelerate infrastructure (development), the budget can be increased quickly, but for (the development of) humans, it takes time," he remarked.
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Translator: Sugiharto Purnama, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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