YOGYAKARTA – Ministry of Research and Technology has allocated a budget worth 7.1 billion Rupiah for 29 research and technology programs in the Province of Yogyakarta Special Region. The fund is used for the development of four categories of research & technology programs, including the Regional Innovation System (Sida), the National Innovation System (Sinas), Researcher Capacity and Engineer Improvement (PKPP), Dissemination of Location Specification Technology (Speklok). "The funding for research & technology program for Yogyakarta is approximately 7.1 billion rupiah. This fund is quite large. The main activities are carried out at Gunung Kidul and Bantul," Minister of Research and Technology, Gusti Mohammad Hatta said after being a keynote speaker at the Annual Scientific Meeting in UGM Faculty of Medicine, Saturday (3/3).
He mentioned to the regional innovation system adopted is the removal of underground water by using water pump. This innovation activity aims to meet the need of water for communities in Gunung Kidul. The pump is made in Faculty of Engineering UGM. "What is different from this pump is it does not use electricity," he said.
The research & technology funding is also used for research and technology development of 38 waterwheels at Pandansimo Beach in Bantul and for supporting the competition of rocket launch innovations. All these activities involve researchers from universities with the target to apply higher education research directly to the public. "There are about 16 SINAS researches of university that are applied in Yogyakarta," he said.
According to Gusti, the application of innovation is not only done at national level, but also in regional level where there are unique characteristics, making the innovation and technology very different from each other. "In national level, we manage research & technology funds reaching up to 4 trillion rupiah and coordinate 7 research institutions such as LIPI, Lapan and Batan," he said.
Gusti said that the fund managed by the Ministry of Research and Technology is currently as much as 0.08 percent of GDP. This is considered not sufficient. It should be at least one percent of GDP funding. "In Japan the fund reaches 3 percent, but 2 percent comes from the private sector," he said.
Although still low, some results of research supported by Ministry of Research and Technology are planned to be mass produced and utilized by community. One of which is the production of H5N1 vaccines through university research. There is also a finding made by by Batan that has found a radioactive isotope for tracing cancer.