From 17-20 January 2017, for the first time, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) had the opportunity to participate in the CNBC-World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. With its socio-entrepreneurial spirit, UGM presented innovation that focuses on the realisation of smart and resilient villages through digital technology. It aims at reducing the gap in welfare between rural and urban communities.
The digital technology built by UGM is one solution to the problem of limited access among rural people to health services or expertise in agricultural areas.
At the event, Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D., explained the importance of the development of rural communities as the economic backbone of the state.
“The economic gap between rural and urban communities needs to be reduced significantly by building rural communities that are smart with access to health and agricultural services, smart and wise use of technology, and also by changing the paradigm from consumptive to productive in order to improve welfare,” she said in an interview with CNBC.
The attendance of UGM delegates at the World Economic Forum is part of the collaboration between UGM and Six Capital in Davos that is realised in the CNBC on Davos 2017. The event presented current issues in digital technology, with attendance by public figures such as Joseph Stiglitz, Matt Damon, Will.i.am., Thomas Friedman, etc. Previously, on 18 January 2017, an Indonesia Night was held to enliven the event. The UGM delegation was led by Rector, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D. whilst Six Capital was led by Chairman and Founder, Mr. Patrick Teng.
UGM is committed to minimising the gap between rural and urban communities so the smart and resilient village is one of the university’s programs of excellence. In cooperation with Six Capital, UGM has initiated and realised the mission to develop research and innovation in digital technology, aiming to build the culture of innovation and collaboration between members of UGM’s academic community. Such collaboration manifests itself through the Digital Innovation Center.
Since its early development, the Digital Innovation Center has covered five streams of research, which are: personal digital healthcare, geospatial mapping, big data analytic, excellence in financial trading, and smart village (GamaDesa). Under the coordination of Vice-Rector for Cooperation and Alumni, work units at UGM are actively engaged in research and innovation, including Geodesy and the Geomatical Department, Electrical Engineering and Informatics Department, Geological Engineering Department, Faculty of Geography, Faculty of Medicine, UGM Academic Hospital, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Economics and Business, and PT Gamatechno which is a company owned by UGM.
During the World Economic Forum, UGM had the opportunity to sign an agreement of cooperation with Six Capital Singapore on 19 January 2017. The Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto, and the Indonesian Permanent Representative in Geneva, were present and witnessed the signing.
“The cooperation that is being signed by UGM and Six Capital this morning is essentially an implementation of current issues that I have been discussed at the World Economic Forum where I happen to be joining the Production and Innovation Committee. This cooperation is a real implementation of the industrial revolution 4.0. The smart village, which is the focus of UGM, became very important in terms of building the state economy for the future,” said Minister Airlangga.
In his interview with CNBC, Head of Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Thomas Lembong, expressed appreciation for the active participation of UGM in Davos, which shows that innovations from higher learning institutions can be presented in a real form and accessed by world communities. This will increase the reputation of Indonesia in the world. The Rector said that, in the next three years, UGM will have the opportunity to be present in Davos and present its work with communities in Indonesia.
In order to realise this research and innovation, Six Capital contributes donations for the development of the Digital Innovation Center worth USD9.17 million in the form of: (1) infrastructure construction of the Digital Innovation Center building; (2) research and innovation in digital innovation; (3) peatland mapping with LiDAR technology covering an area of 110,000 Ha of Pulau Padang, Meranti Island, Riau Province; (4) a grant of 68 computer units for the Center of Excellence for Financial Trading which is located in Pertamina Tower, Faculty of Economics and Business; (5) agreed donations to an innovation fund for the downstreaming of start-ups in digital technology that have been developed by the Innovative Academy at UGM, which supports a government program to create as many as 1,000 technopreneurs; and (6) distribution of 1,000 free smartphones to rural communities in the province of Yogyakarta Special Region, particularly Gunungkidul, Bantul, Kulonprogo, and Sleman, to give access at the grassroots level to technology, especially for preventive healthcare programs.
Of all those examples of research and innovation, information about the NusaHealth (www.nusahealth.id) program, which is personal digital healthcare application based on smartphone, has been disseminated to society as one framework to educate it on healthy lifestyle. NusaHealth was a primadona in the CNBC at the Davos event this year because it is the future of health. In addition, the GamaDesa application, that has been developed by the Faculty of Agriculture and PT Gamatechno, is an is dedicated to rural communities and farmers in order to increase their welfare by facilitating access to information on the prices of agricultural commodities, pests, agricultural consultancy, and the planting season.
PT. Gamatechno Indonesia is an information technology company owned by UGM under the holding company PT Gama Multi Usaha Mandiri. Gamatechno focuses on development of a system and platform to realise the smart city and smart regency concepts. In the 12 years since its establishment, Gamatechno has made important achievements in the technology industry in the country, especially in education, governance, transportation, and small and medium industry. Gamatechno has increased its total revenues 40 fold since it began operating. Presently, Gamatechno has more than 300 B2B clients in Indonesia, for instance PT Aino Indonesia which is a subsidiary of Gamatechno that currently has 24% market share in Indonesia of electronic money using chips.