The pandemic still has not yet ended. In the meantime, UGM keeps endeavoring to design innovation for its nation and community for especially overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, and not a few innovations have been successfully invented. Panut, as UGM Chancellor, revealed that UGM had two focus bases in creating innovation. The first basis is related to the lecturers and students’ researches called academic driven. The second focus basis is related to the community needs that are perceived as community-driven.
UGM has successfully manifested the focus bases above, one of which in medical care. At this very moment, UGM is currently intensifying its innovation in medical care because of pandemic conditions. One of the medical care innovations is an artificially intelligent tool for Covid-19 quick screening through the one’s breath called GeNose C19. These tools had been distributed over the nation, especially in public places such as stations, airports, hospitals. There were a total of 3,000 GeNose units invented. 2,400 units from the total have been distributed. Meanwhile, the rest 600 are currently waiting for their installation, mainly in the Ministry of Transportation.
“Because of the high number of demands, UGM will remain to improve the GeNose C19 production supported by some partners,” Panut explained.
After GeNose, UGM has also successfully designed a ventilator for Covid-19 patients. This tool has passed through the clinical trials and is currently waiting for the Ministry of Health’s approval to distribute these tools. Another innovation in medical care is the production of PPE (Personal Protective Equipments) by CIMEDs (Center for Medical Innovation and Devices). Furthermore, there are also other researches on immunostimulant ingredients to formulate body immunity products during a pandemic.
Innovations above are included in UGM’s five priority innovation fields for health and pharmacy. The other focuses are agroindustry, manufacture and engineering, information technology, new and renewable energy. In addition to another field, there are also heritage, art and culture, and sustainable management for the social fields. One of the innovations manifested in the social fields is the Sambatan Jogja Movement or called SONJO. This movement could also balance technological innovations related to Covid-19 handling in providing support for the community affected by Covid-19.
Author: Ika