The inventor of the COVID-19 breathalyzer GeNose and the Dean of the UGM Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Dr. Kuwat Triyana, has been appointed a professor of physics at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM).
During the appointment ceremony held on Thursday, October 12, at the UGM Senate Hall, he delivered a speech entitled “Innovation in Artificial Intelligence-based Sensor Systems and Its Downstream Challenges.”
In his speech, Professor Triyana explained his innovation and development of artificial intelligence-based gas sensors, namely the electronic nose (GeNose) and electronic tongue (Elto).
He mentioned several challenges in developing gas sensors, including improving selectivity, sensitivity, response and recovery time, long-term stability, and aging effects.
Various approaches, such as using new materials, nanotechnology, and machine learning techniques, are being used to address these challenges.
Professor Triyana also shared his experiences in research commercialization of the electronic nose (registered as GeNose C19) through various lengthy stages following Indonesian regulations.
This journey included profiling tests, standard tests at the Health Facility Security Institute in Surabaya, diagnostic tests, and mass production.
“We have gained an enormous amount of knowledge for the future. As a newly applied product, quality assurance of GeNose C19 must be conducted, including pre-market and post-market diagnostic tests, as well as operator literacy and skill enhancement to comply with established SOPs,” said the new professor.
He discussed the main issues in the downstream and commercialization of healthcare innovations in Indonesia.
These issues include financial constraints as a hindrance to developing advanced and high-tech healthcare products. Additionally, the weakness of the national healthcare production ecosystem presents a challenge for the healthcare industry in Indonesia.
To address these challenges, he emphasized the need to enhance synergy between universities, the government, and the industry, including adding testing facilities, creating National Indonesian Standards (SNI) for healthcare product testing, and strengthening the production of supporting raw materials.
Furthermore, the lack of coordination between researchers, the government, and the industry poses a problem.
In order to expedite the downstream process, the private sector’s role should be involved from the ideation stage or proposal for innovative research. Private companies are also encouraged to collaborate in the development.
“90% of healthcare products in Indonesia are imported, indicating that the domestic healthcare industry is not yet capable of producing the majority of high-tech healthcare products,” he added.
“To achieve self-sufficiency in the healthcare industry, Indonesia needs to improve its domestic production capacity and promote an increase in domestically developed research and innovation products.”
Author: Ika
Photographer: Donnie