ITB Senior Professor Provides Input to Indonesian Presidential Candidates 2024-2029 on Technology and Entrepreneurship

By M. Naufal Hafizh

Editor M. Naufal Hafizh

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - The 2024 election is an important momentum for Indonesia. In this regard, the Forum of Professors of Institut Teknologi Bandung (FGB ITB) held the Second Series of ITB Contribution to the Nation Webinar as a form of ITB's contribution and input for the Presidential Candidates of the Republic of Indonesia 2024-2029. The event was held offline at the Scientific Meeting Hall and online via Zoom Meeting and YouTube, on Wednesday (24/01/2024).

The FGB ITB webinar was hosted by Prof. Ir. Benyamin Sapiie, Ph.D. and presented five speakers, namely Prof. Dr. Ir. Tati Latifah Erawati Rajab, Dr. Ir. Sigit Puji Santosa, MSME., Sc.D., Prof. Dr. Ir. Kadarsah Suryadi, D.E.A., and Prof. Ir. Ade Sjafruddin, M.Sc., Ph.D. The event was attended by lecturers, students, and the winning teams of the three Indonesian Presidential Candidates 2024-2029 online.

The Chairman of FGB ITB, Prof. Edy Tri Baskoro, M.Sc., Ph.D., opened the webinar event with a different discussion. In the second series, the discussion was themed "Challenges and Opportunities Towards The Golden Indonesia 2045" which was divided into a number of topics, namely health technology, entrepreneurship, transportation technology, and public transportation systems. The results of the discussion will serve as input to the three Indonesian Presidential Candidates 2024-2029 through their respective winning teams to be taken into consideration in preparing the work programs of the three Indonesian presidential candidates 2024-2029.

In order to achieve Golden Indonesia 2045, the quality of Human Resources (HR) is needed both physically and mentally. Public health is an important factor supporting community productivity. The state is fully responsible for public health services in accordance with Article 34 paragraph 3 of the 1945 Constitution.

  

Prof. Dr. Ir. Tati Latifah Erawati Rajab revealed that Indonesia is a country with low health services and facilities. Based on BPS 2023 data, Indonesia only has 3,000 hospitals and 10,000 health centers. Based on data from the Indonesian Ministry of Health 2023, the number of doctors per thousand population is only 0.7 with the number of specialists less than 0.03. Meanwhile, the number of people with major diseases is increasing every year. This can be seen from BPJS claims which reached Rp 34 trillion in 2023 (an increase of 44.4% from 2022).

"Indonesia needs to establish a realistic, solid, and integrated program that has a broad impact and boosts the entire system," she said.

Prof. Tati recommended improving health facilities and services by giving responsibility to the community health center (puskesmas) to be able to conduct medical check-ups. With a large number of health centers, it is hoped that medical check-ups can monitor public health in 38 provinces. This service can be implemented through the establishment of facilities in stages, for example, the five-year program towards Indonesia Emas 2045. The fulfillment of facilities can leverage innovative products developed by state universities, including ITB, which has produced biomedical products such as ECG devices, NIVA, Elisa, M-Health, CPM, and many more.

In the field of transportation, Indonesian people tend to choose private transportation over public transportation, contributing to persistent congestion issues in major cities that remain challenging to alleviate. Prof. Ir. Ade Sjafruddin, M.Sc. explained that people prefer private transportation to public transportation because there are complaints in several Indonesian cities related to services, facilities and infrastructure, network performance, safety levels, and carrying capacity.

"Efforts are needed to increase the attractiveness of public transportation in the community," said Prof. Ade.

In order to achieve Golden Indonesia 2024, efforts are needed to change the paradigm of organizing transportation in Indonesia. Sustainable transportation system is one of the important factors. Therefore, integrated regional development and transportation are needed by taking into account environmental capacity. In addition, there must be an increase in the role of public transportation and non-motorized transportation (bicycle and pedestrian access) and make the rail-based mass transportation system the backbone of the network.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ir. Sigit Puji Santosa, MSME, Sc.D. added that there are three visions of Golden Indonesia 2045. First, land connectivity is realized by completing the digital-based main roads on all islands. Second, rail-based urban transportation and fast trains to anticipate mega-urban and urbanization in Java. Third, the inter-island transportation system through sea and air transportation is directed to support population mobility and distribution of goods between regions.

In order to achieve the three visions of Golden Indonesia 2045 in the field of transportation, it is necessary to establish a National Transportation Agency that regulates regulations/policies for the implementation of future mobility technologies. Currently, Indonesia still involves a combination of several agencies and ministries to manage the country's transportation. With the establishment of a special agency in the field of transportation, Indonesia can focus on developing Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) and integrated transport systems starting from airports, ports, stations, and autonomous electric vehicles.

Innovation in health and transportation technology towards Golden Indonesia 2045 requires multi-stakeholder cooperation. Currently, the trend of startup companies can be a solution in terms of technological innovation. These two things are inversely proportional to Indonesia's current condition. The increasing need for innovation in the field of technology is not supported by the availability of innovation providers.

Prof. Dr. Ir. Kadarsah Suryadi, D.E.A. explained that the entrepreneurship rate in Indonesian society is very low. Based on data in 2019, only 8.2 million Indonesians are entrepreneurs (3.3%). This figure lags behind neighboring countries. This causes Indonesia to be ranked 75th out of 137 countries based on the ability to present entrepreneurship

The low entrepreneurship rate in Indonesia is also supported by the provision of entrepreneurship training centers. As a result, there are still few Indonesians who utilize technology for entrepreneurship.

"Entrepreneurship is one of the skills that must be possessed to create a sustainable life," he said.

The solution that can be done to increase Indonesia's entrepreneurship rate is to provide entrepreneurship training centers to science and technology-based communities so that there will be more digital-based startups. With the presence of startups, the government can also cooperate by providing easy access and provision of funds, tax breaks, and incentives for entrepreneurship. In addition, by increasing cooperation between researchers and the industrial sector through the provision of Science and Techno Park, more innovations will be born for the development of the country.

Reporter: Pravito Septadenova Dwi Ananta (Teknik Geologi, 2019)
Translator: Anggi Nurdiani (Manajemen, 2021)
Editor: Hanifa Juliana (Perencanaan Wilayah dan Kota, 2020)