In addition to exhibiting 69 of its innovative works, Universitas Indonesia (UI), through the UI Innovation Festival (UIIF) 2024, which was held for five days from November 27 to December 1, 2024, also presented various other activities, including business matching and speed dating. Both are UI’s efforts to improve and develop greater innovations in the future and have a positive impact on society.
Director of Innovation and Science Techno Park UI, Ahmad Gamal, S.Ars., M.U.P., Ph.D., said that business matching is a program that brings together researchers with potential industrial partners. “Previously, researchers who had ideas offered their prototypes to the Directorate of Innovation and Science Techno Park (DISTP) UI so that they could then be offered to industry. However, this process had a low success rate. Therefore, we reversed the process by first trying to build relationships with many industrial partners, then we asked what their needs were,” said Ahmad Gamal.
He further said that after obtaining information, DISTP UI would auction the product needs of industrial partners to researchers. Thus, these researchers can submit their proposals according to what they want to develop together with their industrial partners. “The most important thing in this process is that both DISTP UI and the researchers understand the market needs,” said Ahmad Gamal.
In addition, he said that those who need this business matching are not only researchers, but also startups. This is because startups need large industries that can later become vendors or customers for startups.
Ahmad Gamal added that this activity also provides an opportunity for startups to get exposure and meet directly with the community. There are three levels of exposure in this activity, namely the first is startups that need to be known to the public so that people want to try their prototypes. Second, startups ought to sell services or products to the public. Finally, the third is startups looking for investment.
“Every year, research at UI produces 40 to 60 applied research titles managed by DISTP UI. Usually, of that number, about half, 20 to 30 studies, already have industrial partners. This year, there are 83 applied research titles and all of them already have industrial partners. This means that there is a success from the business matching that we have done. We not only serve the needs of researchers, but we also serve the needs of industrial partners. So, this year it has doubled from the previous year,” said Ahmad Gamal.
In addition to business matching, there is also speed dating, a program that brings together startups with venture capital companies. In a very short time, startups must present their business ideas to venture capital companies so that cooperation can be established. So, startups can get capital to develop and expand their businesses.
UIIF Ideathon Nusantara Competition
In providing opportunities for young innovators to develop ideas and contribute to community development, UI is holding the UIIF Ideathon Nusantara Competition as one of the series of events in the UIIF 2024 event. This event is a competition for students from various universities in Indonesia to be able to provide alternative solutions to various issues of fishermen’s problems in Indonesia through business proposals.
The competition, which is a collaboration between DISTP UI and PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental, presents three main themes that encourage creativity, sustainability, and innovation. The three themes are Pembangunan Pesisir Berkelanjutan, Teknologi Konservasi Laut, dan Inisiatif Ekonomi Biru (Sustainable Coastal Development, Marine Conservation Technology, and Blue Economy Initiatives). “From 150 teams that participated in this competition, 50 teams were selected to enter the next stage, which we then filtered again into the top 10. Those who were selected, presented their ideas in front of the judges. The three teams with the highest scores in all idea categories received benefits totaling 25 million and the highest score or Champion 1 received project implementation assistance of Rp100,000,000,” said Ahmad Gamal.
From 150 teams that participated in this competition, the BluePlast Energy Team consisting of two UI students, namely Rispa Maulana Sya’ban and Alvian Fauzi, won 1st place for their idea in providing a solution to answer fishermen’s problems. “Our idea is waste-to-energy, which is converting plastic waste into fuel that can be used by fishermen with pyrolysis technology,” said Alvian.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Gamal, who is also one of the judges in this competition, said that BluePlast can provide solutions to answer two problems, namely renewable energy, which provides alternative energy that is much more environmentally friendly and solves the problems of fishermen. Meanwhile, the Communication and Compliance Manager of PT Pertamina Trans Kontinental Syafaat Yudha Perwira, represented by Rahmat Hidayat Asri, said, “In this competition, we want to find a program to increase the capacity of fishermen or coastal communities. We see that there are many out-of-the-box ideas from the participants who took part in this event. On the other hand, I would also like to thank Universitas Indonesia for collaborating with us in organizing this competition. Hopefully, in the future, there will be other collaborations that we can do together.”
