Unstrategic Research
The government believes that 2017 is the golden age of Indonesian research. The factor that encourage this assumption is that one year ago the government issued PMK Number 106/PMK.02/2016 regarding standard-based research output costs, where this is a new research strategy that is different from the previous research strategy. Then the question is, is it true that this new research strategy can encourage the golden age of Indonesian research?
External Strategy
Since the government issued PMK No. 106/PMK.02/2016, Indonesian research has established a research strategy based on Standards Output Cost. This means that research conducted in Indonesia is no longer focused on the form of orderly administrative reports, but rather puts forward the results in the form of outputs. The output can be in the form of journals, patents and others.
To support this research strategy based on standards output cost, the government in 2017 has also disbursed a budget of 1.395 trillion. Moreover, there is an additional allocation for Legal Entity State Universities of Rp 380.4 billion and community service funds of 150 billion.
With this change in research strategy, research in Indonesia, whether carried out by universities or other research institutions, is expected in the future to encourage the mastery and use of science and technology to be able to solve social or technological problems that exist in society. . In the end, the Indonesian society can achieve progress and high competitiveness through the results of their research.
Unstrategic Research
After the issuance of PMK and seeing at research practices at universities or research institutions, it can be found that research in Indonesia has three expected output strategies, consit of; First, research that is treated by universities and research institutions whose output strategies are research results in the form of international publications or international conferences; Second, research that is treated by universities and research institutes is the result of research strategies in the form of intellectual property used by the community, where researchers or universities and research institutions do this; and Third, research conducted by universities and research institutions whose output strategy is research results in the form of intellectual property that is utilized by the community through the role of intellectual property center.
From these three research strategies in practice, it seems that the government or limited company and research institutions are more likely to encourage the output strategy of the research results in the form of international publications. It is not even the responsibility of the government in terms of research proposals funded by the government “requires” that the research output be in the form of an international journal. In line with that, regarding the promotion of professorships, the government seems very strong in determining its policies by “requiring” that lecturers who have the intention to become professors must have a Scopus indexed international journal.
With the government’s strategy, the consequence is that research results can only be enjoyed by the government and fellow researchers. Why not, the results of research published in international journals are actually enjoyed by the government to “image” that the State has been able to encourage the progress of science and technology, while it is enjoyed by fellow researchers where the research results are only treated in the context of citations between fellow researchers.
In other side, there are not many parties who can enjoy the results of research with an international journal output strategy, it turns out that this strategy has several weaknesses, its consist of; First, whether they realize it or not, by only encouraging research through the output strategy of international journals, Indonesian researchers are actually being encouraged to “sale” their research results, without thinking about the protection side of the research results themselves; and Second, consciously or not, research through an external strategy in the form of international journals, researchers are actually being kept away from solving real social and technological problems faced by society. From all this, it is reasonable to say that research driven by the government does not have an effective strategy to advance the nation as a whole. In short, the golden age of Indonesian research will only become fantasy.
Intellectual Property Center Role Strategy
Looking at some of the weaknesses of the Indonesian research strategy above, this should encourage the government to review the research strategy that has been carried out all this time. The government should start thinking about a comprehensive strategy, in which the research carried out must be encouraged to be able to provide benefits to researchers, industry, society and the country as a whole.
For this purpose, research using research output strategies in the form of intellectual property through the role of intellectual property centers can be a strategic choice. The strategic values, its consist of; First, the research results of limited liability company/research institutions will get effective and efficient protection; Second, research results can be downstream through professional handling through the role of intellectual property center; Third, research results will not be hindered from making international publications possible; and Fourth, research results can raise the image of the State both in terms of international publications and other intellectual property, such as patents.
In fact, the government’s choice to encourage for a research output strategy like this has an embryo. At least, it can be seen from the government’s policies as stated in Article 13 paragraphs (2) and (3) of Law no. 18 of 2002. The main things of these provisions are; First, research results must be disseminated and intellectual property protected; Second, research results must be managed through intellectual property center. Therefore, the government in this context only needs to be more serious in developing this strategy if the results of research in Indonesia are expected to advance and improve the nation’s competitiveness. From this strategy, the expectation of the golden age of research is actually exist around us.
Wallahu’alam bis shawab.
Prof. Dr. Budi Agus Riswandi, S.H., M.Hum.
Director of Intellectual Property Rights Center
Faculty of Law UII Yogyakarta
and Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Intellectual Property Center (ASKII)
