R&D expo to strengthen business competition

Novia D. Rulistia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/24/2008 12:26 AM

The Industry Ministry and the private sector will jointly organize the nation's first research and development expo next week to promote use of R&D in industry and strengthen competition.

Head of standardization at the ministry's R&D agency, M. Najib said Wednesday many R&D products developed by research agencies remained unused by industry due to poor marketing.

"The products of research and development usually stop at the laboratory. Many companies are reluctant to come to the laboratory. This exhibition will bring R&D and business closer together to help improve the industrial sector," he said.

He added improvement in research and better use of R&D would help improve national economic performance.

The expo, scheduled for April 29 to May 1, at the Jababeka industrial estate, will involve 56 participants from private and state companies, 26 R&D agencies and several universities.

Najib said the expo was expected to become a national gateway for small and medium enterprises to find the latest appropriate and affordable R&D products.

Jababeka's president director S.D. Darmono said most small enterprises did not have R&D capacity, so were less competitive.

Analysts say a lack of R&D incentives has contributed to the low quality of industrial products.

Last year, according the government, the allocation for R&D was only 0.04 percent of GDP, compared to almost 2 percent in Malaysia and Singapore.

Indonesia's annual spending on research averages some US$300 million, far behind China's $76 billion, or even Malaysia's $1.2 billion and Singapore's $2 billion.

"In developed countries, like Singapore, the government pays the whole cost of the R&D process if they want a product to be completed right away with good quality," Darmono said.