EduAsiaNews, Jakarta — The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) officially launched the Priority Research Program for Fiscal Year 2026 at the Graha Diktisaintek Auditorium in Jakarta. The program represents a strategic government initiative to strengthen a national research ecosystem that is competitive, collaborative, and directly impactful for societal advancement, while reaffirming the government’s commitment to achieving scientific independence and innovation grounded in the nation’s needs.
As a concrete form of support, the government has earmarked an allocation of more than Rp 3 trillion from the State Budget (APBN). The funds are directed toward strengthening eight strategic national industry sectors, encompassing security, health, energy, maritime, defense, manufacturing, social justice, and industrial digitalization. The research approach adopted combines problem-based research and academic excellence, ensuring that every research output carries high practical utility while maintaining strong academic quality.
The 2026 Priority Research Program is centered on three main pillars: Talent Development (Bina Talenta), Research and Community Service, and Research Downstream (Hilirisasi Riset). These three pillars are designed to build an integrated research ecosystem — spanning from strengthening the capacity of research human resources and improving the quality and relevance of studies, through to the utilization of research outputs via downstream development and innovation based on national needs.
Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology Prof. Brian Yuliarto stressed the importance of cross-sector synergy so that research does not merely end up as academic documentation. “The government is committed to creating a research ecosystem that is inclusive and adaptive to the times. Collaboration is the key to ensuring that research findings do not remain on laboratory tables but genuinely benefit society and the national economy,” he stated firmly. In the same vein, Director General of Research and Development M. Fauzan Adziman emphasized that research must become a sustainable academic culture. “Research is our contribution to humanity and national progress. Every study must give birth to innovations that are relevant and applicable in real life,” he said.
The launch of this program also serves as a momentum for building the capacity of research human resources at universities, including encouraging the involvement of postgraduate students in research activities as an effort to cultivate a research culture from an early stage and ensure the continuity of future generations of outstanding researchers. National research achievements have also shown progress, with total national research expenditure for 2025/2026 reaching Rp 81.4 trillion, equivalent to 0.34 percent of the State Budget, alongside Indonesia’s improved standing in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 as an overperformer among upper-middle-income countries, particularly in the areas of campus-industry research collaboration and innovation outputs. (**)
