UNAIR NEWS – Leading Indonesian businesswoman Shinta Widjaja Kamdani urged stronger ties between research and industry needs, so that innovation would not stop at publication or legal protection, but could also develop into solutions with economic value. She shared this view at the Whats Up Campus Call Out (WCC) event titled “From Innovation to Sovereignty” at Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Surabaya, Thursday (September 17, 2026).
At the forum, organized by the Ministry of Law of the Republic of Indonesia, Kamdani encouraged the academic community and industry stakeholders to strengthen collaboration in connecting campus innovation with market needs. WCC served as a space for dialogue, bringing together government, academics, and industry to openly discuss public policy issues.
Research must address industry needs
In her presentation, Kamdani explained that research development needs to begin with understanding market needs through a supply-and-demand approach. According to her, industry needs to identify technological needs before pursuing innovation, so that research outcomes can be applied in practice.
She said research that has already secured legal protection, such as patents, still requires further steps in the form of utilization and commercialization. “Without that process, innovation risks stopping short at being merely a research output, without generating economic impact,” said the chairwoman of the Indonesian Employers’ Association (APINDO).
Kamdani also presented the results of an APINDO survey on corporate research and development activity. The survey found that industry awareness of the importance of technology is fairly high, but the realization of research development still faces challenges. This is reflected in the fact that only 44 percent of companies have their own research units, while the rest have yet to make research a priority in business development.
Building collaboration between industry and campus
Kamdani said universities and industry play complementary roles in building a national innovation ecosystem. “Universities have the capacity to produce research and knowledge, while industry understands market needs and opportunities for technology application,” she said.
She believes there is a need for collaborative pathways that can connect university research findings with the needs of the business world, whether through research partnerships, technology collaboration, or the utilization of existing innovations.
Through such collaboration, Kamdani called for Indonesian innovation to move beyond producing patents alone, evolving instead into technology that benefits society and strengthens national technological sovereignty.
Author: Nabila Afifah Abida
Editor: Yulia Rohmawati
