30/09/2025

Tri Mumpuni:

Innovation-based economic growth is built from innovation activities that have a direct impact on society.

Adhi:

Exactly. Our R&D must be able to produce products and services that directly impact society — creating jobs, increasing income, and improving quality of life.

But... as long as our current R&D ecosystem still uses the number of papers and citations as the main performance metric, that hope will remain as far off as fire from a gas cylinder. My friends who are truly innovative — creators of breakthrough works used by real users for production and employment — rarely have time to write papers. Yet, each time they launch a product, it could actually generate 8–15 publishable scientific papers all at once.

Today, we are joined by our long-time friend Tri Mumpuni — founder of the IBEKA Foundation, a pioneering sociopreneur since 1992, focused on realizing equitable community-based economic growth through renewable energy and local resources.

Puni has received numerous government awards across different administrations, as well as international recognitions such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award (2011) and the Ashden Award (2012). She has attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting several times, and currently serves as a Supervisory Board Member of BRIN (National Research and Innovation Agency) alongside Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Last month, Puni had just returned from Guangzhou, China, where she served as a jury member for the BRICS Competition of Skills Development and Technology Innovation, showcasing the innovations of young researchers from BRICS countries in Future Technology & AI, Advanced Manufacturing, Digital Agriculture, and Digital Healthcare.