Innovation Festival 2023 Brings Together Innovators, Industries

Yogyakarta—In effort to support the acceleration of innovation down-streaming and bringing together innovators and industry actors, Universitas Islam Indonesia’s (UII) Directorate of Coaching & Development of Entrepreneurship/Growth Hub (DPPK UII/Simpul Tumbuh) has organized the 2023 Innovation Festival (InnoFest).

The event, which took place at the K.H. Mas Mansyur Building of UII’s Faculty of Industrial Engineering on 18-19 January 2023, also involved UII’s Directorate of Research & Community Service (DPPM) and industry partners. The major national-scale event was organized to forward the vision of developing innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

DPPK Director Dr. Arif Wismadi, M.Sc. expressed hopes that the collaboration would encourage innovation not only within UII but across Indonesia.

Also supporting the event were European campuses Hellenic Open University and European University of Cyprus, 12 Southeast Asian universities that are part of the Erasmus + ASEAN Network for Green Entrepreneurship and Leadership (ANGEL) consortium, and the GITA-Akselwira Association.

“InnoFest focuses on supporting Kemendikbudristek’s [Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology] 2023 Matching Fund Kedaireka program. This scheme provides matching funding from the government for the funds and resources that partners have provided for collaborating with universities,” said Bagus Panuntun, SE., MBA., CWM., CFP., CSA., CBC., Head of UII’s Development of Entrepreneurship/Joint Incubator for Business and Innovation (IBISMA).

“The Kedaireka program is expected to encourage the forming of a stronger and accelerated collaborative ecosystem between campuses, DUDI, government institutions and the public,” Bagus added.

The festival, themed “Accelerate Innovation Ecosystem”, covers a series of sessions, such as Innovation Talk (InnoTalk), Innovation Pitching (InnoPitch), Innovation Matching (InnoMatch) and Innovation Coaching Clinic (InnoCoach).

Other UII partners also supported the 2023 InnoFest. The strategic partners were the Indonesian Ministry of Communications & Information, state-owned electricity company PT PLN, state-owned pharma company PT Bio Farma and state-owned bank PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia. Meanwhile, the supporting industry partners were PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan & Ratu Boko and other industry partners that come from various sectors, including green economy, blue economy, digital, health and tourism sectors. (VIP Magazine Vol 10)