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Technology Push, Market Pull, or Co-Creation — Which ISM Track Fits Your Research?

Here is the question most BINUS lecturers don’t think to ask before approaching industry: at what stage is my research, and what does that stage actually require from a partnership? Approaching an industry partner with a concept-stage idea using a licensing pitch is one of the most common ways a promising collaboration fails before it begins. The ISM program offers three distinct engagement tracks — Technology Push, Market Pull, and Co-Creation — and choosing the wrong one for your research’s current maturity is a genuinely costly mistake.

The right framework for this decision is TKT, or Tingkat Kesiapterapan Teknologi — Indonesia’s official Technology Readiness Level scale, codified under Permenristekdikti 42/2016. TKT runs from 1 to 9, from basic principle observation at TKT 1 to a fully operational, commercially deployed system at TKT 9. Every research output sits somewhere on this scale, and each ISM track aligns with a different band of readiness.

Technology Push is the track for researchers whose work is already producing demonstrable results — typically TKT 5 and above, meaning you have a functional prototype validated in a relevant environment. You bring the innovation; the industry partner adopts, licenses, or helps scale it. This is the track that can lead most directly to licensing income, spin-off formation, and the kind of validated IP documentation that RISPRO Komersial reviewers and Angka Kredit assessors both recognize. The PPHK training program run by BINUS RTT is specifically designed to prepare lecturers on this track: participants must now have a functional prototype before joining, which is a deliberate quality gate that protects your time and the industry partner’s.

Market Pull works differently. Here, the problem comes from industry first. Through the Bank of Industry Problems on BRIDGE: Opportunities, companies articulate a real challenge they need solved. Your research team responds to that challenge — not with an existing product, but with a research proposal tailored to the problem. This track is well-suited for researchers at TKT 3–5, who have developed foundational knowledge and some experimental proof of concept but haven’t yet built toward a specific market application. The industry problem gives your research a clear anchor, which strengthens both the quality of the work and the credibility of any subsequent grant application.

Co-Creation is the most resource-intensive but also the most structurally powerful track. It is appropriate when both sides — BINUS and an industry partner — want to build something together from a relatively early stage, often TKT 2–4. Joint research centers, strategic alliances, and long-term innovation consortiums fall here. The commitment required is higher, but so is the depth of the relationship and the range of outputs: joint publications, joint HKI, student internships, co-branded research infrastructure. For lecturers building toward Guru Besar, the multi-year co-creation track is the kind of sustained external collaboration that a promotion file is ultimately built around.

Importantly, the ISM framework is not a one-way escalator. Researchers often enter at Market Pull, develop a product, and then move into Technology Push in a later cycle. Some start in Co-Creation when a company is willing to invest in early-stage joint development. RTT’s role is to help you identify which track fits your current stage — not to lock you into one.

A practical example: Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) has developed a well-documented pattern of using Market Pull engagements — particularly with BUMN (state-owned enterprises) in the maritime and energy sectors — as the entry point for research collaborations that later produced patented technologies and formal licensing agreements (ITS Technology Transfer Office, 2022 Annual Report). The initial problem came from industry; the IP and publications that followed were generated by ITS researchers. The track determined the shape of everything that came after.

The starting point for any BINUS lecturer is to honestly assess your TKT, register your research output on BRIDGE Apps, and contact RTT to discuss which track makes the most sense for where you currently are. For the full breakdown of how each track works within the BINUS ecosystem, visit the Industry Partnership & Solution Matching page on BINUS RTT.

 

 

 

 

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