The Rise of Industry-Pull Research — Why Ajakan Industri Is the Future of University Funding

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For most of the history of university research, the model has run in one direction: a researcher develops an idea, produces a result, and then — often years later, often through a grant writing process — tries to find an industry partner willing to adopt it. The world calls this “technology push,” and for decades it was the dominant model of how academic knowledge became commercial value. A significant and growing body of evidence now shows that this model has an extremely high failure rate as a commercialisation strategy. A BRIN-commissioned survey found that one of the primary reasons Indonesian university-industry research collaboration fails to produce economic impact is that industry is brought in too late — after the research has been framed and scoped by the researcher, rather than by the problem the industry actually needs to solve. (Asian Journal of Technology Management — Research Cooperation Between Industry and R&D Institutions-Universities in Indonesia, BRIN, 2024)

Ajakan Industri is Indonesia’s formal structural response to this problem. Under the scheme, the flow is reversed: an industry or government body identifies a specific, documented challenge — and issues what is effectively a Request for Proposal for a research solution. Universities respond. BINUS researchers who are selected become the solver, not the proposer of the problem. The grant budget of up to Rp1.45 billion over one to three years reflects the seriousness of this mandate: this is not a scheme for exploratory research. It is for researchers with the technical credibility, existing track record, and industry trust to be handed a real operational challenge and solve it within a defined timeframe.

The implication for BINUS researchers is long-term and forward-looking. The Ajakan Industri requirement for a “proven industry or government collaboration track record” is not just an eligibility check — it is a description of the type of researcher the scheme is designed to reward. Researchers who have spent years building real working relationships with specific companies, government agencies, or BUMN — not just signing MoUs but actually delivering solutions and staying in contact — are the ones who receive Requests for Proposal from those organisations. The researchers who submit strong Ajakan Industri applications are almost never doing so because they found an industry partner at deadline time. They are doing so because an industry contact came to them.

This pattern is visible at the sector level. In March 2026, Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, and BRIN jointly signed a formal research collaboration agreement to align agricultural research with food sovereignty goals — explicitly connecting BRIN’s 188 food-sector patents with industry and government adoption pathways. (PalmOilMagazine, March 2026 — Indonesia Strengthens Agricultural Research Collaboration) BRIN Head Arif Satria stated directly that BRIN wants to connect more closely with industry so that research results can be implemented in the field. This direction — in food, energy, health, digital infrastructure, and maritime — points toward a funding ecosystem where researchers who are already embedded in industry problem-spaces will consistently access the most valuable grant opportunities.

For a BINUS researcher who is not yet at Ajakan Industri eligibility — most Lektor-level researchers are not — the relevant question is not “how do I apply for Ajakan Industri now?” It is “what do I need to build over the next two to three years so that I am the person an industry partner calls when they have a problem to solve?” The answer is a combination of deliverable relationships and documented output. The ISM (Industrial Solution Matching) program at BINUS RTT is designed to initiate those relationships: structured introductions to industry and government contacts who have expressed interest in academic research collaboration. The BRIDGE platform maps existing BINUS research expertise against industry problem sets. Used consistently over one or two grant cycles, these tools convert a researcher with no industry network into one with the relationship foundation that Ajakan Industri requires.

The researchers who will win the largest, highest-value hilirisasi grants in 2028 and 2029 are building their industry relationships right now. Not at the next deadline. Not after the next publication. Now. The structural trend in Indonesian and global research funding is unambiguous: the future belongs to researchers who understand industry problems well enough to be trusted to solve them. BINUS RTT can help you begin building that position today.

For the full guide to all seven hilirisasi grant schemes — including Ajakan Industri’s eligibility requirements, funding range, and submission timeline — visit the Grant for Applied Research page at BINUS Technology Transfer.

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