topic Ministry

Indonesia

Political framework for scientific and technological cooperation

According to the STC agreement, the declared focal areas of bilateral cooperation are marine research and technology, energy research and technology, aerospace research and technology, geosciences, social sciences and the humanities, and all scientific fields and technologies that can help drive forward industrial development. The general aim is to incorporate industry partners in the collaborations, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One of the ways in which Indonesia is pursuing its objective of creating closer links between research and economic applications is the establishment of Business & Technology Centers (BTC). The BMBF supports this endeavour by funding workshops and observation visits to Germany as well as by conducting on-site consultations.

Cooperation in the area of environmental technology, which is increasingly taking place at a multilateral level, is based on a 1993 agreement, whose implementation was jointly financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Basis and key areas of cooperation

On the basis of the STC agreement, the BMBF cooperates with Indonesia with the help of an inter-ministerial committee. Three joint steering committees coordinate the collaboration, which is classified into three thematic areas: marine research and geosciences, biotechnology, and the tsunami early warning system.

Marine research and geosciences
One important reason for the quick response to the tsunami was the long-standing collaboration in a joint steering committee for marine research and geosciences. Experiences made in bilateral river and coastal zone management projects and the joint use of research vessels play a very important role in this.

This committee looks after numerous projects for sustainable resource management under the heading "Science for the Protection of Indonesian Coastal Marine Ecosystems" (SPICE). They receive financial support from the BMBF's funding programmes. The Center for Tropical Marine Ecology in Bremen undertakes important activities on behalf of the committee (workshops, summer schools, scientist exchanges, etc).

The committee is also in charge of a technology project for the construction of an underground weir with the aim of obtaining electricity and drinking water in Central Java. This project, which is coordinated by the University of Karlsruhe's Department of Water Resources Management and Rural Engineering, has the objective of ensuring the supply of drinking and service water during the dry season through the use of regenerative energy sources and appropriate technologies.

Tsunami Early Warning System
In spring 2005, a steering committee for bilateral cooperation in the establishment of a tsunami early warning system constituted itself. The basis for this collaboration with Indonesia is the Joint Declaration between Germany and Indonesia of 14 March 2005.

As part of its development reconstruction aid to the affected region, the Federal Government provided €45 million for the development of the tsunami early warning system. The German-Indonesian system forms part - the main part, in fact - of the overall concept of the Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean, whose construction is being coordinated by UNESCO/IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission).

Different scientific organizations cooperate closely under the leadership of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres, represented by the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (National Research Centre for Geosciences), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR), the Research Centre Geesthacht (GKSS), the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM), the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) the Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and the United Nations University in Bonn (UNU).

Biotechnology
The bilateral steering committee for biotechnology gives top priority to projects that include both research institutions and businesses from both countries. The key areas of cooperation are currently plant biotechnology and plant breeding and the biotechnological processing of industrial wastewater and other waste materials, including the processing of glycerol as a by-product of palm oil production. New collaborations include molecular farming for the production of vaccines and a '2+2' cooperation project for the development of a genotype-specific HCV diagnosis chip. Since January 2000, the collaboration has been operating on the basis of calls for proposals.

Highlights of bilateral cooperation

Tsunami Early Warning System
Two years after the Joint Declaration on the establishment of a tsunami early warning system was signed, a number of significant goals have already been reached. Some central components of the system are up and running: The central communication unit has been operating since 2006. The first 10 seismometer stations have been constructed and networked with other stations in the region (Thailand, Malaysia, Australia). The German evaluation system SeiComp 3 has been integrated and already provides seismic early warnings within 4 to 5 minutes (before the tsunami disaster, this took at least 60 minutes). Further stations, including two tide gauges and three GPS stations, have been constructed. After an initial test phase, the first two GPS buoys have been technologically optimized. The Indonesian Meteorological and Geophysical Agency (BMG) has erected a new building to house the warning centre. It will be inaugurated in autumn. The data centre that is to be established in the BMG is currently in the concept phase.

The aim is to have a fully functioning system by the end of 2008, consisting of networks of sensors and a warning centre capable of issuing warnings in real time. Afterwards, the system will be jointly operated by Germany and Indonesia. It will be transferred to Indonesia in spring 2010.

As part of its special geotechnology programme, the BMBF is continuing its efforts to extend tsunami aid to the so-called "last mile". After extensive preliminary on-site work , the event of a tsunami entering a city was simulated - using the Indonesian city of Padang as an example - with the help of hydro-dynamic models, in a collaborative project in which various scientific institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises participated. Evacuation plans are being developed based on the results of this simulation, settlement structures, topographical characteristics, etc. These plans will be given to the Indonesian authorities and the Indonesian people.

The BMBF has now extended its tsunami aid to the so-called "last mile" and is supporting a collaboration between a Flensburg-based company and the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK). The technology, which relies on the principle of the traffic message channel with text-based information and was further developed especially for tsunami warnings in South-East Asia, has been successfully installed in Bali and is to be introduced in two model regions in Sumatra and Java in the second half of 2007.

Collaborative project on karst waters
The province of Yogyakarta, particularly the district of Gunung Kidul, is considered one of the poorest areas in Indonesia. The shortage of water is an especially grave problem - it strongly affects the population during the dry season, which lasts for several months. The lack of water is caused by the region's karst topography: rainfall seeps into the ground very quickly, and there are no adequate water reservoirs. Water is extracted using diesel generators, but this is not enough to cover people's needs.

Shaft of the karst water project in Indonesia
The aim of the BMBF collaborative project "Opening Up and Making Use of Underground Karst Waters" is to provide a lasting solution to this problem and to develop a concept for similar karst regions in other parts of the world.

Following a successful feasibility study (2002), the overall concept, which provides mainly for the sustainable use of underground rivers, was approved. The damming of underground rivers is to provide the energy required in order to pump water to the surface. This would not only secure the drinking water supply for the population; it would also enable better agricultural yields. The boring of the shaft was successfully completed in December 2004 and was an important milestone in the construction of the water power plant.

The BMBF is providing a total of €2.3 million in funding to the project, which pursues two objectives: it not only contributes to the sustainable management of water as a natural resource, but also promotes research and development of German technologies related to water, which is a growing market sector.