Greetings From

We need to go back to 2005 when talking about the history of Nano Center Indonesia (NCI). The root of NCI could be traced back to Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, a research group at Indonesian Institute of Sciences led by Dr. Nurul Taufiqu Rochman. The members of this group were fresh graduates from various universities in Indonesia, including me. At that time, we only had two tasks: research and publish the results. Most members of this research group would then continue to obtain a PhD scholarship abroad in 2009-2010.

In 2012, Yayasan Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Nanoteknologi Indonesia (YP3NI) was officially established, colloquially known as Nano Center Indonesia (NCI). The focus of NCI was to strengthen the business line and in the following year it succeeded in establishing PT. Nanotech Herbal Indonesia as the first start-up company. Subsequently, several start-up companies were to follow, such as PT. Sinergi Nanotech Indonesia, PT. Nanotech Natura Indonesia, PT. Nanovasi Rekayasa Indonesia, PT. Nanobox Mitra Teknologi, and PT. Nanobubble Cheria Indonesia. However, NCI's research culture was slowly disappearing, as indicated by the low number of published papers. Therefore, one of my objectives when I went back to NCI in 2018 is to nurture the research culture at NCI. The number of published papers increased gradually. For instance, in 2018, 2019, and 2020 the published papers were 5, 10, and 17, respectively.

Another problem that NCI faced was the high employee turnover rate. For a research institution, long-term human resources are essential for the sustainability of the research. Therefore, when I was appointed as chairman of the YP3NI in 2021, I launched the Nanotech Graduate Program (NGP), a scholarship program in NCI with 4-5 years duration. NGP is a prestigious scholarship that recruits fresh graduates and trains them to be exceptional researchers. As an awardee of NGP, a full scholarship to pursue a higher degree will be given in the third year upon successfully maintaining the performance. In 2022, NCI initiates to recruit high-profile researchers.

Since YP3NI has developed into many sectors such as intellectual property, human resources development, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), a re-structurization in the foundation was in order. Therefore, I stepped down as chairman of YP3NI, and Nano Center Indonesia was established as a research institution under the foundation based on the decree of the chairman of YP3NI No. 003/NCI/VI/2022, in which I was appointed as the first managing director of NCI.

NCI has three centers of excellence: Advanced Materials, Applied Physics and Chemistry, Life Sciences and Applied Nanotechnology. NCI is committed to conducting basic and applied research in nanotechnology. We will continue to generate products based on our scientific findings and cultivate them towards commercialization.