Scientific research is very important for the progress of a country, but the increase in the number of researchers in Indonesia is still far behind compared to neighboring countries. Citing an article from The Jakarta Post, in 2015 Gadjah Mada University, obtained the highest number in scientific research journals with the number 16,809 among universities in Indonesia. But that figure is less than half the research produced by Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and only a fraction of the National University of Singapore, which amounts to 41.9702.
In order to support the Indonesian government targeting 6,000 to 6,500 researches to be published, Tanoto Foundation created Tanoto Student Research Award (TSRA) which has been held since 2007.
Tanoto Student Research Award encourages students in universities in Indonesia to conduct applicative research that can be directly applied in everyday life. To date, TSRA has supported more than 440 studies from five partner universities, namely Bandung Institute of Technology, Bogor Agricultural University, Hasanuddin University, North Sumatra University, and University of Indonesia.
"Tanoto Student Research Award encourages the development of knowledge applications in universities to become products that can be directly utilized by the community," said Sihol Aritonang, Chairman of the Tanoto Foundation.
"From here, we can see a wide range of innovative products that are useful for the community. Students from UI for example, they make drones that can be used for agricultural systems to be more precise. Or innovation of IPB students who recycles palm oil bark to be an economical and strong building material ",