BANDUNG, Telkom University – Telkom University as the No.1 Best Private Campus in Indonesia continues to contribute to the nation in creating digital innovation. In line with the Ministry of Education and Culture’s program “Free Campus, Free Learning”, Telkom University collaborates with PT Telkom Indonesia to organize Innovillage.
This activity is a solopreneurship competition in the field of digital technology, the synergy of PT Telkom Indonesia through the Community Development Center Unit with Higher Education, in this case, Telkom University through the Directorate of Career Development, Alumni and Endowment by inspiring students who are in their hometowns (due to the Covid- 19) to be directly involved in helping the difficulties of their village communities through applicable digital innovations to create increased social benefits and economic improvement. With the tagline ‘Empowering Young Innovator for Digital Village’ #BikinKerenDesaku. This activity is also a tangible form of creating future digital talents.
Since its launch in September 2020, with 301 Social Project applicants, students come from Telkom University Bandung, Telkom Purwokerto Institute of Technology, Telkom Institute of Technology Surabaya, and the Jakarta Telecommunications Academy which is tertiary institutions under the management of the Telkom Education Foundation.
From 301 Social Project Proposals, after going through the appraisal process, 100 Social Projects have been selected that received funding for the implementation stage. Spread across 22 Provinces throughout Indonesia and get funding totaling 1.5 billion from PT Telkom Indonesia.
Students implement their innovations within 5-6 weeks, during the implementation process the students are accompanied by accompanying lecturers, interact with relevant stakeholders in the village and participate in knowledge sharing from professionals prepared by the organizers, such as CEO Aruna, Host Adventure Trail, etc.
The Rector of Telkom University, accompanied by a team of organizers, visited several locations directly in West Java, Yogyakarta, and Central Java. This is a form of direct commitment and appreciation to students from the leadership of Telkom University and the organizers of this program, seeing firsthand the results of student innovations, discussing with village leaders and communities, even though amid the Covid-19 Pandemic, they are still enthusiastic in guarding this program.
After the students implement their innovations, an assessment of the results of the innovations from the Top 100 to the Top 10 Social Projects is carried out. The Top 10 Social Project Finalists get a Bootcamp program and continue online pitching to determine the winners that have been determined such as best of the best, top five best categories, and the finalists.
Winners and local heroes were announced at the Anugrah Innovillage 2020 event which was held on Saturday (6/03) onsite at the Telkom University Damar Auditorium and live virtually via Zoom Meeting and YouTube.
The Chief Executive of Innovillage 2020 who is also the Director of Career Development, Alumni and Endowment of Telkom University, AT Hanuranto, said that students were enthusiastic about participating in Innovillage activities as seen from the number of applicants who reached 900 students from 301 Social Projects consisting of 1-3 students per team.
“How has Innovillage won the hearts of a very broad community,” he said at the 2020 Innovillage Award. He gave an example that there is one group that has limited funds so that it is willing to seek additional funds to implement the project.
Besides that, the public’s response, parents of students to the competition was high. The local government has responded very well to the digital innovation competition program for existing villages.
“The benefits of Innovillage are extraordinary, useful activities,” he said. He hopes that the competition will continue with the quality and quantity that continues to increase.
Rector of Telkom University, Prof. Adiwijaya, emphasized that the campus not only creates superior human resources but is also expected to contribute to Indonesia. He also revealed that the campus always proclaims community-based management.
“Innovillage is quite proud because, amid the echoes of the Merdeka Campus from the Ministry of Education and Culture, we have made it happen with one of these programs,” he said.
He said students were directed to identify problems and find solutions and produce appropriate technology that directly benefited society. Also, the benefits that arise can be an inspiration for other communities.
“This is one of the things that students need before entering society. Competence is not enough but there must be motivated to implement that competency and take advantage of the opportunities that exist, “he said. He emphasized that the existing opportunities must be created.
Senior General Manager of PT Telkom Indonesia’s Community Development Center, Hery Susanto, said that his party focuses on distributing CSR in the education sector to encourage innovation in the field of digital technology. Hopefully, these innovations can also provide benefits to society.
“PT Telkom Indonesia’s CSR must be in line with the direction of this company. In line with the direction of the Telkom Company to transform towards digital, towards the digital direction and digital strengthening, so Telkom’s CSR is in the education and innovation sector, “he said.
He added that the goal of this CSR is through the younger generation who are ready to go to the field and hope that this program can create great digital talents in Indonesia.
At the 2020 Innovillage Award, a speaker, Nadine Chandrawinata, is a Public Figure and Executive Director of Seasoldier. On this occasion, he emphasized that as a young generation, protecting and preserving the environment is our duty. We can provide something useful for the next generation and it must start now.
“Congratulations to the 2020 Innovillage winners, I hope that applicable digital innovations like this can continue to be developed to create an increase in social benefits and a sustainable economic increase and of course will have a greater impact on Indonesia,” he said.
The winners of the 2020 Social Project Innovillage competition include:
- MyBidan Informative Platform for Stunting Alleviation – Telkom University (Category Best of the Best in Health Sector)
- Smart Village – Telkom University (Category Information Technology)
- Mapping of Areas Based on NPK Value and Web-based Soil pH with Honeycomb Tile Map – Telkom University (Category of Agriculture)
- Alerty: Landslide Disaster Mitigation System Based on IoT – Telkom University (Category of Disaster Sector)
- Water Clean is All for Us – Telkom Institute of Technology Surabaya (Energy Sector Category)
- Minakita: Crowdfunding and Trade Marketing Based on Digital Management in the Aquaculture Sector – Telkom Institute of Technology Surabaya (Category Crowdfunding)
Winners of the Best of the Best Category receive an educational scholarship prize of IDR 75,000,000 as well as social project development costs and the Top 5 get an educational scholarship prize of IDR 45,000,000 each and social project development costs. The top 10 finalists also receive educational scholarships of Rp. 10,000,000 – Rp. 15,000,000 and accompanying lecturers also received coaching appreciation.
In the middle of this event, the INNOVILLAGE 2020 book was also launched, a record of 100 student innovations, because books are a window to the world. Innovillage is clear proof of the offering of Telkom Indonesia and Telkom University in developing Indonesia through 100 Social Project innovations. Let’s continue to innovate and bring benefits to the #BikinKerenDesaku community.