Quadrupled Investment Growth On Asia Pacific Fintech Industry

In their recent report “Fintech and the evolving landscape”,  Global consulting company Accenture stated that Asia Pacific (APAC) region had a quadrupled growth in 2015 with to USD 4.3 billion. With this figure. APAC contributed almost 20% of total investment in global fintech industry (USD 22 Bio) and become the second biggest invested fintech region after North America. Most of these growths are contributed by China and India while in South East Asia, the hottest fintech hub still being lead by Singapore.

In terms of business model, payment still reigns in a top spot for the most invested fintech business in APAC. However there is a huge surge in Insurance technology. From 2014 to 2015, Insurance Technology grow almost tripled even though the amount is still small compared to payment.  The report predicted that Insurance Technology will be the next hot battleground in APAC fintech landscape.

In this report, fintech startups were divided into two different types: Competitive and collaborative. Competitive-type challenges the established financial institutions while collaborative-type add value to the incumbent. Last year investment collaborative-type startup increased by 138 % while competitive-type only increased by 23%.

This is a good sign that going forward banks and other financial are more open to invest and collaborate with fintech startups. Trend which we already see in Indonesia right now with BCA and Mandiri leading the pack.

For more info, read the full Accenture report here.

Paypal launched fintech incubation program in Singapore

Global mammoth on online payment, PayPal has just launched fintech incubation program in Singapore. This program are opened for fintech startups in the region. Selected participant will go through nine month incubation in PayPal’s Technology Centre in Suntec City. The incubation program will include mentorship on finance and technology topics such as risk, compliance, core payment network and channel development. Participant will also given direct access to PayPal executives, external talents and also well-known industry experts.

In order to be eligible, applicants should fulfill these criteria :

1. A fintech or technology startup
2. Have a minimum viable product (MVP) and early trial with customers
3. Armed with seed stage funding
4. Based out of Singapore or willing to relocate to Singapore

Acceptance will be judged based on team capability, business model, technology innovation and traction.

Apart from PayPal, VISA also setup strong footprint in South East Asia by opening their new Innovation Centre which also in Singapore. Align with the Accenture report, massive growth in fintech sector has been jump-starting the interest of global tech giants  to setup business in this region.

More information on this here (e27)

Gojek-Bluebird Partnership

In a surprising twist, recently Gojek has striked partnership with the Bluebird, the company they aimed to disrupt. During the press release, Head of Buebird Public Relation Teguh Wijayanto stated that this partnership improve hailing process for Bluebird. Gojek’s CEO Nadiem Makariem also said that the partnership will include technology, payment system and promotion. Currently the detail on this partnership is not yet clear. Both parties has stated that Gojek-Bluebird joint services will be revealed to public at the end of May 2015

Focusing specifically in payment parts, this partnership will likely served as the first Go-Pay payment expansion outside Gojek own ecosystem. Considering this move and their recent GoPay campaign (50% discount  for all gojek services), Seems like Nadiem Makariem has a big ambition to dominant players in the universal payment platform going forward.

More information on this here (Kompas).

Happy First Anniversary, Sari!

It has been one year since the early morning rush to Balai Makarti. The whole process from the vow to the reception was way more beautiful than i expected and looking back, its amazing that we did all the planning and funding mostly by ourselves. Those planning process served as the model of how we work together, tackling problems, and managing financials in order to achieve our common goal in life.

After all, beyond the parties, decorations and  the food. When the hype and fanfare has dwindled down, marriage is a lifetime collaboration between two people. I know that when push come to shove, both of us can share responsibilities and adapt to the situation.  I’m glad i do this amazing thing with you. 

So what can we expect going forward ? One thing for sure, our journey is not going to get easier.

Kakak will be saying hello to this world soon hence the amount of sleep that we will be getting for the next 2 years will be reduced drastically. Meanwhile the anticipation and anxiety of becoming a father has been creeping me out lately. All the parenting books that you’ve bought apparently only help a little to calm my nerves. The anxiety part was also the reason why i play games more often these days.

Someday kakak will be so proud (or pissed off) when his old man have better K/D ratio than him. Never mind the fact that i am literally, screwing his mother.

Also this year, if everything falls into the right places , we will relocate to the far west continent. Thanks to your constant nagging and fierce reminder, i have successfully got a scholarship to pursue master’s degree. Considering my bad habit of not planning ahead coupled with a chronic case of procrastination (case in point, this blog post), i guess i would never made it this far if i married someone else.

All in all,

It’s been a wonderful one year. Not always sunshine and rainbows, but we can always make do with what we’ve got.

Once again. Happy Anniversary Putri Lenggo Sari, thanks for being my better half.

OCBC Become The First Bank in South East Asia To Open Public API

Singapore-based bank OCBC made an interesting digital move just recently. The bank embraced the fintech wave by officially opening their internal data to be used as public API services called Connect2OCBC. This move is the first one in the region and no banks has ever done this before even though recently BCA has already moving in the direction by holding a Hackathon. Using this API, software developers can programmatically use OCBC’s data to enrich their own services.

Right now Connect2OCBC offers four different API access :

• Branch Locator : Give location data on all OCBC branch and their opening hours
• ATM Locator : List OCBC ATM machines location
• Smart Card Advisor : Give recommendation on perks and rewards for OCBC card holder
• Forex Rate : Give up to date FOREX rate

Quoted by The Edge Market, OCBC Senior VP for Group Operations and Technology Praveen Raina said that the bank aimed to create a ‘data social network’ which facilitates free flow of certain non-customer data that will benefit any third party and the community as a whole in a secure manner. Praveen added that OCB has been in discussion with several fintech startups and real estate firms in order to help them make an optimal use of this API’s.

“As we mature, we see more and more collaboration with third party app developers, and that’s where the ‘API economy’ comes in. Organisations that don’t do this will be left behind. This is no longer a matter of choice, whether we do it or not,” he added.

Developer manual and use case examples are available on Connect2OCBC site. Being asked about future plans, The bank are focusing to add more services to the platform and the additional services expected to be ready the end of the year. However there are still no information whether the data will include OCBC presence outside Singapore (e.g Indonesia).

More information on this : https://e27.co/no-kidding-ocbc-just-became-the-first-bank-in-southeast-asia-to-have-an-open-api-20160517/

Doku & Dycode Opened Indonesia IoT Challenge 2016

Indonesia online payment startup Doku held a developer competition called Indonesia Internet of Things (IoT) Challenge 2016. This competition invites young Indonesian software developer to submit their creative IoT products which integrates with Doku payment platform. Partnering with software development house DyCode, Doku offered total prize of 30 million IDR for the winners.

In the press release, Doku’s CEO said that this competition aimed to encourage young developers to show their talent and solve real problems using IOT and Payment platform. This competition is open for anyone and participant are free to choose their preferred programming language and IoT tools.

Participant will be judged on several criteria :

1. Simplicity of the solution
2. Technology understanding of the participant
3. Hardware efficiency
4. Esthetics and design
5. Bonus points for good implementation of DOKU API in the solution

Submission is currently open until 28th of May and finalist will be announced on 5th of June 2016.

More information here : http://edu.dycode.co.id/idiot-challenge/

Finnet launched Finpay Link to Ease Payment via Social Media

Indonesian internet users has an unique habit of using Social Media as an e-commerce platform. Instagram and Facebook has become primary channel for online sellers to showcase their product especially for individual sellers and SME.

Leveraging on this phenomenon, Telkom affiliated company Finnet launched Finpay Link, an online payment gateway services tailored for Social Media sellers. With Finpay Link, sellers will be able to create customizable link for their product and embed them easily in social media. This will enable customer to instantly pay the products just like in ecommerce marketplace sites such as Elevenia or Lazada. More convenient options compared to current practice of doing manual bank transfer.

Finnet CEO Niam Dzikri said that manual bank transfer has 65% error rate. Most of this errors contributed by human factor such as mistyping the account number and payment amount. Finpay Link aim to minimize these mistakes and made payment process in Social Media selling more straight forward. Apart from this, Finpay link also offer real time confirmation notifications and bank account checking.

More information here : http://www.indotelko.com/kanal?c=bid&it=finpay-link-transaksi-ukm-goes-digital

Kredivo, online financing services with real time credit scoring

Singapore based startup, FinAccel, recently launched online financing services called Kredivo. This services enable its users to buy things online on credit which they can also pay it in installments. To do this, FinAcccel partnered with local financing companies BFI Finance.

What makes Kredivo interesting is it offers the capability to do real time credit risk assessment. When Kredivo users buy an item, the platform do a background check based on variety of information. There are about 1000 variables are considered to determine users credit score including self-reported data about income, employment, marital status, but also social network data like how often someone posts, how many friends you have, what type of phone you use etc.

Currently, Kredivo is integrated with 20 online merchants including e-commerce marketplace Jualo. Ahmed Aljunied, Jualo CTO said that they like the product very much and it give significant spike to the transaction.

” Consumers tend to be suspicious of online sellers, so the ability to receive their purchases without having paid a single cent is an extremely attractive proposition,” 

Kredivo user has 30 days to pay for the item, without additional fees or interest. If payment isn’t completed in 30 days, interest will be charged with 2.95 percent per month and late fees of 3 percent a month.

More information on Kredivo : https://www.techinasia.com/startup-unlock-ecommerce-growth-southeast-asia

Sudah lama tidak menulis.

Sepertinya waktu luang saya akhir akhir lebih banyak dihabiskan dengan membaca buku, mengurus persiapan relokasi, bermain dengan Ghazi dan tentu saja….menaikkan level kompetensi di Battlefield 4.

Tentunya jika diteruskan ini tidak baik. Menulis adalah skill penting yang harus diasah terus dari waktu ke waktu. Apalagi bulan depan saya kembali menjadi pelajar dan mulai mengenyam pendidikan pasca sarjana. Oleh karena itu, kali ini saya mereview beberapa album rilisan 2016 yang nikmat untuk didengar. Hitung hitung pemanasan sebelum menulis paper.

Oh ya, semua album bisa didengarkan di layanan streaming musik Deezer. Klik saja sub-judul di artikel ini.

Gregory Porter – Take Me To The Alley

Renyah dan hangat.  Buat saya kata kata ini yang pas menggambarkan suara Gregory Porter. Sedikit mirip dengan John Legend minus cengkok pretensius di setiap pergantian bar.  Penyanyi jazz yang selalu memakai topi ini mempersembahkan album dengar-santai yang pantas didengar ketika beban kerja sedang menggila. Alunan nada smooth jazz untuk memutar kembali siklus metabolisme sebari rehat pasca makan siang.

Rekomendasi saya, mulai dengarkan album ini dari lagu self-titlednya : Take Me To The Alley.

Skepta – Konnichiwa

Untuk yang belum familiar, Grime adalah bentuk kearifan lokal Britania Raya untuk musik rap. Sepenglihatan saya, musik Grime masih dianggap eksotis disini bahkan untuk penggemar hip hop paling hardcore sekalipun. Terbukti dengan minimnya (atau bahkan tidak ada ?) artis hiphop lokal yang mengambil style Grime.

Oleh karena itu,  untuk saat ini tidak ada yang lebih cocok untuk mengenalkan Grime melainkan Skepta dan rilisan terbarunya berjudul Konnichiwa. Album ini membawa suara Grime yang murni Britania seperti beat beat bernuansa Garage, Jungle dan dubstep tanpa mencoba untuk terdengar komersial (translasi: menggandeng DJ Khaled). Ini menarik karena Skepta sebenarnya berambisi untuk membawa Grime ke publik musik Amerika. Satu satunya track sangat US adalah Ladies Hit Squad yang menampilkan A$AP Nast yang terdengar seperti Drake KW super.

Saya sangat menikmati Konnichiwa dari track pertama sampai akhir dan sepertinya beberapa situs musik juga memuji album ini. Kedepan, mungkin leksikal slang khas Grime seperti Mandem , Wagwan, Roll Deep mungkin akan lebih banyak diucapkan penikmat hiphop mainstream.

Beberapa album Grime yang juga wajib disimak : Facing Time – Bugzy Malone dan Snakes and Ladders – Wiley.

Rival Sons – Hollow Bones

Rival Sons adalah rock and roll. Saya baru pertama kali mendengarkan band ini di album terbaru mereka Hollow Bones dan sangat terkesima sekali dengan suara yang mereka bawa. Blues keras dengan semangat revivalist progressive rock. Bisa dianalogikan seperti Led Zeppelin dengan sound effect modern ala The Black Keys. Ini terlihat jelas di lagu Hollow Bones Pt2, sangat sangat Led Zeppelin.

Jika kamu menikmati album ini, saya sarankan untuk mendengarkan juga Royal Blood , Buffalo Summer dan unit rock and roll pekarya anak bangsa Kelompok Penerbang Roket. 

Blink 182 – California

Saya tumbuh dengan Blink 182. Mulai dari kenakalan mereka di video Whats My Age Again, kegilaan pemborosan satu juta dollar di The Rock Show sampai bagaimana lirik Stay Together for The Kids menjadi kenyataan ketika Tom keluar dari band.

Berkaca pada fakta tersebut, mendengarkan album California terasa seperti merasakan kembali suguhan renyah yang telah lama hilang dari pasaran. Meskipun peran Tom DeLonge telah diganti oleh Matt Skiba dari Alkaline Trio, tidak ada perubahan suara yang signifikan di rilisan ini. Mulai dari track Bored to Death, Shes Out Of Her Mind sampai Teenage Sattelites, California adalah Blink 182 seperti biasa tanpa eksplorasi aneh aneh. Hal yang bagus karena fans sebenarnya sudah putus harapan untuk mendengar Blink 182 kembali sekeluarnya Tom DeLonge.

Yang disayangkan, performa vokal Mark Hoppus ketika membawakan lagu lagu album California secara live benar benar jelek. Lucunya, Tom DeLonge juga punya masalah yang sama di live performance Angels and Airwaves beberapa tahun terakhir.

Selain Blink, beberapa band pop punk seangkatan mereka juga mengeluarkan rilisan baru di tahun ini. Good Charlotte dengan Youth Authority, Sum 41 yang merilis single terbaru Fake My Own Death dan tentu saja Angels and Airwaves dengan mini album Chasing Shadows.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Getaway

Benar benar tertidur mendengarkan album ini. Ini seperti ketika Coldplay merilis Ghost Stories : Monoton dan membosankan. Saran saya sih, dengarkan saja Dark Necessities lalu skip semua track yang lain.

Man, saya merindukan Frusciante dan harmonisasi suara duanya. Sebaiknya saya dengar kembali album By The Way secara utuh untuk mengembalikan memori indah tentang band ini.

Ugly Heroes – Everything In Between

Ugly Heroes adalah Apollo Brown, Verbal Kent dan Red Pill. Sementara Everything In Between adalah sebuah tribute untuk semua kelas pekerja di kota Detroit yang hidup dari satu slip gaji ke slip gaji yang lain. Penuh dengan lirik lirik retrospeksi perjuangan hidup namun di seimbangkan dengan hook hook yang mengajak untuk bertahan dan maju. Seperti di track Notion :

Life will get overwhelming, Devil on shoulder dwelling
Telling you all the reasons death could be so compelling
Suddenly you stressing chaos, never getting a day off
All you doing is working and never seeing a pay off

Terdengar cukup putus asa, namun di hook lagu Verbal Kent berkata

I got a feeling is my own and I own my truth
I got a feeling that I’m here for a reason and the reason is you

Pola pola yang sama terdengar di berbagai track album ini seperti trak This World, Today Right Now, Peace of Mind, Heart Attack dan lain lain.

Dengan beat Boombap dan juga sampling lagu lagu jazz lawas, Everything In Between adalah album rap positif , conscious dan jauh dari ajang pamer kekayaan dan hedonisme. Antitesis hip hop yang bercokol di chart top 40 hari ini dan sangat saya rekomendasikan untuk semua yang menggemari genre ini.

Di tahun ini banyak sekali album hip-hop yang saya konsumsi, lebih banyak mungkin daripada genre genre lainnya. Untuk rilisan tahun ini, tiga yang signifikan Aesop Rock – The Impossible Kid, Royce da 5’9” – Layers dan DJ Shadow – The Mountain Will Fall. Untuk album rilisan selain tahun ini :  Mac Miller – Blue Slide Park, The Internet – Ego Death, Noname – Telefone dan tentu saja OST pertunjukan broadway paling legendaris sepanjang masa Hamilton. 

Sampai saat ini, saya masih sulit percaya beberapa hari kedepan kami sekeluarga harus meninggalkan rumah untuk pindah ke negeri jauh. Berkat beasiswa LPDP, saya diberi kesempatan untuk mengambil magister Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship di The University of Manchester.

Selain hasil yang tentunya menggembirakan, banyak pembelajaran yang saya dapat dari proses pencarian beasiswa ini. Beberapa hal akan saya share di seri tulisan #perjalananBeasiswa di blog ini.

Mari kita mulai dari yang pertama yaitu pengaturan waktu / timeline.

Persiapkan dari jauh jauh hari

Proses beasiswa dari awal niat hingga menjelang keberangkatan saat ini menghabiskan waktu sekitar 12 bulan. Lama memang tapi ada beberapa faktor kenapa sangat penting untuk menyiapkan waktu yang panjang.

1. Mengantisipasi kesibukan di kantor :  Saya mengerjakan segala macam persiapan di sela sela waktu kerja. Ketika pekerjaan sedang hectic tentunya proses ini akan terhenti sejenak.
2. Saya baru saja menikah : Pindah ke kontrakan,  mengisi rumah dan penyesuaian dari hidup sendiri menjadi berdua. Ditambah lagi beberapa minggu setelah saya berkomitmen mengejar beasiswa, dokter kandungan memberi kabar bahwa di perut istri ternyata sudah ada Ghazi.
3. Kampus di luar kota : Banyak proses administrasi yang membutuhkan saya untuk kembali ke kampus ITS di Surabaya. Tentunya ini butuh waktu dan juga cuti.
4. Mematangkan essay ternyata tidak mudah : Yang paling penting dari aplikasi pendaftaran universitas dan kampus adalah essay. Saya ingin memastikan bahwa setiap essay yang akan dikirim benar benar solid. Ini berarti menulis berulang ulang lalu mengirim draft ke banyak orang untuk dikoreksi dan direvisi.

Panduan persiapan grad school dari Idealist.org juga menyarankan untuk melakukan persiapan setidaknya 12 bulan sebelum target mulai kuliah mengingat banyaknya langkah yang harus dilakukan.

Lalu apa saja yang harus dipersiapkan dan bagaimana pengaturan waktunya ? Berikut timeline saya dari mulai persiapan hingga lolos seleksi akhir beasiswa LPDP.

Riset, Perencanaan dan Persiapan

Dari awal, saya menyadari bahwa akan ada konsekuensi dari keputusan saya mengejar beasiswa untuk S2. Jika berhasil, saya harus meninggalkan pekerjaan sekarang dan semua benefit yang lekat didalamnya. Resiko yang cukup besar mengingat ada istri dan anak yang harus saya tanggung.

Oleh karena itu langkah pertama dan sangat krusial adalah bertanya kepada diri sendiri : Do i really want to do this ? why? . Motivasi yang jelas di awal menjadi krusial karena di tengah proses pasti akan ada saja hambatan dan godaan. Terlalu asik bermain game online misalnya.

Setelah niat dan motivasi sudah diluruskan, langkah selanjutnya adalah menentukan kampus dan jurusan magister yang ingin dikejar. Mulai dari situs panduan universitas seperti TopUniversities atau Complete University Guide (UK). Kemudian cari tahu lebih lanjut dengan membaca prospektus dari jurusan yang diminati.

Untuk memudahkan, Saya mempertimbangkan beberapa kriteria untuk mengerucutkan pilihan jurusan dan universitas.

• Menarik! : Menjalani kuliah s2 di luar negeri tentunya tidak mudah. Untuk itu jurusan yang saya ambil harus menarik, menantang dan memancing antusiasme sedari awal ketika membaca prospektus. Asumsinya, semakin besar passion tentunya akan mendorong seberapa keras usaha ketika kuliah nanti.
• Mendukung aspirasi jangka panjang : Kurikulum, profil dosen dan profil lulusan harus mendukung apa yang ingin saya capai setelah lulus kuliah.
• Kesesuaian dengan karir selama ini : Perkuliahan S2 nanti tentunya menuntut untuk banyak menulis paper dan berdiskusi didalam kelas. Relevansi jurusan dengan karir penting agar saya dapat mereferensikan pengalaman profesional kedalam tugas tugas kuliah
• Reputasi kampus yang bagus : Mumpung kuliah di luar negeri, sekalian saja kejar kampus dengan ranking internasional yang bagus. Bagi saya, paling tidak 50 besar universitas terbaik di dunia. Ini untuk memaksimalkan kualitas pendidikan, reputasi dan juga koneksi yang saya dapat ketika lulus nanti.

Untuk detail kriteria, bisa dibaca lebih dalam di artikel LiveCareer berikut.

Setelah mendapat 2-3 target program S2 yang diinginkan, langkah selanjutnya adalah menentukan program beasiswa apa saja yang akan di kejar. Ini akan menentukan timeline ke depan karena deadline dan dokumen yang disyaratkan akan berbeda beda untuk masing masing beasiswa. Prioritas pertama saya pada waktu itu adalah LPDP karena beasiswa ini menyediakan tanggungan keluarga selama studi. Lalu pilihan selanjutnya adalah Chevening karena tujuan universitas saya pada waktu semua berada di Inggris.

Cari tahu informasi beasiswa yang ingin dikejar sekomprehensif mungkin lalu tulis deadline dan persyaratan dokumen sebagai milestone untuk proses pencarian beasiswa. Informasi daftar beasiswa pascasarjana dari berbagai negara bisa dilihat di sini.

Persiapkan semua dokumen pribadi

Tips dari saya agar proses mengejar beasiswa tidak hanya sekedar wacana adalah melakukan langkah kongkrit mulai dari yang paling mudah.

Yang pertama adalah paspor. Kemanapun tujuan kuliah dan beasiswanya, pastinya paspor akan dibutuhkan. Imigirasi online sudah sangat memudahkan proses pembuatan dan perpanjangan paspor. Di kantor imigrasi Jakarta Selatan, saya sekeluarga hanya sekali datang ke lokasi dan paspor dikirim lewat pos kilat ke rumah tiga hari kemudian. Jadi pastikan untuk mengurus paspor terlebih dahulu.

Selanjutnya adalah ijazah dan transkrip bahasa inggris. Dari almamater saya (ITS), transkrip sudah dua bahasa namun ijasah hanya berbahasa Indonesia. Sehingga saya kembali ke kampus untuk mengurus ijasah bahasa inggris.

Yang ketiga adalah meminta surat referensi. Mayoritas kampus mensyaratkan calon mahasiswa untuk menyediakan referensi dari atasan di kantor dan dosen di kampus. Minta ini dari jauh jauh hari untuk mengantisipasi kesibukan baik atasan maupun dosen yang dituju.Temui secara langsung, selain membangun hubungan baik kita juga bisa meminta saran atau bahkan mengoreksi draft essay.

Beberapa kampus mempunyai format surat referensi yang berbeda-beda. Ada juga universitas yang hanya meminta email pemberi referensi dan pihak kampus yang akan bertanya kepada referee. Inilah pentingnya hubungan baik dengan pemberi referensi karena besar kemungkinan kita akan meminta tolong berkali-kali.

Selain tiga diatas, siapkan juga semua dokumen pendukung seperti akta lahir dan KTP. Scan semua dokumen dan simpan di cloud storage seperti Dropbox atau OneDrive supaya mudah dicari dan menimalisir resiko file hilang.

Bersambung ke bagian 2 dari seri tulisan #perjalananBeasiswa. 

Melanjutkan tulisan sebelumnya, posting kali ini akan membahas beberapa tahap dalam proses mengejar beasiswa. Setelah sebelumnya membahas pentingnya riset, perencanaan dari jauh hari dan memulai dari langkah yang paling mudah, di tulisan ini saya akan membahas tentang test IELTS, aplikasi universitas dan aplikasi beasiswa. 

Mari kita mulai dari yang pertama yaitu IELTS

Mempersiapkan tes IELTS

Untuk penduduk dari negara yang tidak menggunakan bahasa Inggris secara natif, universitas dan beasiswa mewajibkan calon mahasiswa untuk menyertakan sertifikat bahasa. Bisa IELTS ataupun TOEFL. Saya pribadi memilih IELTS karena lebih identik dengan UK meskipun ternyata mayoritas jurusan di UK juga menerima TOEFL.

IELTS terdiri dari 4 tes : Listening, Reading, Writing dan Speaking. Masing masing punya deadline waktu yang ketat. Empat tes tersebut dilakukan di hari yang sama sehingga cukup menguras tenaga dan pikiran. Dari segi kesulitan, IELTS cukup menantang. Ketika pertama mengerjakan contoh soal, saya menyadari tidak mungkin mendapat nilai bagus tanpa latihan yang intens.

Lebih lanjut tentang format test IELTS bisa dibaca di link berikut (Cambridge).

Untuk Listening dan Reading, yang saya lakukan adalah mendownload semua edisi buku Cambridge IELTS dari 1 sampai 10 dan tentu saja mengerjakan semua soalnya. Download dimana ? Di tempat yang kurang legal tentunya (teluk perompak). Setiap buku berisi 4 full set soal IELTS lengkap dengan mp3 untuk listening dan juga kunci jawaban.

Hampir setiap hari di kantor saya mengerjakan 1 kali Listening atau Reading. Sekali di pagi hari dan sekali lagi di jam istirahat makan siang. Ini berarti ada  40 set soal listening dan 40 set reading yang saya harus kerjakan dari 10 buku. Dengan menghitung waktu dan menuliskan skor setiap selesai mengerjakan, performa bisa diukur mandiri dan ketika selesai saya bisa menentukan apakah sudah siap atau perlu latihan lagi. 

Yang cukup tricky adalah Writing dan Speaking. Walaupun di buku Cambridge terdapat contoh contoh essay, tetap saja kita tidak bisa mengukur kemampuan tanpa ada orang yang melakukan review. Untuk berlatih kedua ini, cari partner untuk melihat kualitas tulisan dan juga untuk berlatih speaking. Khusus untuk Writing, pastikan untuk berlatih menulis tangan menggunakan pensil. Terutama untuk yang tulisan tangannya kacau balau seperti saya.

Perlu disadari bahwa sebenarnya tes IELTS bukan syarat mutlak untuk aplikasi universitas dan bahkan beasiswa. Sertifikat IELTS bisa disusulkan setelah mendapatkan letter of acceptance. Pertimbangan saya kenapa mengambil IELTS di awal adalah supaya ada cukup waktu untuk mengulang tes ketika hasilnya tidak memuaskan. Oleh karena itu pastikan nilai IELTS berada diatas batas minimum yang diterima kampus tujuan.

Di Indonesia terdapat beberapa penyedia tes IELTS, antara lain: 

• IDP
• British Council
• IALF

Mempersiapkan Aplikasi Universitas

Aplikasi untuk program master sebenarnya tidak membutuhkan dokumen yang banyak : transkrip dan ijazah S1, paspor, surat referensi, IELTS/TOEFL, resume dan statement of purpose. Untuk program MBA biasanya dibutuhkan juga nilai GMAT dan beberapa essay tambahan. Pendaftaran umumnya tidak memerlukan biaya tetapi ada beberapa universitas dan jurusan yang memungut biaya aplikasi. Umumnya ini berkisar 60-100 poundsterling untuk kampus Inggris dan 50-100 USD untuk kampus Amerika Serikat. Pastikan  mencatat dengan detail apa saja persyaratan yang diminta oleh masing masing kampus tujuan karena satu dengan yang lain bisa berbeda.

Tips pertama dari saya adalah memasukkan aplikasi adalah di awal pembukaan pendaftaran yaitu sekitar bulan Oktober. Kenapa di awal ? admission office tentunya belum terlalu sibuk sehingga kita bisa mendapat hasil lebih cepat. Ketika itu saya juga mengejar untuk mendapat LOA sebelum seleksi LPDP batch 1 yang dibuka sekitaran Desember.

Oktober tahun lalu, saya memasukkan tiga aplikasi ke Southampton, Lancaster dan Manchester. Semuanya mengirimkan hasil dalam waktu kurang dari 4 minggu, Southampton bahkan membalas hanya dalam 2 minggu saja. Padahal waktu normal untuk review aplikasi berkisar antara 6 minggu sampai 2 bulan, seperti pada tabel dibawah. 

Setelah menetapkan tenggat pengiriman aplikasi, langkah selanjutnya adalah menyiapkan esai statement of purpose. Ini adalah inti dari semua dokumen aplikasi kita. Pemohon dengan IPK tidak seberapa pun bisa saja tembus kalau bisa menulis statement of purpose yang meyakinkan.

Other parts of your grad school application do not say as much about you as a person as the statement of purpose can: your proudest accomplishments alongside your fondest hopes and dreams. – Vince Gotera

Langkah pertama sebelum menulis adalah mencari tahu apa yang dilihat pihak kampus dari esai statement of purpose calon mahasiswa. Ini bisa berbeda beda tergantung jurusan yang kita apply. Pastikan semua poin yang diminta tertulis secara eksplisit di dalam esai.

Bagi saya, tidak ada cara lain yang paling efektif untuk menajamkan esai selain revisi yang berkelanjutan. Tulis draft pertama, diamkan dulu lalu besoknya lihat dan revisi. Minta beberapa teman yang sudah kuliah terlebih dahulu, atasan atau dosen untuk memberikan komentar kemudian revisi kembali. Bandingkan draft esai dengan beberapa contoh statement of purpose di internet dan kembali lakukan revisi. Lakukan terus menerus hingga mendekati waktu deadline pengiriman aplikasi.

Saya akan coba menulis detail tentang penulisan esai didalam posting #perjalananBeasiswa selanjutnya. Sementara itu, berikut beberapa referensi penulisan statement of purpose yang menurut saya patut dibaca.

• Berkeley Grad School tips for writing statement of purpose.
• How to Write a Great Statement of Purpose

Chevening

Tidak banyak sebenarnya yang saya bisa share soal Chevening karena, well, saya bahkan tidak lolos di seleksi administrasi. Meskipun begitu, kegagalan ini memberikan saya motivasi untuk berusaha lebih keras di kesempatan selanjutnya.

Pengajuan aplikasi Chevening sebenarnya cukup sederhana: daftar online, pilih tiga pilihan kampus UK yang dituju, kirimkan surat referensi lalu tuliskan beberapa esai yang diminta. Ketika saya apply dulu, ada empat esai yang disyaratkan : Leadership and Influence, Networking, Study Plan dan Career Plan. Kriteria dan tema esai bisa berubah dari tahun ke tahun.

Yang wajib dikirim ketika penutupan deadline Chevening hanya esai dan referensi saja, LoA dan sertifikat IELTS/TOEFL bisa menyusul kemudian. Chevening memang terkenal sangat kompetitif tapi mencoba tentu tidak ada ruginya. Pendaftaran tidak dipungut biaya dan bebas untuk mencoba kembali di tahun berikutnya jika tidak lolos pada tahun ini.

Berikut beberapa tips lebih lanjut tentang proses aplikasi Chevening

• Scholarship Hunting : Chevening – Blog Pratiwi Hamdhana
• Tips beasiswa Chevening – Indonesia Mengglobal

Menerima dan memilih Letter of Acceptance

Beberapa minggu setelah mengirim aplikasi, saya mendapat unconditional LoA dari ketiga jurusan yang saya inginkan. Senang sekali rasanya tapi tentunya ini menimbulkan pertanyaan baru : bagaimana memilih diantara pilihan tersebut. To be fair, this is a very nice problem to have. 

Ketika LoA dikirim, biasanya calon mahasiswa akan diberikan waktu 1-2 bulan untuk melakukan konfirmasi apakah akan menerima atau menolak tawaran tersebut. Setelah menerima LoA pun, kita bisa mengundurkan diri hingga 1-2 bulan sebelum perkuliahan di mulai sekiranya tidak yakin atau ingin mengambil pilihan yang lain. Rentang waktu ini bisa digunakan untuk melakukan riset lebih lanjut jurusan mana yang akhirnya kita pilih.

Bagaimana supaya kita mendapat informasi yang cukup ? Lakukan usaha yang lebih dibanding awal ketika persiapan aplikasi dulu. Jika sebelumnya yang dipertimbangkan perngkat akademis atau kesesuaian jurusan dengan minat dan aspirasi, sekarang perluas riset kamu dengan mencari tahu biaya hidup, suasana belajar, kenyamanan kota dan lain lain. Usahakan untuk mendapat informasi tidak hanya dari internet, hubungi alumni kampus tersebut atau datang ke pameran pendidikan tinggi karena biasanya akan ada representatif kampus yang datang ke Indonesia.

Kesempatan untuk S2 di luar negeri kemungkinan hanya akan datang sekali sehingga pastikan kamu sudah terinformasi dengan cukup ketika mengambil keputusan final.

Satu hal lagi, setelah menerima tawaran LoA biasanya pihak kampus akan meminta dana deposit sekitar 1000 GBP (untuk UK). Ini berfungsi sebagai down payment  untuk memastikan tempat kita di universitas. Tenang, jangan panik dulu melihat besarnya angka yang harus dibayar didepan. Deposit ini bisa di negosiasikan untuk di hilangkan atau ditunda sampai kita mendapat beasiswa. Segera setelah mendapat LoA, hubungi admission officer untuk berkonsultasi tentang ini.

Demikian untuk tulisan bagian 2 ini. Di tulisan selanjutnya, saya akan berbagi tentang proses aplikasi beasiswa LPDP dengan detail. Setelah itu, hopefully saya akan menulis lebih lanjut tentang membuat storyline yang konsisten untuk beberapa esai beasiswa.

Semua tulisan yang berkaitan dengan beasiswa bisa dibaca di link perjalananBeasiswa berikut. Saya sangat senang jika ada masukan dan pertanyaan, jadi pastikan untuk menulisnya di bawah.

Ketika kuliah di ITS dulu, awal semester selalu dimulai dengan sesi perwalian. Di sesi ini dosen wali memberikan masukan performa akademik semester sebelumnya dan juga diskusi tentang mata kuliah apa saja yang akan diambil semester ini. Jika mendapat dosen wali yang cukup asik, mahasiswa juga memanfaatkan sesi ini untuk curhat, berkeluh kesah atau bahkan meminta nasihat baik itu berkaitan dengan kuliah maupun hal pribadi. Saya termasuk yang mendapat keberuntungan ini. Ibu Mahendrawati, dosen wali saya, tidak saja memperhatikan performa akademik mahasiswanya tetapi juga peduli dengan masalah masalah kami dan tidak jarang memberikan saran dan nasihat yang mengena sekali.

Di suatu semester, saya mendapat nilai C di mata kuliah Aljabar Linier. Mata kuliah berisi rumus dan persamaan matematis yang tidak saya nikmati sama sekali. Sebenarnya ini bukan masalah besar karena mata kuliah lain nilainya cukup bagus sehingga tidak berdampak terhadap penurunan IPK keseluruhan. Tetapi Bu Mahe membahas ini cukup intens. Beliau bertanya kenapa mata kuliah pemrograman mendapat nilai yang bagus namun sebaliknya nilai mata kuliah analitis dan matematis terjun bebas.

Jawaban saya sederhana : mata kuliah tersebut bukan minat saya sehingga saya tidak terlalu peduli dengan mata kuliah tersebut. Bu Mahe kemudian memberikan saran yang kurang lebih terdengar seperti ini.

Tentu saja nilaimu jelek, kamu tidak mengerahkan usaha disitu. Sudah coba untuk berusaha ? siapa tahu kamu bisa. Lagipula kalau hanya fokus di bidang yang kamu suka saja, bisa bisa tidak berkembang.

Saat mendengar itu, sejujurnya kalimat itu tidak terlalu mengena. Tetapi melihat kembali ke belakang dan merefleksikannya kembali ke perjalanan hidup saya hari ini, her advice was spot on. Momen momen menarik terjadi ketika saya, baik sengaja ataupun tidak sengaja, keluar dan mengerahkan usaha untuk hal yang awalnya tidak saya minati.

Ketika dulu menempati posisi sebagai senior engineer, saya pikir bahwa IT dan teknik adalah hidup saya. I was good at those stuff, it was my passion and i thought im going to do this for a long time. Tapi nasib berkata lain, saya dipindah ke Corporate Strategy. Pada awalnya memang susah dan  tidak nyaman, tapi dengan mencoba mengerahkan usaha disitu it turns out to be great. Saya tidak menyangka sebelumnya bahwa strategy, business model, corporate finance, investment dan product development menjadi bidang yang saya kuasai dan minati.

Saran bu mahe kembali mengena ketika saya memutuskan untuk berhenti berhenti bekerja sejenak dan mengambil beasiswa master. Karir lumayan dengan gaji dan manfaat yang bagus ditambah saya baru saja mempunyai anak dan istri yang juga baru saja di promosi. Meninggalkan semua itu ditambah dengan menghadapi segala ketidakpastian tentu saja susah, menakutkan dan tidak nyaman. But hey, with enough effort and perserverance, my time here with Ghazi and Sari turns out to be great so far. 

Di salah satu buku Malcolm Gladwell (saya lupa yang mana), ada sebuah percobaan dimana beberapa orang secara random ditantang  menyelesaikan soal matematika advance dengan imbalan hadiah uang. Sebagian besar responden tidak pernah mengenyam bangku kuliah dan mereka diberikan waktu sebanyak mungkin. Yang mengejutkan, ada sedikit orang yang berhasil. Bagaimana mereka melakukannya ? mencoba-coba terus, membuat kesalahan sebanyak mungkin dan menyesuaikan solusi berdasarkan koreksi yang di dapat dari kegagalan sebelumnya. Proses ini menghabiskan waktu hingga 5-6 jam. Mayoritas responden sudah menyerah bahkan sebelum 1 jam berakhir.

Gladwell menyimpulkan with enough effort and perserverance, even complex math problems are solvable by ordinary people. Tentunya ini akan membutuhkan waktu yang tidak sedikit.

Jangan jangan rasa minat dan nyaman terjadi karena bidang tersebut memang sudah saya kuasai. Keengganan untuk keluar dari kotak minat ini jangan jangan adalah rasa takut gagal dan salah. Tembok besar yang menghalangi perkembangan personal saya.  Padahal kalau mengerahkan usaha dan waktu disitu bisa jadi saya menguasai bidang tersebut dan membuka jalan ke arah yang lebih bagus.

Selamat ulang tahun Bu Mahe. Terima kasih telah menjadi partner diskusi saya dan banyak mahasiswa-i ketika kuliah dulu. Semoga ibu sekeluarga tetap sehat dan terus menginspirasi banyak mahasiswa-i di kampus untuk keluar dan terbang jauh dari apa yang mereka kira adalah batasan mereka sendiri.

Terinspirasi dari posting Ariesty yang juga sesama anak wali Bu Mahe. Walaupun tentu saja angkatannya, ehm, berbeda jauh. 

Apa kabar Ghaz ?

Its been quite a while since the last time i write for you and son, let me tell you how it has been hell of a ride. First thing first, we are now living in Manchester Ghaz! can you believe that ? sometimes bapak still couldnt fathom this fact.

As a child who grew up in the suburbs of Sidoarjo, going outside our country was a far fetch let alone living there Ghaz. Bapak used to play near Juanda airport and i was always wondering what lies behind the departure door.

But enough about that, lets talk about the woman responsible for our well being and happiness while we embark on this journey : Ibu.

Did you know Ghaz that Bapak actually was afraid of the idea of pursuing Master’s degree ? I used to think since Bapak has been having good career with good wages and benefits, why risk all that for going back to university again ? after all, theres no guarantee when Bapak will have better career after having the degree.

It was Ibu who convince me that i can always go back to professional life again but Bapak might miss this lifetime chance to study abroad if i didnt pursue it now. Bapak is nearly in my 30’s now, you are still very young and we dont have any long term financial commitment yet. We dont have any car nor house nor debt hence we as a family have the flexibility to just pack our bags and go!. And again this is also because of Ibu. She save our money and ensure me not to settle in just yet because Ibu believe Bapak might get a chance for scholarship.

See Ghaz ? even I dont put that much confidence in myself.

Did you know Ghaz since we moved to this far and foreign land, Ibu become full time housewife ? When Bapak is going to class, you are with Ibu 24/7. She cook for both of us, bath you and ensuring you grow up healthy and happy. She even taking you out for baby class where you can learn about colors, music and other educational stuff. She done it all by herself, taking you out on a stroller, boarding a Stagecoach bus, sometimes in a windy and cold weather,  isnt it amazing Ghaz ?.

Just before we moved here, Ibu was promoted in her job. To leave all that and committed herself to be mother and wife, both of us owe her big time Ghaz so remember this as you grow up (and please remind Bapak too hehe).

Last week, Ibu had her birthday. So lets give out one big hug for our hero Ghaz : Selamat Ulang Tahun Ibu, Bapak and Ghazi love you to the supermoon and back. We wont be what we are today if not because of you.

Love you again!

This an academic essay i did for Innovation and Knowledge Economy lecture by professor Andrew McMeekin. The task is to demonstrate understanding on technological lock-in concept using any chosen topic.  This topic was a little bit random and way out of my forte but i guess the point of taking masters degree is stretch yourself so far beyond the comfort zone. . 

In a paper called Sprayed to Death: Path Dependence, Lock-In and Pest Control Strategies, economic researcher Robin Cowan and Phillip Gunby chronicled how certain pest control strategy dominate the market using increasing returns and path dependency (Cowan & Gunby, 1996). Two study case were used: Israel citrus fruit industry and cotton industry in United States. The Israel case in particular is very interesting because within the span of nearly 60 years, two pest control technologies were competing and each have achieved lock-in in a different period.

This essay attempt to further explore multiple lock in occurrence involving two different pest control method (Integrated Pest Management and Chemical Control) in the case of Israel citrus fruit industry from 1940s to 1970s.  It uses historical observation and theoretical results to explain how these multiple lock-ins started, how contingent events influence the competition, what are the increasing returns for each technology and what escape factors contributed in breaking the lock-ins.

Overview on Israel Citrus Fruit Industry

Citrus fruits such as grapefruit, orange and lemon historically has been a major part of Israel economy. In 1950’s, citrus is the nation’s sole agricultural commodity and contribute almost half the total export value of Israel (OECD, 2010). It has been declining since then due to water shortage and increasing competition from neighboring countries. Yet, in recent time the country still able to produce half a billion kilograms annually and become the primary supplier for European market (Israel Agri, 2015).

Due to its importance, the government established close industry supervision by forming Citrus Marketing Board of Israel (CMBI) in the early 60s. In 2004, the board was merged with other agriculture-related government body into Plant Production and Marketing Board of Israel (OECD, 2010). The institution regulates many factor of citrus production including the choice of advisable pest control methods.

Two methods of pest control

Pest control methods that will be discussed in this essay are chemical pesticide and integrated pest management (IPM). These two are not completely mutually exclusive since IPM consist of various component including rational usage of chemical pesticide (EPA, 2015). However, in Israel case, the IPM component that played a bigger part was the utilization of biological pest control. Hence for this essay, the two will be treated as separate methods.

Chemical pest control often done by showering the farm with pesticide to kill destructive plant, animal, and another organism. Generally, for different pesticide there are specific dose and schedule which need to be. The invention of synthetic pesticides such as DDT further simplify the usage of pesticide due to its one size fits all nature (PANNA, 2016). Synthetic insecticides also widely adopted by the farmers due its high effectiveness and affordability.

However, chemical pesticide is harmful to the human and the environment. Farmers and pest-control operator are prone to have poisoning accidents during the process. Insecticide residue in the produce could potentially increase the risk for long term health problems such as cancer (CDC, 2009). Finally, increasing number of insects and other pest are resistance to chemical pesticide (Cavalloro, 1986). This would potentially render pesticide to be less effective in the future.

IPM is a set of programs designed to response into specific pest problem in the field. Rather than eradicating pest, IPM focus more on minimizing economic impact. IPM programs can include biological control such as introducing natural predator and cutting off the pest reproduction cycle. Cultural control such as crop rotation and irrigation management. Targeted use of pesticide also considered for last resort in IPM (UCDavis, 2016).

In contrast to the simplistic approach of chemical pest control, IPM application is knowledge intensive. Substantial R&D cost need to be invested beforehand to come up with good IPM programs. Farmers need to observe the crop condition, identify the pest, assess the potential damage, and then develop the best course of action. Even though this could be lengthy, the process is designed to ensure IPM activities can be effective both economically and environmentally.

1940s – 1950s: Competing technologies and the first contingent event

Prior to 1938, both chemical and IPM were not applied broadly in Israel citrus fruit industry. This will soon change when mealybug epidemic struck the industry in 1939. Israel Cohen, one of the director of CMBI, promote the use of IPM specifically by utilizing biological agent to control parasite population. Having experience countering similar plague in the US, Cohen spearheaded the project by setting up research coordination with US Department of Agriculture, importing predator specimen from Japan and persuade industry stakeholder to mass produce the predators (DeBach & Rosen, 1991). The result was staggering, the parasites was completely controlled within the next two years.

Attempt to combat mealybug parasite using pesticide was also pursued at the same time. However, the method failed to achieve considerable result.

1950s – 1960s: Lock in period of biological pest control

The mealybug success has made IPM ahead of pesticide in terms of preferable pest control in Israel citrus industry. It gives farmers more certainty in using biological pest control hence persuade many other to learn this method. Cost also went down due to mass production and most of R&D budget was borne by the government (CMBI). Network effects was also building up in the form of information availability. Farmers can ask their neighbor for support if they face difficulty in implementing IPM. Increasing IPM adoption also drive the industry to pour more investment which further improve the method.

When another pest epidemic hit the industry in 1956, path dependency came to play. CMBI chose to promote biological control using IPM once again even though during that time synthetic pesticide was widely available.

1960s – 1970s: Resurgence of chemical pest control

IPM / Biological become the method of choice against for majority of the citrus fruit industry for almost a decade. During the mid-1960s, two major development in citrus ecosystem changed this dynamic. First, numerous citrus fruit farming field was exposed to synthetic pesticide by accident. Many of the citrus field was neighboring to cotton field while pesticide often delivered through airplane spraying. This spray drift kills IPM predatory insects and made biological pest control less effective. Secondly, another wave of plague hit the industry. Four new type of bug was identified and there was no known natural predator to combat this. The industry was forced to rethink whether to continue with IPM or switch to chemical control.

During this period, IPM have two unfavorable factor. The first one was time delay. Since the type of pests are new, CMBI and other industry shareholders needs further research to find effective natural predator to contain the plague. Secondly, even if the IPM solution was found there were no effective ways to prevent insecticide spray drift from cotton fields. Newfound IPM solution would continue to be ineffective if this problem persists. These two factors made IPM prospect look bleak and uncertain.

On the other side, switching to chemical pest control seemed to be more rewarding. Developed after world war two, synthetic pesticide was widely available and affordable due to rising demand and mass production.  Even though synthetic pesticide had little success story in citrus fruit, it was evidently very effective in other type of crops. Switching cost was also low due to usage simplicity. Considering this factor, majority of the industry then switched to chemical pest control by the end of 1960’s.

1970s – onward: The second coming of biological pest control

The reign of chemical pest control didn’t last long. Increasing number of pest became resistant to synthetic pesticide hence its effectiveness decline overtime. Increasing oil price also made the pesticide more expensive. Combination of both of this factor lowers the merit of chemical pest control.

During the same period, Israeli government helped IPM regain popularity through favorable legislations. Sponsored by CMBI, the government banned the practice of aerial spraying near citrus grove. This regulation helped to decrease pesticide spray drift which in turn brought back the effectiveness of biological pest control once again. Another government support for IPM came in the form of consultation services. CMBI and Israel Ministry of Agriculture offered IPM education and technology transfer session to citrus farmers. This services lowered the barrier for switching back to IPM.

Government support also brought indirect benefits such as restored confidence in future IPM prospects. Investors and industry shareholders resumed investment in this area which enhance IPM capabilities along the way. By early 1980s, majority of known citrus fruits pest were controllable using IPM / Biological agents.

Lock-in escape factor

During 1940s to 1980s, two occurrences of lock-in escape happened. The first one was when chemical control broke through of IPM lock in in 1960s – 1970s. Second one was when IPM regain dominance in 1970s and onward. In his paper about electric vehicle, Robin Cowan and Staffan Hulten proposed six factor that could lead to lock in escape (Cowan & Hulten, 1996):

• Crisis in existing technologies
• Regulation
• Technological breakthrough producing cost breakthrough
• Changes in taste
• Niche market
• Scientific results

These escape factors will be used to further describe both of lock-in escape events.

For the first lock-in escape, crisis in IPM technologies and cost breakthrough in synthetic pesticide. Unintended consequence of aerial pesticide spraying has reduced IPM effectiveness in many farms across Israel. Furthermore, new type of pest was causing epidemic. In the middle of crisis, citrus farmers simply could not rely on IPM to immediately stop the damage. On the other hand, due to mass production of synthetic pesticide, the chemical control alternatives are inexpensive. The method also relatively simple to use and it has been proven to work in other type of crops.

In the second resurgence of IPM, both crisis in existing technologies and regulation contributed to the lock-in escape. Increasing number of detrimental bugs were resistant to synthetic pesticide. This raised uncertainty about the future prospect of chemical control. Price hike attributed to rising oil price also further reduce the merit of this method.

Government regulation also pushed the balance in favor of IPM. Anti-aerial spraying legislation helped IPM to be effective again. The government pushed IPM further by providing extension which essentially lowered the cost for farmers to switch back from chemical control. Government support also established legitimacy for IPM future prospect in the eye of investors and industry shareholders.

Conclusion

From the essay, it can be concluded that both lock-in escape events have similarities on how the incumbent technology fall from its dominance. Due to certain circumstance, somehow the dominant technology loses its edge which forced users to rethink their choice. On the other hand, availability of alternatives with low switching cost attract users to swap their current technology. This push-pull dynamic involves multiple escape factors which lead to lock-in escape.

In the electric vehicle paper, Cowan and Hulten did not discuss whether simultaneous occurrence of their proposed six escape factors required to happen for lock in to be escaped. Further exploration on the effect of multiple escape factor can be beneficial to better understand lock-in phenomena while also comprehend which of these factors yield the best result when combined.

Below are several references which i used in the essay :

• The idea and majority of the study case came from Cowan-Gunby paper
• Background information and context about Israel citrus fruit industry are taken from OECD report on Israel agriculture and IsraelAgri.com. 
• To get the detail about pest control methodology, i used several website from United States such as EPA, CDC and also University of California Davis. 
• Additional information on the history of citrus fruit industry development came from two books : Robert Cavalloro – Integrated Pest Control and Debach and Rosen – Biological Control by Natural Enemies. 
• The discussion about how lock-in can be escaped and the six escape factors are taken from Cowan – Hulten paper 

Nauval,

Interaksi pertama kami terjadi di air terjun Coban Rondo di Malang beberapa jam setelah akhir ritual kaderisasi mahasiswa baru. Selama masa tegang ospek, Nauval konsisten menjadi senior dengan antarmuka yang ramah pengguna. Kami belum saling mengenal pada saat itu namun secara subliminal saya melangkah dan bertanya dimana toilet terdekat berada. Nauval menawarkan untuk berjalan bersama dan kami pun mulai saling mengobrol.

Dasar pertemanan kami di tahun tahun setelah itu adalah obrolan software engineering, open source atau berita berita teknologi lainnya. Meskipun almamater kami menyandang kata teknologi di tengahnya, hanya segelintir mahasiswa yang antusias membicarakan perkembangan terbaru di bidang yang kita pelajari setiap hari. Nauval adalah bagian dari minoritas tersebut.

Selain itu kami berdua termasuk mahasiswa yang memaksimalkan utilisasi uang SPP dengan cara, well, tinggal dan tidur di laboratorium pemrograman. Mas Bambang sebagai admin lab mempekerjakan kami berdua dan beberapa mahasiswa tuna wisma lainnya untuk menjadi merbot dan juru kunci dengan imbalan jaket laboratorium.

Keniscayaan bahwa saya dan Nauval akan selalu berada di lab di malah hari juga ternyata membawa keuntungan finansial.

Beberapa kali kami diajak untuk terlibat proyek pemrograman uang jajan. Salah satu yang saya ingat adalah website korporat untuk operator telekomunikasi plat merah. Semalam suntuk kami mengutak atik kode dan desain menggunakan Joomla kemudian di pagi berikutnya dilanjut dengan presentasi hasil kerja didepan para manajer. Tentu saja sesuai dengan kultur dan kredo mahasiswa ITS, mandi dan tidur adalah opsional. Satu setengah juta untuk kerja semalam. Tidak buruk untuk dua tuna wisma fakir bandwidth berkedok asisten lab.

Nauval meninggalkan kampus setahun lebih dahulu dan kami tidak pernah bertemu lagi untuk waktu yang cukup lama.

Atiek,

Pertemanan kami bermula oleh sebuah perjalanan. Di tahun 2011, saya tinggal dan bekerja di Kuala Lumpur. Agung, room mate dan juga kompratriot sekantor, suatu hari mengajak untuk backpacking ke Chennai, India. Agung mengajak seorang temannya yang lain, perempuan berkerudung yang ketika itu sedang menempuh studi S2. Mereka berdua bertujuan untuk mempresentasikan paper di sebuah seminar. Sementara saya turut serta karena tidak punya agenda lebih baik untuk menghabiskan akhir pekan. Yang kemudian terjadi  adalah kejadian absurd demi kejadian absurd yang lain.

Sekembalinya ke Indonesia, Atiek kemudian mengajak saya dan beberapa teman yang lain untuk nongkrong di kantor Indonesia Mengajar. Berawal dari ngobrol ngobrol, berbagai macam kegiatan kerelawanan lahir. Mulai dari  professional volunteer program yang kemudian menjadi kelas inspirasi, bergulir dari satu kota ke kota yang lain. Atiek menjadi bagian penting dari pergerakan ini dan tidak jarang juga menjadi koordinator.

Indonesia Mengajar membuat saya sering bekerja bersama Atiek. Bukan tim yang ideal sebenarnya karena setiap kali kami terlibat dalam rapat, atmosfir serius hanya bisa bertahan 15 menit pertama saja. Menit menit setelah itu hampir pasti akan terisi dengan joke receh, plesetan dan hal hal aneh lainnya.

Selain menambah repertoir joke remah remah, berteman dengan Atiek membuat saya belajar tentang hal yang tidak saya duga sebelumnya. Atiek bekerja di lembaga pengembangan internasional dan seringkali melakukan implementasi proyek energi terbarukan di daerah terpencil di Indonesia. Dari Atiek, saya belajar tentang permasalahan energi di Indonesia, isu isu development dan hal hal sustainability yang lain. Ini menarik karena topik ini semacam antitesis dari profesi saya yang sangat korporat (menyokong pemilik kapital untuk membuat keputusan berbasis profit ). Mendengar cerita cerita Atiek juga memperkaya perspektif saya tentang betapa beragamnya Indonesia dan permasalahan permasalahan yang dia temui dalam perjalanannya.

Nauval dan Atiek,

Suatu hari saya dan istri datang ke sebuah acara sharing knowledge tentang implementasi energi terbarukan karena Atiek menjadi pembicara disitu. Ketika Atiek  sedang presentasi, istri saya memuji betapa pintar dan cantiknya atiek (tiek, kalimat ini berbayar. Tunggu invoice di email). Kemudian bertanya apakah saya mengenal pria jomblo rajin sholat dari keluarga baik baik dengan intelejensia yang setara.

Nama Nauval muncul tetapi yang dimaksud sedang berada di Skotlandia untuk menyelesaikan studi S2.

Anehnya, di Scotland, Nauval satu rumah dengan Agung. He became a room mate of my room mate.

Agung kembali ke Indonesia lebih dulu dan beberapa kali kami membicarakan kebetulan aneh ini. Di salah satu sesi obrolan sepulang kantor kita, ide mempertemukan atiek dan nauval muncul secara natural. Through peculiar concidence, my friend and agung’s friend apparently become our mutual friends. Diantara saya, agung, atiek dan nauval hanya atiek dan nauval saja yang belum pernah berinteraksi. Butuh waktu yang cukup lama tetapi akhirnya kami berempat bertemu dan berada di satu tempat yang sama tidak lama setealh Nauval kembali ke Indonesia.

Yang selanjutnya terjadi adalah gravitasi. Beberapa kali saya mendengar atiek dan nauval terlihat datang berdua di acara acara Indonesia Mengajar. Selang beberapa lama, undangan datang dan kemudian akhir pekan kemarin, Agung mengirimkan foto ini di grup.

I was so happy and sad at the same time. Saya tidak bisa hadir ketika kedua teman baik yang saya temui fase kehidupan yang berbeda, mengucap janji didepan penghulu untuk menjadi suami istri.

Cerita mereka berdua juga mengingatkan saya akan adagium klasik tuhan tahu tapi menunggu. Di kondominium Orion Kuala Lumpur, tempat dimana saya dan agung pernah tinggal, atiek dan nauval pernah berada di tempat yang sama namun dengan waktu yang berbeda. Mereka berdua baru bertemu tidak kurang dari lima tahun setelah itu. Memang sih kalau sudah jodoh, pastinya gak akan kemana…indra kemana (ha!).

Oh well,

Selamat membuka lembaran dalam fase hidup yang baru Tiek, Val. Sampai ketemu tahun depan dan semoga ketika kita bertemu kembali, Ghazi bisa berkenalan dengan teman bermainnya yang baru.

Tidak terasa, sudah hampir lima bulan semenjak saya sekeluarga meninggalkan Indonesia dan tinggal di Manchester. Walaupun tentunya ada enak dan tidak enak, secara keseluruhan pengalaman ini terasa menyenangkan. Pada saat tulisan ini dibuat, saya sedang merapel bahan bahan kuliah untuk persiapan ujian. Sebari rehat sejenak, berikut refleksi empat bulan pertama menempuh pendidikan master di Inggris.

Proses Pendaftaran dan Administrasi

Mungkin terdengar klise, tapi pengalaman kuliah di kampus ini terasa sempurna. Everything is awesome, sedari awal semenjak pendaftaran.

Ketika masih di Jakarta dan awal masa pendaftaran, saya datang ke booth University of Manchester (UoM) di pameran pendidikan tinggi uni-eropa. Sudah lebih 2 minggu semenjak saya mengirimkan aplikasi namun belum ada jawaban. Niat saya hanya ingin memastikan rentang waktu respons namun petugas admisi mencatat nomer registrasi dan berjanji untuk membantu mengecek. Besoknya beliau mengirim email bahwa aplikasi saya sudah berada di tahap akhir dan dua hari kemudian, letter of admission berhasil saya dapatkan. Gestur ini sangat mengena sekali, menunjukkan profesionalisme dan pelayanan dari kantor admisi UoM. Ini juga yang menjadi salah satu pendukung kecil untuk mengambil offer dari sini.

Ketika sampai di Manchester dan menjalani orientation week, administrasi UoM juga memastikan mahasiswa mendapatkan semua hal yang diperlukan sebelum kuliah dimulai seperti kartu mahasiswa, pengantar bank account, surat bebas council tax dan lain lain. Universitas juga menyediakan layanan konsultasi untuk mengecek surat kontrak dengan landlord / agen properti.

Terdengar sederhana, tapi layanan seperti ini benar benar mengurangi kegelisahan dan kekhawatiran mahasiswa yang sedang settle in. Setidaknya kalau semua urusan administrasi beres, kita bisa fokus kuliah.

Alan Gilbert Learning Commons

Kampus UoM menyediakan 12 perpustakaan sebagai tempat belajar, termasuk diantaranya main library di tengah kampus, John Rylands perpustakaan kuno yang jauh di tengah kota dan Alan Gilbert Learning Commons (Algil). Yang terakhir adalah tempat favorit saya di kampus.

Algil sebenarnya bukan perpustakaan tapi tempat belajar umum. Algil didesain seperti coworking space dimana banyak tempat terbuka dan beberapa ruangan tertutup tersedia untuk group meeting. Ada juga sleeping pod untuk tidur siang, yang kurang mungkin hanya meja pingpong. Suasana disini dibuat mirip dengan  kantor startup.

Meskipun gedung tiga lantai ini buka 24 jam sehari 7 hari seminggu, tetap saja AlGil hampir selalu penuh. Beberapa kali saya bermalam untuk tugas dan sampai jam 3 pagi pun gedung ini masih terasa ramai  walaupun volumenya berkurang. Melihat begitu banyak orang yang serius belajar, membuat terpacu untuk membaca kembali materi kuliah atau mengerjakan sesuatu disini. Seeing all these people so serious about their study really deters procrastination effectively, peer pressure surely does work. 

Sistem Perkuliahan Kelas dan Seminar

Saya mengambil jurusan Innovation Management dan Entrepreneurship, bagian dari fakultas bisnis. Ada empat mata kuliah di semester pertama dan 3 diantaranya di ajarkan dengan metode kelas-seminar. Di metode ini, pertama materi kuliah di ajarkan di kelas lalu di minggu yang sama didiskusikan kembali di seminar. Untuk seminar, kelas dibagi menjadi kelompok yang lebih kecil untuk memfasilitasi diskusi.

Sebagai ilustrasi, misal minggu ini yang dibahas adalah Managing Creative People. Di kelas besar, dosen memberikan kuliah tentang konsep, contoh dan paper paper yang membahas akademik tentang ini. Untuk seminar, study case bagaimana Pixar memanage kreativitas diberikan dan dosen kemudian memfasilitasi diskusi. Di sesi ini, mahasiswa mendiskusikan bagaimana konsep di aplikasikan, faktor internal-eksternal yang mendukung aplikasi konsep tersebut, apakah kekurangan dan kelebihannya dan lain lain. Di mata kuliah tertentu, mahasiswa yang memimpin jalannya seminar sehingga mereka bisa menentukan sendiri arah diskusinya.

Metode ini cocok untuk saya karena untuk memahami sebuah konsep atau ide yang kompleks , saya harus membayangkan seperti apa aplikasi konsep ini. Selain itu , di seminar saya bisa merelasikan pengalaman kerja terdahulu untuk mencerna materi dan juga membangun argumentasi.

Komposisi Kelas

Satu kelas terdiri dari hampir 90 mahasiswa. Awalnya, saya mengira komposisi mahasiswa mayoritas akan diisi experienced professional. Namun ternyata, untuk angkatan 2016 sebagian besar adalah freshgrads yang baru lulus. Bukan masalah besar sebenarnya, paling ketika diskusi ada beberapa pendapat yang sedikit mengawang-awang. But one can say that could add creativity to the discussion. 

Dengan komposisi umur yang sebagian besar dibawah 25 tahun, saya menjadi yang mahasiwa paling tua di kelas. Sebelum berangkat, saya berdiskusi dengan salah satu kolega dan dia mempertanyakan kenapa tetap melanjutkan sekolah diluar sementara umur sudah hampir 30 dan saya baru saja mempunyai anak. Well, apapun yang terjadi umur akan bertambah juga nantinya dan mumpung diberi kesempatan, kenapa tidak.

Kerja kelompok

Now this is the most challenging part. Bekerja dalam lingkungan multi nasional dengan deadline yang cukup ketat tentunya tidak mudah. Dan lagi, semua mata kuliahterdapat kerja kelompok oleh karena itu saya harus bekerja dengan empat kelompok berbeda. Kalau apes mendapat teman kerja yang tidak kooperatif, ujung ujungnya bisa emosi. Untungnya, saya tidak mendapat masalah berarti untuk ini dan semua tugas bisa diselesaikan dengan baik.

Beberapa tips yang berguna untuk bekerja kelompok dengan baik :

Tawarkan untuk jadi fasilitator. Ini berarti bersukarela membuat grup WA, mengajak untuk meeting pertama dan menulis notes meeting. This sounds like doing a dirty job tapi ada dua keuntungan yang didapat dari sini. Pertama, untuk memastikan agar tugas tetap ada kemajuan. Yang kedua, orang lebih mudah untuk setuju dengan kita jika kita melakukan sesuatu untuk mereka terlebih dahulu.

Fleksibel untuk memimpin dan dipimpin. Jika ada teman setim yang vokal dan ingin tampil ke depan, maka saya menjadi supporter yang baik. Kalau sepertinya timnya sedikit pasif, maka saya akan mulai memimpin diskusi. Mengurangi potensi konflik dan yang terpenting tugas terdeliver dengan baik.

Kerjakan sendiri semuanya. Terkadang, tim yang tidak kondusif tidak bisa dihindari. Yang paling sering terjadi, ada anggota tim yang tidak komitmen dengan tugas or someone is just plainly being an asshole. Bisa juga ketika ada tugas lain yang deadlinenya berdekatan, sehingga saya ingin menyelesaikan pekerjaan ini lebih cepat. Jika ini yang terjadi, tidak ada cara lain selain kerjakan semuanya sendiri. Kerja lebih banyak tetapi kekhawatiran berkurang.

Support system dari universitas

Yang saya rasakan, universitas mendukung sekali mahasiswanya untuk sukses. Sebagai contoh di musium ujian seperti ini, semua perpustakaan buka lebih malam dan fasilitas olahraga kampus digratiskan. Workshop akademis seperti bagaimana membuat summary, membaca paper dan menulis essay diadakan lebih sering. Bahkan disediakan juga workshop mental support seperti bagaimana mengurangi prokrastinasi, meditasi dan memanage stress masa ujian.

Mengenai ujian, saya rasakan dosen di semua mata kuliah mencoba untuk membuat proses ujian tidak terlalu membebani. Kelas terakhir di semester di gunakan untuk membahas kisi kisi soal ujian, bagaimana struktur jawaban yang mereka harapkan dan juga buku dan paper yang harus direview kembali. Contoh soal dan jawaban dari soal tahun lalu juga diberikan sehingga mahasiswa punya gambaran.

Experiencing for all this, i feel that the whole university are trying their best to ensure your success. 

Tiket bola dan konser harga mahasiswa

Sebagai fans Manchester City, saya tidak bisa memilih kampus yang lebih baik dari ini. Fans United juga akan setuju dengan saya. Secara rutin, tiket City dan United di jual di UoM student union dengan harga mahasiswa. Sebagai gambaran, tiket 16 besar liga champions City vs Monaco dijual dengan harga 20 pounds sementara harga normal 40 pounds.

Fasilitas kampus UoM lain yang juga favorit saya adalah Manchester Academy. Venue didalam kampus yang rutin mendatangkan band band kelas dunia. I just couldt believe my luck when i found out this gem the first time in campus. Tiket Jimmy Eat World dan Sum 41 saya dapatkan dengan 20 pound saja sementara rerata harga tiket konser disini sekitar 60 – 80 pounds. Selain itu, karena lokasinya di kampus, tinggal melipir saja seusai kelas dan tidak perlu pusing untuk transportasi sepulangnya.

Namun yang menyebalkan, terkadang jadwal band beririsan dengan deadline tugas. I was writing essays in Alan Gilbert when literally on the next building Killswitch Engage and Bullet for My Valentine played together. 

Tentang passion dan kerja keras

Secara keseluruhan, pengalaman kuliah master selama ini melebih ekspektasi. Saya merasa nyaman baik dari sisi akademis maupun atmosfir kota Manchester sendiri. Namun tentu saja tidak membuat kuliah menjadi lebih mudah.

Satu sesi kelas besar berdurasi 3 jam dengan 10 menit break di tengah. Dengan durasi sepanjang itu, konsep, aplikasi dan diskursus dijejalkan dalam sekali jalan. Krusial sekali untuk mencerna materi sebelumnya, sehingga dikelas pemahaman bisa dikonfirmasi, bertanya jika ada yang tidak mengerti dan memungkinkan untuk berkontribusi dalam diskusi. Jika masuk kelas tanpa persiapan dan yang terjadi adalah perasaan overwhelming karena dosen berganti dari satu topik ke yang lain dengan cepat. Seperti memegang gelas di bawah aliran air terjun.

Ketika masa ujian seperti ini, saya merasakan betapa krusialnya untuk mencerna materi dengan baik ketika di dalam kelas. Persiapan menjadi lebih ringan dan lebih mudah untuk menariknya kembali di kertas ujian karena telah masuk kedalam memori jangka panjang.

Dari kelas ke seminar, rata rata ada jeda 2 hari. Walaupun format seminar hampir sama, tiga mata kuliah mewajibkan tugas yang berbeda setiap minggunya. Mulai dari mencicil bagian dari business plan, mempresentasikan paper atau menuliskan rekomendasi untuk sebuah studi kasus. Semua tugas seminar adalah tugas kelompok sehingga sebelum seminar harus tim harus meeting dan mengerjakan terlebih dahulu.

Dengan empat mata kuliah dan tiga seminar setiap minggunya, deadline berkejaran seperti skena ikan terbang di film Life of Pi. Sebelum masuk kuliah, saya membaca survival tips untuk graduate student di Reddit.

Treat your study like a day job, do it 8 hours a day eventhough you dont go to class everyday.

I tried to do this and i could say this tips works wonders for me. Mengutip idola anak anak kekinian jaman sekarang, usaha keras memang tidak mengkhianati .

Selain itu, faktor yang paling membantu sebenarnya adalah : jurusan ini sesuai dengan minat saya. Materi yang diberikan membuat saya tertantang, paper paper di jurnal Research Policy cukup enak untuk dicerna dan beberapa buku referensi seperti Lean Startup dan Frugal Innovation memang buku yang saya tertarik untuk baca sebelum terpikir untuk melanjutkan kuliah.

Reflecting my first semester journey, i cannot imagine how miserable and difficult it is if i was taking a course that didnt resonate with me. I am lucky i did and this will be my main advice for anyone considering going back to school for Masters degree.

Semester dua, persiapan disertasi dan mata kuliah baru menunggu setelah ujian. Namun sebelum itu semua, saya ingin santai terlebih dahulu. Definisi santai disini adalah duduk di Algil yang kembali lenggang dan membaca baca edisi terbaru Harvard Business Review dengan headphone tertanam di telinga.

To prepare for semester exam, i wrote several essays on Innovation topics to help me revise. As the exam period already finished, rather than throw it away i might as well post it here. All of the essays can be looked up using ExamEssay tag. Hope it can be useful. 

Research by definition is a creative activity to produce knowledge. By characteristics, research can be divided into two categories : basic and applied.

In short, basic research is curiosity driven activity to produce science while applied research is a problem solving activities to come up with new technology.

Classical view on science and technology relationship

In the old fashioned view, science came before technology. Basic research increase the stock of science in the society which in turns becomes the fuel of applied research activities. Technology is an application of science hence basic research need to be prioritized first.

The prominent supporter of this view is inventor, engineer and former head of US Office of Scientific Research and Development  Vannevar Bush. After world war 2, Bush advocated the importance of funding basic research. In his report to the president titled Science The Endless Frontier, Bush argued that basic research increase the nation’s scientific capital, drive technological progress which in turns improve the nation’s competitiveness in world trade.

The entire Vannevar Bush report to the President can be read here. 

Contrarian view to describe the relationship

However the relationship apparently is not that simple. In his book Society and Technological Change, sociology professor Rudi Volti proposed several counter arguments which contradict the old view of this relationship :

1. Technology can develop independently without previous scientific basis.  When looking at the ancient history such as Greeks and Romans, technological advancement in architecture, agriculture and metallurgy developed before the underlying scientific principles were understood.
2. Technology can stimulate science. In occasion, technological advancements could lead to new scientific discovery. The process of applying new technology could also defy accepted scientific explanation which leads to development of new theories. In 1858, Henry Giffard invented steam injector engine which defied widely accepted caloric theory hence leads to the acceptance of the alternative kinetic heat theory.
3. Technological practices and applications used in scientific discovery can spin out into new branch of science. During world war II,  US and other countries engaged in the development of Radar technology. In the process of this invention, Charles Townes developed a technology to measure molecular structure using light called Lasers. This technology then expand both into new scientific discovery and practical use of lasers from barcode scanners to CD players.

In the contemporary view, relationship between science and technology can is complex. Volti defined these relationship as dynamic and characterized by considerable back and forth movement.

Pasteur research quadrant

Another view on the basic and applied research is from Donald Stokes which he wrote in his book Pasteur’s Quadrant. Learning from how Louis Pasteur conducted his research, Stokes concluded that there are middle ground between pure basic and applied research.

The research work exemplified by Pasteur didnt fit into both definition of basic and applied research. His work on germ theory was driven by curiosity to understand microbiology while also looking for ways to stop milk and beer going off.

Relationship Implication for Policy and Funding

Considering all of the factor above, there are no exact answers which one should be prioritized in terms of government policy and funding. Several popular reasoning which support prioritization of basic research.

1. Researching “odd ball science “might lead to a revolutionary practical discovery. From the lasers, internet and graphene, many prominent revolutionary discovery could be attributed to scientist pursuing an unusual phenomena.
2. Basic research inspire new generation of scientist. Taking account of how US-Soviet Union space race in the 1960’s popularized science in the society, prominent science spokesperson Neil DeGrasse Tyson argued that investing in Mars mission is at the very least inspirational even though the practical application of this investment is yet to be seen.

On the other hand, arguments supporting applied research are focused on the return factor.

1. If basic research unintentionally resulted in practical discovery, the it will be more effective to intentionally seek practical usage. This is counter argument from the above. Why depends on the unintentional nature of discovery when it can be pursued from the start.
2. Research is costly hence return on this investment is expected. This especially applies to government funded research as taxpayer’s spending need to be justified by prioritizing research which served on the nation’s and public interest.

In his article in Scientia Salon blog, philosophy professor and author Massimo Pigliucci argued that even though there are no definite proof that basic research brings immediate economic benefit, it still worth to spend money on it for the sake of enriching knowledge and culture just like investing in museum or art conservation. The percentage of applied research in the US is already much higher than the basic one hence it can be considered a cost which society can afford to pay.

Perkembangan eksponensial teknologi informasi dalam satu dekade terakhir menghasilkan kelas konsumen teredukasi dengan ekspektasi yang semakin hari semakin meningkat. Pelaku bisnis, entrepreneur dan bahkan sektor publik dipaksa berinovasi dengan laju yang lebih cepat dan lebih efektif dibanding sebelumnya. Di tahun 1999, The Economist menulis bahwa inovasi menjadi agama baru perindustrian di penghujung abad 20. Organisasi yang inovatif memiliki produktivitas jauh lebih tinggi dibanding yang tidak. Inovasi menjadi cawan suci yang menjanjikan kejayaan ditengah gencarnya kompetisi.

Meningkatnya peran inovasi membuat populernya materi materi terkait. Siapa dari kita yang belum melihat video stay hungry stay foolish ?. Buku bertema inovasi juga kerap menjadi best seller. Yang paling terkenal diantaranya : Innovators Dilemma yang mengenalkan konsep inovasi disruptif. Sejarah inovasi komputasi dalam buku The Innovators dari Walter Issacson dan juga tips memanage kreativitas di Creativity Inc dari Ed Catmull.

Salah satu buku tentang inovasi yang menarik buat saya adalah How To Fly A Horse dari Kevin Ashton, pionir dari teknologi internet of things. Buku ini mencoba membantah mitos bahwa inovasi, mencipta dan kreativitas adalah hak istimewa segelintir orang yang dianggap jenius. Kevin mencoba menjelaskan inovasi dari unit yang paling sederhana yaitu kerja keras. Dia juga mencoba mematahkan miskonsepsi bahwa proses inovatif terjadi secara magis, seperti bohlam diatas kepala yang tiba tiba menyala. Miskonsepsi ini terjadi karena beberapa karakteristik dari inovasi bersifat kontra intuisi (counter intuitive) sehingga rentan untuk disalahartikan.

Memahami sifat sifat kontra intuisi ini krusial untuk mengerti bagaimana inovasi dihasilkan dan menghindari kesalahan umum yang terjadi ketika membangun proses inovasi.

Ide besar datang dari langkah langkah kecil

Ketika melihat karya karya fenomenal seperti simfoni no 5 Beethoven, film animasi Pixar atau bahkan Iphone, seringkali terpikir bagaimana sang inovator mendapatkan ide sebagus ini. Apakah ada  langkah khusus yang dilakukan sehingga ide brillian bisa datang dan menyambar seperti petir ? Eureka! seperti Archimedes yang terinsipirasi ketika mandi. Namun yang terjadi tidak seperti itu.

Robert Weisberg, peneliti psikologi dan penulis buku Creativity : Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, melakukan sebuah penelitian dimana responden diminta untuk menyelesaikan  teka-teki lilin Dunckers (Duncker’s Candle Problem). Teka teki ini biasa dipakai untuk menilai kemampuan problem-solving dan pada penelitian tersebut, Weisberg meminta responden untuk menjelaskan secara verbal apa yang mereka pikirkan pada saat pengerjaan. Di dalam riset tersbut, semua responden mengambil cara yang sama : mencoba satu hal yang familiar, melihat apakah ada kemajuan, jika tidak berhasil coba dengan cara yang lain. Mulai dari awal diberikan hingga penyelesaian, tidak ada satupun responden yang ‘melompat’ ke langkah paling akhir.

Weisberg kemudian menyimpulkan bahwa proses kreatif terjadi selangkah demi selangkah. Semua orang punya pola pikir yang sama, yang membedakan antara yang berhasil selesai dan yang tidak adalah berapa langkah yang mereka ambil. Cara berpikir yang visioner / berpikir 1-2 langkah kedepan tidak terjadi sama sekali. Inovasi terjadi ketika pencipta terus mengambil langkah dan menyesuaikan langkah ketika menemui masalah.

Most steps wins.

Penolakan adalah reaksi natural

Meningkatnya peran inovasi terhadap bisnis membawa gagasan bahwa ide ide inovatif sangat dicari dan dinanti. Inovator yang menghasilkan produk revolusioner akan diberikan karpet merah dan diterima di tangan terbuka. Mengutip pernyataan sastrawan inggris

“Build better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door ” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Judah Folkman, peneliti dan dokter bedah Amerika, menemukan bahwa tumor tumbuh memanfaatkan jaringan pembuluh darah. Penemuan Folkman menjadi dasar untuk cabang ilmu Angiogenesis dan salah satu terobosan penting dalam pengobatan kanker. Namun selama bertahun tahun, Folkman dikucilkan komunitas kedokteran karena penemuannya bertentangan dengan pemahaman yang umum pada waktu itu.

Di dalam kasus lain, Ignaz Semmelweis mengusulkan agar dokter mencuci tangan sebelum membantu proses persalinan di rumah sakit. Terobosan ini menyelamatkan banyak nyawa. Tetapi Semmelweis berakhir depresi karena kritik dan penolakan yang begitu deras terhadap teorinya yang baru bisa dibuktikan bertahun-tahun setelah itu oleh Louis Pasteur.

Kita bisa melihat banyak lagi contoh seperti ini di cerita hidup inovator inovator lainnya : James Dyson ditolak mentah mentah oleh Hoover, Nikola Tesla di diskreditkan habis habisan oleh Edison dan bahkan Google pun ditolak Yahoo ketika mereka menawarkan  akuisisi.

Bagaimana ini bisa terjadi ?

Penolakan adalah reaksi natural manusia ketika berhadapan dengan sesuatu yang baru. Keterbaruan berasosiasi dengan resiko dan ketidakpastian. Di jaman purba, ketidakpastian membawa bahaya sehingga karena otak manusia berevolusi dengan reaksi penolakan yang keras terhadap sesuatu yang baru (Reptilian Brain Theory).

Dari awal innovator harus menyadari dan memikirkan bagaimana menghadapi penolakan pengguna. Hal ini juga tidak selamanya negatif. Penolakan bisa berfungsi sebagai kompas untuk menunjukkan bagian mana dari inovasi tersebut yang perlu diperbaiki atau dipikirkan ulang.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) mendefinisikan inovasi sebagai produksi, adopsi dan eksploitasi dari sebuah hal baru (novelty). Mencipta hanyalah setengah bagian dari inovasi. Setengah lainnya adalah bagaimana innovator melawan penolakan dan meretas jalan menuju mengadopsi dan eksploitasi hasil penciptaan mereka.

The next step after building better mousetrap is to build a path from your door to the world

Pekerja inovatif tidak mudah untuk di manage

Di tahun 1950, dua psikolog Jacob Getzels dan Phillip Jackson mempelajari hubungan antara IQ dan tingkat kreatifitas dengan mengambil siswa SMA sebagai subjek penelitian. Beberapa siswa dites IQ, dites kreativitas dan kemudian diminta untuk menulis satu paragraf autobiografi. Hasilnya siswa yang ber IQ tinggi cenderung menulis secara straight forward sementara hasil tulisan siswa dengan tingkat kreativitas tinggi lebih lucu, aneh dan susah ditebak. Selain itu Getzels dan Jackson juga menemukan bahwa dengan IQ setara, siswa dengan tingkat kreativitas yang lebih tinggi mempunyai performa akademis yang lebih baik. Tidak mengejutkan sebenarnya.

Yang lebih menarik adalah ketika beberapa guru untuk memilih essay mana yang mereka suka. Mayoritas guru tidak suka dengan essay yang ditulis siswa dengan tingkat kreativitas yang tinggi.

Hal ini bisa dirasakan di lingkungan professional. Pembuat keputusan, manager dan mungkin kita sendiri mengatakan bahwa kreatifitas dan inovasi adalah hal yang penting. Namun jika berhadapan dengan ide atau orang yang kreatif, kita memilih untuk menolak hal tersebut.

Kenapa ini bisa terjadi ? seperti essay para siswa di penelitian Getzel-Jakcson, orang yang kreatif dan inovatif cenderung aneh, susah ditebak dan susah untuk dikontrol. Kontrol, familiaritas dan prediktabilitas lebih nyaman untuk dipilih. Individu yang inovatif secara tidak sadar menimbulkan ketidaknyamanan dengan ide dan pemikiran mereka yang seringkali tidak bisa diprediksi.

No matter how much we say we value creation, deep down, most of us value control more. And so we fear change and favor familiarity. Rejecting is a reflex – Kevin Ashton

Lalu bagaimana mengatasi hal ini?

Di era perang dunia ke dua, produsen pesawat Lockheed membentuk sebuah unit inovasi independen bernama Skunkworks. Unit ini kemudian sukses menghasilkan pesawat dengan desain futuristis seperti SR-71 Blackbird, F22 Raptor dan juga F-117 Nighthawk. Hall Hibbard, kepala bagian rekayasa di Skunkworks, mengatakan bahwa kunci sukses memanage pekerja kreatif sekaligus mengeksploitasi ide ide inovatif ada di dua kata : Show Me.

Ide inovatif pada awalnya terdengar aneh, tidak masuk akal dan agresif. Sangat mudah untuk membunuh ide ide kreatif di titik ini. Selain beresiko melewatkan potensi inovasi, penolakan ide ide kreatif secara prematur juga mendemotivasi pekerja yang kreatif. Untuk mencegah hal tersebut, Hal Hibbard menerapkan sebuah prinsip di Skunkworks bahwa jika ada yang mengeluarkan ide radikal di sebuah meeting,  maka yang mengeluarkan ide harus membuktikan ide tersebut di meeting selanjutnya.

Prinsip Show Me ini memberikan ruang kepada ide radikal untuk tumbuh menjadi prototype atau MVP. Praktek ini memudahkan manager dan pengambil keputusan untuk menilai dengan  lebih objektif apakah sebuah ide mempunyai nilai atau tidak. Selain itu, praktek ini juga memotivasi individu individu yang inovatif di perusahaan untuk membuktikan apakah ide mereka layak untuk di follow up.

Foot note : 

• Artikel menarik forbes tentang meningkatnya tekanan untuk berinovasi – link
• Sedikit mirip dengan Dunckers Candle Problem, Di buku Outliers Malcolm Gladwell menulis tentang bagaimana soal soal matematika rumit bisa dipecahkan dengan persistensi. 
• Di buku lainnya David and Goliath, Gladwell juga menulis tentang onkologis Emil J Freirech yang mirip dengan kasus Folkman dan Semmelweiz 
• Ide tentang lizard brain dan tendensi untuk menolak hal hal baru bisa dibaca di buku Seth Godin – Linchpin. 
• Artikel menarik Harvard Business Review tentang bagaimana menghadapi orang orang kreatif yang susah dimanage – link
• Sejarah singkat tentang berdirinya Skunk Works bisa dibaca di situs Lockheed Martin

One of the class ive enrolled in the second semester is International Competitiveness by Professor Marcella Miozzo. In this course, prof Miozzo discuss how firms, organization and countries achieve international competitiveness / global leadership through innovation. Ive also learned a lot of about strategy and the history of industrialization in developed and newly develop countries in this class.

For group coursework, i need to present international competitiveness in the case of nanotechnology. The task is very interesting and challenging because prior to this i know nothing about nano tech. After several weeks of digging Scopus papers, reading science magazine and collaborating through Google Slides, me and my team delivered the topic in the class yesterday. We present the history of nanotechnology development, international competitiveness using research indicators also case studies of three leading countries in nanotechnology. Due to over excitement, we overshoot the presentation time by over half an hour however the response was good.

In this post, im embedding the presentation slides along with several highlights from the materials that i referenced. Due to the way we split the work, im putting only the materials related to nanotechnology in the context of China. For the completion of this work, i would like to thank my awesome team mates which coincidentally both of them are Chevening scholars : fellow Indonesians Yoanita Simanjuntak and Pakistani aspiring economist Aisha Aurakzai.

Third world countries, represent!.

Notes and Appendix

China’s emerging presence in nanoscience and nanotechnology A comparative bibliometric study of several nanoscience‘s giants – Research Policy 2007

Jiancheng Guan∗,1, Nan Ma1

• Nanotechnology is believed to be one of key technologies of 21st centuries which will create new market and prosperity
• Japan and China put nanotechnologies in their long term plan
• China has been the only country to have its publication grow exponentially while the others show decreasing trends over the last two decade

• Japan has surpassed Germany by taking the second position since 1996.
• The number of publications from the USA decreased from 1993 to 2000, but the indicator shows its relative stability thereafter.
• The rise of nanotech in China is related to increased funding. The government spent 27 USD mio during 1990 – 2002
• Five countries in our present study are also the major partners with each other in the international collaborative network. The USA is the first choice for the four other countries to cooperate with. China has followed Germany and Japan to become the USA’s third largest partner in nanoscience research.

• Most of nano tech research are conducted in universities. China has taken one third of the top 15 positions among prolific institutions.  It seems that China has effectively used its public-sector research potential to boost the esearch activities in the country.

• In conclusion, global research activities on nano technologies has been increased over the last 20 years. China has emerged as major contributors in this field having exponential growth for publication in the same timespan.

Ascent of Nanoscience in China – ScienceMag 2005

Chunli Bai

• Interest for Nanoscience began in the 1980s. the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC) began funding nanoscience-related work and activities. Starting with the development of scanning-tunneling microscopy to view nanomaterial surface
• In 1990s, several international science conferences was held in China including 7th International Conference on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (1993) and the 4th International Conference on Nanometer-Scale Science and Technology (1996). These meeting sparked public interest further in nanotech

• In, 1999, Ministry of Science and Technology started nanotech basic research project. Nanotech also included in National High Technology Plan. From 1990 – 2002, 1000 nanotech project was funded (approximately 27 Mio dollar investment).
• In 2000, National Steering Committee for Nanoscience and Nano tech was established. This government body oversee national policy and planning in this area.
• Increasing public interest also create problem, several unethical business falsely claimed that their product implemented nanotechnology. To prevent this, government set up National Standardization for Nanomaterials in 2004.
• Moving forward, the government wants to further pursue nanotech development by promoting and facilitating interdisciplinary research

The evolution of science-based business: innovating how we innovate

Gary P. Pisano*

Alfred Chandler core proposition on organizational and technological innovation

• Technological and organizational innovation are interdependent
  • The right institutional arrangements plays critical role in facilitating technical advancement and diffusion of innovation (Nelson and Winter, 1982)
  • Technological innovation is tightly intertwined with organizational and institutional innovation
• New forms of business organization and institutional arrangement are invented to solve specific economic problem
  • Organizational form, management technique and institutions are inventions which made to response to very specific economic problems
• Organizational and institutional innovation is an evolutionary process

Science-based business as a novel organizational form

• Division of labor between science and business. Science  happens in university while business in corporations
  • Academics vs Manager
• By the 20th century, these worlds were converging.
  • Universities saw applied research  as important as scientific research
  • Corporate invested in research laboratories capable of pursuing leading edge science

Networks as sponges: International collaboration for developing nanomedicine in China

Ricky C. Leung

Benefits of networks in innovation

• Increase actors information search capacity (Granovetter, 1973)
• Creativity (Powell et al., 1996),
• Productivity (Fernandez et al., 2000)

Networks as sponges

• Provide opportunities for organizational actors to engage in learning by doing
• Network partners of unequal power benefits differently

International Networks and Nanotechnology in China

• China has experience long history of economic underdevelopment
  • Political conflicts
  • Cultural Revolution
• Due to this, political leaders extremely eager to strengthen the country. Science and technology development has always been a top priority item in China national developmental plan. China leaders has expressed strong sentiments to be a world leader in high-tech science
  • Investment in scientific research increased steadily
• Nanotechnology is believed is new to everyone hence China could be on par with others more easily
• To engage, in a new science that requires high level of R&D, Chinese governments believe that collaborative and knowledge networks – particularly ties with overseas Chinese universities can be very useful
• Government provided funding for forging international partnerships and international collaboration in nanotech
• However Chinese scientist affiliated with academic institute of low status had to overcome barrier to publish in Euro-American journal. Hence China academic institute sought to raise their status by partnering with  high-status ones.

Network benefit metaphors

• Pipes : Amount of resources acquired
• Prisms : Level of reputation acquired
• Sponges : Degree of learning made possible

Trends in worldwide nanotechnology patent applications: 1991 to 2008

Yan Dang • Yulei Zhang • Li Fan • Hsinchun Chen • Mihail C. Roco

• Patent by institution

• Patent by area

Dengan jumlah penduduk miskin sebanyak 28 juta orang (BPS, 2016), penanggulangan kemiskinan menjadi salah satu tantangan yang dihadapi Indonesia ke depan. Angka kemiskinan yang tinggi berpotensi membawa efek domino yang lebih besar seperti berkurangnya produktivitas ekonomi, menurunnya tingkat kesehatan masyarakat dan juga peningkatan angka kriminalitas. Untuk mengatasi masalah ini, pemerintah Indonesia di tahun 2010 membentuk Tim Nasional Percepatan Penanggulangan Kemiskinan (TNP2K). Berada langsung di bawah wakil presiden, TNP2K bertanggung jawab mengeksekusi program pengentasan kemiskinan seperti peningkatan kapasitas ekonomi, jaminan kesehatan dan juga bantuan sosial. TNP2K juga bertanggung jawab atas basis data terpadu yang berisi informasi sosial ekonomi dan demografi penduduk miskin di Indonesia.

Salah satu instrumen bantuan sosial yang digunakan TNP2K adalah transfer tunai bersyarat bernama Program Keluarga Harapan (PKH). PKH memberikan uang tunai kepada rumah tangga sangat miskin sekaligus mewajibkan mereka untuk memenuhi persyaratan terkait pendidikan dan kesehatan. Sebagai contoh, resipien PKH yang memiliki anak balita wajib memenuhi kewajiban imunisasi lengkap sebelum menerima bantuan. Saat ini, dana PKH di salurkan secara tunai melalui kantor pos dan juga transfer bank melalui akun bank BRI.

Semenjak tahun 2007 hingga 2014, PKH telah disalurkan ke lebih dari 3 juta kepala keluarga (TNP2K, 2014). Sebuah pencapaian yang perlu diapresiasi namun jika diasumsikan satu keluarga terdiri dari 4 orang, maka jangkauan PKH sementara ini kurang dari setengah jumlah penduduk miskin di Indonesia. Untuk meningkatkan pencapaian tersebut, perlu dipertimbangkan mekanisme penyaluran dana yang memungkinkan cakupan layanan yang jauh lebih luas.

Layanan finansial seluler (LFS) dapat digunakan sebagai kanal distribusi alternatif PKH. Tiga operator besar Indonesia telah memiliki produk LFS, antara lain: Telkomsel dengan T-Cash, Indosat dengan Dompetku dan XL dengan XL Tunai. LFS hanya membutuhkan nomor handphone sebagai identifikasi sehingga berpotensi mengakomodasi masyarakat lebih luas dibandingkan rekening bank. Sebagai gambaran penetrasi layanan seluler sudah melebihi 100% total jumlah penduduk (Indonesia Investment, 2016) sedangkan perbankan konvensional saat ini hanya menjangkau 36% populasi (EY, 2015). Selain itu, LFS bisa diakses dengan menggunakan sms dan USSD (contoh : *123#) sehingga bisa menjangkau penerima bantuan PKH dengan koneksi 2G dan ponsel sederhana sekalipun.

Ketiga operator penyedia layanan finansial seluler juga menggunakan jaringan minimarket (Indomaret dan Alfamaret) sebagai partner untuk transaksi cash out. Resipien PKH bisa mencairkan bantuan melalui minimart terdekat dengan menunjukkan bukti transaksi di ponsel. Jumlah kantor pos saat ini adalah 24 ribu (BUMN), sementara jumlah ATM BRI mencapai 23 ribu (Kontan, 2016). Dengan jumlah cabang Indomaret sebanyak 13 ribu gerai (Indomaret) dan Alfamaret sebanyak 11 ribu (Swa, 2016), bekerja sama dengan penyedia LFS dapat menambah titik layanan PKH hingga 50% dari jangkauan saat ini.

Tantangan utama dalam implementasi LFS untuk PKH adalah integrasi, baik secara sistem maupun organisasi. Dari sisi sistem, infrastruktur teknologi informasi TNP2K harus di hubungkan dengan tiga operator seluler yang masing-masing memiliki sistem yang berbeda satu sama lain. Dari sisi organisasi, diperlukan pembagian lingkup kerja yang jelas antara TNP2K dan pihak operator sehingga proses operasional menjadi efektif dan akuntabel. Ddiperlukan juga landasan hukum yang baru yang mengakomodasi kerja sama antara instansi publik dan swasta (public private partnership). Sebagai langkah awal, memulai kerja sama dengan Telkomsel bisa menjadi pilihan mengingat jumlah pelanggannya yang terbesar dan statusnya sebagai BUMN.

Skema distribusi bantuan sosial melalui layanan seluler terbukti efektif di beberapa negara berkembang. Salah satu yang paling terkenal adalah DaviPlata dari Kolombia. Dikembangkan oleh bank swasta Banco Davivienda, layanan mobile wallet seluler ini dipakai sebagai kanal utama distribusi bantuan sosial pemerintah. Diluncurkan tahun 2012, DaviPlata mendapat respons positif dan dipakai oleh 500 ribu resipien bantuan sosial. Di tahun 2014, jumlah pengguna DaviPlata berkembang hingga menjadi 2.2 juta pengguna. Dengan nilai transaksi perbulan hingga 43 juta US dollar, Daviplata adalah operasi bantuan sosial berbasis seluler terbesar di dunia (CGAP, 2015).

Berdasarkan laporan World Bank, program transfer tunai bersyarat terbukti mengurangi dampak kemiskinan di beberapa negara berkembang (World Bank, 2009). Inisiatif PKH dari pemerintah sudah berada di arah yang benar dan berpotensi untuk dikembangkan lebih jauh. Pemanfaatan LFS dapat membuat jangkauan PKH semakin luas sehingga misi besar penanggulangan kemiskinan bisa lebih cepat untuk dicapai.

Versi awal esai ini saya gunakan untuk lomba penulisan awardee LPDP 2017. Ditambahkan beberapa informasi baru karena untuk lomba tersebut dibatasi hanya 500 kata. Selain itu, ide dasar esai ini juga dipakai di proposal Ideas 4 Action walaupun pada akhirnya eksekusinya berbeda. Kudos untuk team Dewantara : Anbar Jayadi, Benhard Martin dan Ghivo Pratama. Tanpa diskusi produktif di grup WA, ide ini tidak akan terpikir dan tertulis. 

Banyak perbedaan antara dua semester perkuliahan Manchester dan pengalaman saya sebelumnya di dunia professional. Mulai dari proses belajar, ekspektasi dan deliverables, dibutuhkan beberapa penyesuaian sebelum akhirnya saya mendapat ritme kerja yang nyaman. Ditambah lagi sistem pendidikan yang jauh berbeda antara di Indonesia dan Inggris dan juga jurusan yang tidak linear dengan S1 sehingga pengalaman saya ketika sarjana tidak serta merta aplikatif di studi pasca-sarjana sekarang.

Didalam tulisan ini, saya menuliskan beberapa tips yang sangat membantu proses belajar S2 disini. Meminjam konsep retrospective Scrum, tips saya tuliskan setelah merefleksikan kesalahan dan berpikir apa yang seharusnya saya bisa lakukan untuk memperbaiki kesalahan tersebut.  Beberapa tips juga baru saya sadari setelah akhir semester 2 sehingga jika dilakukan lebih awal, hasil yang saya dapatkan bisa lebih maksimal. Harapan saya, semoga tulisan ini bisa membantu teman teman yang ingin berkuliah diluar agar cepat beradaptasi dengan proses belajar yang baru.

Model pembelajaran di jurusan saya Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, sudah saya jelaskan sedikit di tulisan sebelumnya. Sila baca ini terlebih dahulu agar lebih mengerti konteks yang saya tulis disini. 

Membaca, membaca dan menulis

Sistem pendidikan yang saya kenyam hingga sarjana tidak memaksa untuk banyak membaca dan menulis. Di jurusan S1 yang saya ambil dulu (Sistem Informasi ITS), mayoritas tugas berupa pemrograman sehingga bisa diselesaikan hanya dengan banyak mencoba dan melihat contoh kode. Jarang sekali saya membuka buku kuliah dan tidak diwajibkan juga membahas paper dari jurnal jurnal computer science. 

Sementara disini, setiap sesi kuliah minimal harus ada 3 materi yang dibaca : 1 chapter buku, 1 paper dan 1 studi kasus. Ini diluar powerpoint presentasi dosen di kelas. Selain itu, rata rata tugas adalah essay dimana setiap argumen harus ditopang dengan sumber yang solid, entah itu paper, buku atau laporan ilmiah. Untuk menulis satu essay 2000 – 3000 kata, saya harus mencerna minimal 8 – 10 paper referensi.

Oleh karena itu, tips pertama adalah membiasakan untuk banyak membaca dan menulis. Obvious memang tapi jika tidak dibiasakan akan susah. Untuk  membaca, saya hanya perlu penyesuaian sedikit membaca bacaan akademik. I love reading anyway. Menulis yang butuh sedikit usaha. Saya terbantu oleh tiga hal : blog ini yang membiasakan saya menulis sejak 2008, pengalaman di corporate strategy yang mengajarkan bagaimana membangun argumen yang baik dan juga proses persiapan IELTS dan college admission yang mengenalkan struktur essay yang ideal. Ini pun masih belum cukup karena essay akademis perdana saya mendapatkan nilai yang mengenaskan.

However its not rocket science, more often i do the task the more i get better. Membiasakan membaca dan menulis akademis dari awal akan membantu mempercepat proses adaptasi. Semakin cepat beradaptasi semakin cepat pula peluang untuk berprestasi.

Beberapa referensi tentang academic reading and writing :

• University of Sydney Learning Center 
• Tips for Academic Writing

Mengerti dan hindari plagiarisme

Plagiat adalah dosa kardinal di sistem akademik UK. Di awal semester, semua mahasiswa diberi penyuluhan tentang apa itu plagiarisme dan bagaimana menghindarinya. Jika terbukti melakukan dengan sengaja, sanksinya sangat berat. Sehingga vital sekali untuk mengerti apa saja yang termasuk plagiarisme dan bagaimana untuk tidak terjebak melakukannya.

Beberapa hal yang termasuk academic plagiarism :

• Menulis kembali materi referensi secara verbatim (identik kata-perkata)
• Mengutip materi tanpa memberikan referensi
• Paraphrasing tanpa memberikan referensi
• Kolusi : mengerjakan tugas individu secara bersama sama
• Mereferensikan dengan tidak benar
• Mengirimkan pekerjaan orang lain
• Memakai kembali karya yang sudah di kirim sebelumnya

Di Manchester dan banyak universitas lain, tugas dikirim melalui platform Turnitin yang akan melakukan cek plagiarisme. Sehingga benar benar perhatikan ini ketika mengerjakan tugas. Apalagi di awal ketika belum familiar dengan definisi plagiarisme. Rawan sekali terjebak terutama saat berniat mereferensi tetapi dilakukan dengan cara yang kurang tepat.

Tips untuk menghindari plagiarisme dari saya ada tiga :

• Mengerti : Baca materi referensi dengan seksama dan pastikan untuk mengerti terlebih dahulu sebelum mereferensi
• Modifikasi : Tutup materi asli kemudian, tulis kembali teori atau ide dengan hanya mengingat apa yang ada di kepala. Setelah selesai, cek dengan materi asal agar esensi tetap sama.
• Referensi : Pastikan menulis referensi dengan format yang tepat. Saya pribadi menggunakan format Harvard.

Referensi bagus tentang menghindari plagiarism :

• Plagiarism – Oxford
• Avoiding Plagiarism – MIT

Membaca paper akademik dengan efektif

Even though i enjoy reading, academic paper is a different kind of a beast. Ketika kuliah di ITS dulu, membaca paper IEEE membuat frustasi sekali. Salah satu alasan saya memilih untuk mengambil tugas akhir E-Business pada saat itu karena bidang minat tersebut tidak mewajibkan pembahasan paper. Namun ketika disini, saya menikmati sekali membaca artikel dari jurnal studi inovasi seperti Research Policy, Technovation atau Small Business Economics. Sepertinya paper ilmu manajemen lebih ramah bagi saya dibandingkan teknik.

Dua referensi dari Elsevier dan ScienceMag ini cukup membantu untuk mencerna paper akademik dengan cepat.

• Elsevier – How To Read Academic Paper
• ScienceMag – How to (seriously) read a scientific paper

Yang pertama perlu dipahami adalah format penulisan paper secara umum : Abstract, Introduction, Methodologies, Results, Discussion. Abstrak adalah ringkasan keseluruhan paper. Introduction biasanya berisi konteks, sejarah dan pertanyaan apa yang coba dijawab oleh si penulis paper. Methodologies berisi bagaimana metode riset untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut. Result berisi hasil penelitian dan Discussion berisi diskusi hasil penelitian, keterbatasan hasil yang dicapai, kesimpulan penulis dan saran untuk penelitian berikutnya. Dengan memahami format, kita bisa meraba informasi apa yang akan didapat dengan membaca masing masing bagian.

Yang kedua adalah strategi membaca. Membaca dengan paper dari awal hingga akhir bisa sangat melelahkan dan memakan waktu. Apalagi jika kita perlu membaca banyak paper sekaligus. Saya pribadi memulai dengan membaca abstrak, kemudian melihat bagan atau data yang disajikan lalu skip ke kesimpulan. Dengan begitu, saya bisa mendapatkan garis besar paper dan menentukan apakah paper ini relevan / menarik / berguna. Jika iya, maka baru saya baca dengan seksama dari awal sampai akhir.

Salah satu dosen di kampus menyarankan mahasiswa untuk secepatnya membaca 20-30 paper. Karena setelah membaca sebanyak itu, kita akan bisa melihat pola dan intuisi bagaimana mengekstrak informasi dengan cepat akan terbangun dengan sendirinya.

Berkenalan dengan Scopus, Google Scholar dan Web of Science

Setelah paham strategi membaca, pertanyaan selanjutnya adalah bagaimana mencari paper atau materi ilmiah lainnya sebagai bahan referensi. Yang biasanya dipakai adalah Google Scholar, Scopus atau Web of Science (WOS). Saya pribadi lebih suka menggunakan Scopus dibanding yang lain. Tidak terlalu susah sebenarnya, hanya perlu membiasakan dengan menu pencarian dan penggunaan operator (AND, OR).

Sebagai perkenalan, video tutorial Scopus dibawah saya rekomendasikan untuk ditonton. :

• How to use Scopus

Frank Boons, dosen Research Methods saya di kampus mengajarkan langkah sistematis untuk melakukan pencarian di scopus :

1. Tentukan tujuan pencarian terlebih dahulu : apakah ingin mencari sebuah teori atau konsep, mencari pembuktian sebuah teori atau aplikasi teori secara empiris (studi kasus).
2. Sebagai awalan, gunakan kata kunci yang paling umum dengan melimit di area keilmuan yang dituju. Sebagai contoh,  saya ingin mencari teori tentang pengembangan product maka sebagai awal saya gunakan kata kunci “product” “development” di area business and management science.
3. Hasil yang muncul biasanya akan sangat banyak. Sort berdasarkan jumlah referensi terlebih dahulu karena semakin banyak di sitasi, nilai ilmiahnya semakin tinggi.
4. Baca singkat (skim) beberapa paper di top 10 – 20 dan lihat mana yang sekiranya relevan. Jika ada yang relevan, ulangi kembali pencarian dengan menambah kata kunci yang didapatkan dari paper yang baru saja dibaca.
5. Ulangi langkah 3 dan 4 hingga hasil pencari menjadi makin tajam dan mengerucut.

Catat ketika membaca buku atau paper

Ini tips yang saya dapat dari teman sekaligus rekan almamater, Gatya Pratiniyata, sebelum memulai tahun ajaran baru kemarin. Gatya menyarankan untuk selalu mencatat ketika membaca paper atau buku supaya mudah untuk dicari kembali jika ingin digunakan di essay atau tugas lain. I follow this tips religiously and it works great so far. Saya mencoba mencatat semua ringkasan dan framework yang saya temukan di paper

Untuk mencatat saya menggunakan Microsoft OneNote. Dengan ini, semua catatan otomatis tersinkronisasi ke cloud. Pengaturan catatan menggunakan tab juga cocok untuk workflow saya. Fungsi pencariannya juga bagus dan cepat. Akan tetapi, OneNote jelek sekali aplikasi Androidnya. Jika ingin membaca dan menulis dengan seamless antar device  sebaiknya menggunakan Evernote atau Google Keep.

Baca materi sebelum masuk kelas

Ini adalah tips paling mudah dengan return paling besar : baca materi sebelum masuk kelas, minimal di malam sebelumnya. Semakin kompleks materi sebaiknya semakin awal juga kita meluangkan waktu untuk belajar. Dengan begitu, sebagian materi sudah ada di kepala ketika dosen menjelaskan sehingga beban untuk mencerna menjadi lebih ringan . Waktu di kelas juga bisa dimaksimalkan untuk bertanya, berdiskusi dan mengkonfirmasi pemahaman.

Untuk membantu belajar, saya biasanya membuat  poin poin penting dari materi di OneNote. Ketika ada bagian yang sulit, saya tulis pertanyaan dengan highlight merah. Di kelas, saya go through catatan dari poin ke poin, mencatat jawaban pertanyaan sekaligus merevisi jika ada pemahaman yang salah.

Tulis tangan materi kuliah untuk persiapan ujian

Di jurusan yang saya ambil, semua ujian adalah ujian tulis. Buat sayaini masalah, karena tulisan tangan berantakan dan selama bekerja jarang sekali menulis. Untuk ini, tidak ada cara lain selain berlatih dan membiasakan kembali menulis tangan. Sebari membaca kembali materi materi kuliah, saya menulis ringkasan materi, framework dan konsep konsep di buku catatan. Selain melemaskan tangan, menulis ringkasan juga efektif menghafal materi. Berdasarkan riset Asosiasi Psikolog US, menulis dengan tangan membantu proses mengingat dan meningkatkan kualitas belajar.

Gunakan Everything untuk mencari file dengan cepat

Dalam urusan pengaturan file di komputer, ada dua macam orang di dunia ini. Orang yang mengatur berkas secara teratur di folder dengan aturan penamaan yang jelas dan satu lagi, yang tidak terlalu peduli tentang hal itu sehingga file berceceran dimana mana. Saya termasuk yang terakhir hence i cannot work properly without Everything. 

Everything adalah tools pencarian file di Windows, bisa diunduh secara gratis di tautan berikut. Everything melakukan pencarian instantly as we typed. Sehingga asal file diberi nama dengan jelas, kita hanya perlu mengetik kata kunci tanpa perlu pusing mengingat dimana file berada.

Bekerja di folder yang tersinkronisasi dengan cloud storage

This is absolutely essential. Install aplikasi cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) di desktop dan taruh semua pekerjaan penting di folder tersebut. Semua perubahan akan otomatis tersinskronisasi sehingga jika amit amit sesuatu terjadi pada laptop, tinggal unduh kembali via web. Very simple, very essential but somehow i baffled why not everybody doing this. Beberapa teman menggunakan Google Drive sebagai tempat penyimpanan di web tetapi tidak mendownloadnya di PC/Laptop dan menggunakan folder yang tersinkronisasi untuk bekerja. Untuk keselamatan dan kesehatan mental, do yourself a favor and start putting all your files in synchronized folder. Sebuah langkah kecil untuk mencegah bencana yang lebih besar (e.g file disertasi hilang karena laptop crash).

Minimal 8 jam dalam sehari

Tips ini saya baca di reddit dan sangat mengena di saya yang melanjutkan sekolah di usia yang tidak lagi muda. Perlakukan belajar seperti bekerja : minimal 8 jam sehari, 5 hari seminggu. Karena jadwal kuliah tidak setiap hari, akan sangat mudah untuk menganggap hari jeda sebagai hari libur. Padahal kalau dihitung hitung, jumlah hari libur lebih banyak daripada hari kuliah. Agar produktif, saya mencoba untuk menggunakan 8 jam untuk belajar, membaca materi dan mengerjakan tugas.

Tentu saja, ini lebih mudah di ucapkan daripada dilakukan. But having this thought as a mindset, really helps me to atleast aware when im slacking around.

Demikian beberapa tips, yang ternyata tidak terlalu singkat ini, untuk beradaptasi dengan proses belajar studi postgraduate di Inggris. Beberapa hal ini sangat membantu untuk saya dan semoga ini juga berguna untuk siapapun yang membaca.

Today, Ive delivered presentations for regional innovation class. For the final coursework, the students are expected to submit essay on several topics related to regional dimension of innovation, from role of public policy in cluster formation, university-industry relation to smart specialisation. I choose to do clusters, specifically start-up cluster. The topic fits into my interest and i want to take the topic as my dissertation areas as well. Before submitting the final essay, the students would need to present first in order to get feedback and directions.

The case study that i chose is Silicon Roundabout which also known as East London Tech City. It is a high tech startup cluster in the east London area (Shoreditch and Hoxton). Digital economy is huge contributor to UK GDP. London in particular has turn over of 56 billion GBP from digital economy. Majority of this are contributed by cluster of tech startups around the old street roundabout in East London. The area has a history of being a creative hub from the early 1990s. Post dot com boom, several startups such as Moo, Dropplr and Last.fm relocated to this area and in 2008, the terms Silicon Roundabout was coined.

In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron launched Tech City initiatives to support this cluster to become world class technology area. Two years later, Google developed seven stories co-working space / incubator called Google Campus.

For the presentation, i include a short history on the cluster, how the cluster grow without policy intervention, the pros and cons of Tech City initiatives and future challenges of the cluster moving forward. I need to be very concise considering 15 minutes time limit.

My presentation is embedded below. Write me in the comment if you have any questions.

All in all, i did okay on today session however as i think my presentation delivery need to be upped a notch. One deadline finished, a lot more to go.

This week is going to be a semester two hell week. All the best for you folks!.

This is my essay for professor Marcella Miozzo‘s International Competitiveness class. Previously, i posted the power point presentation for this topic as well. Links to all the reference can be found in the bottom of the article. Hope its useful. 

Nanotechnology is the manipulation and production of material within a very small scale (nanoscale). It is a complex technology which encompass multiple science discipline and industries (Islam & Miyazaki, 2009). Due to this multidisciplinary nature, nanotechnology is predicted to revolutionise the landscape of multiple industry sectors and become the foundation of the next industrial revolution (Moreira & Vale, 2016). This promising potential has attracted many countries to invest in the research and development this technology. Interestingly, this strategic scientific endeavor is not only pursued by developed economies. Newly industrialised economies are also investing heavily in nanotechnology to catch up with more established countries, increase competitiveness and stimulate growth (Moreira & Vale, 2016) (Niosi & Reid, 2007).

One of the newly industrialized country which gaining solid grounds in nanotechnology is China. Since the late 1980s, the country has been investing massively in nanotechnology to build international competitiveness in science and technology (Bai, 2005). This effort has started to bear fruits especially in science and research indicators. The number of China nano-science publication surpassed the United States since 2004 (Appelbaum & Parker, 2008).  Number of China’s share in global nano-patent also doubled in less than a decade (Appelbaum, et al., 2016). In these two indicators, China has achieved international leadership.

This essay will discuss China’s nanotechnology development in the context of international competitiveness. The historical context of China endeavour in nanotech will be described first. Following that, factors supporting nanotechnology will be discussed using Malerba’s sectoral system of innovation theory as a lens (Malerba, 2004). Finally, the benefits of network will be explained using Podolny and Leung pipe, prism, and sponge metaphor (Podolny, 2001) (Leung, 2013).

History of nanotechnology in China

In the previous decades, China has experience long history of economic underdevelopment due to political conflicts and cultural revolution. As the economy prospered in recent years, Chinese political leaders have increasingly strong sentiments to become a recognizable world superpower in high tech science (Leung, 2013). The government also wants to increase international competitiveness by reducing dependency on external technology and innovations (Appelbaum, et al., 2016). These motivations are reflected in the doubling of R&D spending over GDP in the past decades (Zhou & Leydesdorff, 2006). Nanotechnology was chosen as one of the means to achieve this due to the nature of the field which are new to everyone. The technology was perceived as a level playing field which China can strive to be the global leader (Leung, 2013).

The effort to build nanotechnology capabilities in the country started in the 80s. Three of the state science institutions, China Academy of Science (CAS), National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) and the State Science and Technology Commission (SSTC), began funding nanotechnology basic research (Bai, 2005). Then in the early 90s, the government helped to facilitate several international conferences including 7th International Conference on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and the 4th International Conference on Nanometer-Scale Science (Wan & Bai, 2003). These conferences helped Chinese nanotechnology scientist to establish network and create a community. Apart from this, the conferences also attracted sparked interest in nanotechnology from the wider public (Bai, 2005).

The inflection point of China nanotechnology progression started in the 1999. During this year, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) initiated nationwide basic research project in nanomaterial and nanostructure (Bai, 2005). Subsequently, nanotechnology was included in the National High Technology Plan. As the result of these initiatives, the government funded nearly 1000 nano-related projects from 1990 to 2002 with the total investment of 27 USD million (Bai, 2005). The scale of this funding sent a message to the public and scientific community that the government were serious about this endeavor. The government further solidified the commitment by setting up National Steering Committee for Nanotechnology in the following year. This institution would be responsible for the policy direction, execution and coordination related to Nanotechnology development (Ministry of Science and Technology of The People Republic of China, 2007).

Following the increasing investment from the government, China has been showing fascinating growth in the nanotechnology field. Since 2002, China has been the global runner up in terms of nanotechnology publication overtaking countries such as Japan, Germany, and France (Guan & Ma, 2007). No other countries managed to rose this quickly. In the institutional level, China Academy of Science also produced more academic paper than any other organizations globally and considered the most prolific nanotech research institutions in the world (Guan & Ma, 2007).

The traction in the research publications also mirrored by growth patent application. From 2004 to 2013, China has increased its share in global nanotechnology patent by almost double (Appelbaum, et al., 2016). China managed to overlap Japan and even the United States to be the country with the most nanotechnology patents. However, unlike Japan and the US, most of the nanotechnology patent holder in China is either scientific or academic institutions (Dang, et al., 2010).

Sectoral System of Innovation in China’s Nanotechnology.

To understand more about how China gain significant competitiveness in Nanotechnology, the supporting element of this sector need to be discussed. Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) framework will be used to map all the relevant building blocks in the sector. Developed by Malerba, SSI concept lays on a principle that innovation and technological change in a sector are influenced by three elements: knowledge and technologies, actors and networks and institutions (Malerba, 2004).

1. Knowledge and technologies: knowledge base or technologies which become the commonality of the sector.
2. Actors and networks: Individuals, organizations or set of organizations which interact through the process of communication, cooperation, or competition in the sector.
3. Institutions: Norms, routines, practices, and standards which may affect the actors in the sectors. It ranges from informal to formal, specific to the sector or inherited from the bigger scope which the sector operates (e.g. nationwide law).

In the following section, each of the SSI elements of China nanotechnology sector will be described.

Knowledge and technologies

The access to nanotechnology knowledge base in China was opened when tunneling microscopes start developed in the 1980s (Bai, 2005). This is the key development which enabled scientists to observe material in a nanoscale for the first time. This subsequently open the gate for further nanotechnology research.  Also by doing R&D, Chinese scientist community built absorptive capacity which enabled them to absorb knowledge from external source (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990). Series of international nanotech conferences in the 1990s further increased the knowledge base by bringing nanotechnology development from more advanced countries (Bai, 2005). Finally, the conferences also gave the opportunity for Chinese scientist to establish network with global nanotech community.

Actors and Network

Rather than market driven, China’s effort in nanotechnology was pushed out by top-down state initiatives (Appelbaum & Parker, 2008). As a result, most important actors in the sector are either government or academic institutions. The list of key government organization which directly impact nanotechnology development can be seen in the table below.

As shown in the table, China central administration played significant role by putting Nanotechnology as a priority initiatives in the national plan. Both of related ministries, MOE and MOST, provide state funds to invest in research institutions and university. They also collaborated with national science institutions such as CAS and NNSF to provide supporting services such as knowledge sharing, incubation, and access to international networks. Regional governments such as Beijing and Shanghai also involved in nanotechnology fostering by means of funding, incubation and facilitating knowledge sharing between universities. This is because most of nanoscience institutions and universities are concentrated in these two regions (Motoyama, et al., 2014). In the later stages, Chinese government founded planning and coordination offices such as NSCN and NCSNT. Their objectives are to ensure nanotechnology policy and research initiatives not overlapping with each other.

Institutions

One of the national institutions that helped nanotechnology development is Chinese higher education system, specifically their effort to facilitate high-tech technology research in the early 2000s. Ministry of Education initiated 985 and 211 project to upgrade China universities into world-class research institutions by investing one billion yuen (USD 123 million) (UKIC, 2012). These funds were utilized to build facilities, facilitate technology transfer, establish partnership with foreign universities and attract leading scholars from western universities (Appelbaum & Parker, 2008). The development upgraded the capabilities of China universities to be able to research advanced technologies such as biotech and nanotech.

Another institution which contributed for China’s major presence in the publication journal is the academics and researcher incentive system. Majority of university and research institutions gave cash money for every paper published with varying amount according to the journal impact factor (Nature, 2006). Some organizations used allowance model where some percentage of the salary determined by how many papers they published (Appelbaum, et al., 2016). This incentive system contributed to significant growth in the number of nanotechnology publications. However, quality does not follow the increase of quantity. Chinese nano-science related paper citations are the still the lowest compared to US, Germany and even Japan (Bai, 2005).

Role of networks in China’s nanotechnology development

In the early days of China nanotech development, researchers faced needs considerable barrier in terms of access and capital. Even with government support, budget constraint hindered many Chinese scientist to purchase facilities or knowledge (Leung, 2013). In addition to this, Chinese science institutes also perceived as a low-status and had to overcome trust barriers to publish in popular European and US based publications. These factors drove the effort to establish networks with global nanotechnology institutions to enable information exchange, R&D sharing, co-authoring in publication (Bai, 2005).

This chapter will discuss the importance of network in China nanotechnology development using Leung’s pipes, prism, and sponge metaphor of benefitting from networks.

Theoretical lenses on benefitting from networks

In his study about venture capital, Podolny postulated that there are two major uncertainty in market transactions, egocentric uncertainties and alter centric uncertainties (Podolny, 2001). Egocentric happened because of lack of resources while alter centric uncertainty is about social legitimacy from other actors in the market. Connecting to network lessen this uncertainty because actors can get resources from others and give legitimacy by associated with the networks. Both benefits are symbolized as pipes and prism respectively.

Leung further expand this by adding the third metaphors which is sponge (Leung, 2013). He argued that by connecting to networks, actor get access to hands on learning which further develop their capacity to exploit more knowledge. For example, firms which connect to a network can get a chance to form joint R&D project to solve difficult problem. These hand on experience is a key driver for the firm to build absorptive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990).

The summary of pipes, prisms and sponge theory can be seen in the graphic below.

The following sub-chapter will discuss each of this metaphors within China’s nanotechnology context.

Pipes: Networks as means to tap into the flow nanotechnology information

To keep up with the nanotechnology innovation pace, Chinese scientist established connections with research institutes and laboratory from developed countries such as United States (Leung, 2013). This international collaboration was generally initiated by peer to peer connection from returning Chinese graduates (Appelbaum & Parker, 2008). This collaboration ensures China nanotech scientist knowledge can keep up with the latest research and information from the forefront of the field.

As China policy maker started to realize the benefits of international networks, country-level partnership initiatives started to get initiated. One of this initiative is Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) with US National Science Foundation (NSF, 2017). This program facilitate training, workshop, international technology transfer between the two countries which bring great benefits for China nanotech community. More partnership like this were established after the inclusion of international collaboration in the key pillars of science and technology policy roadmap (Appelbaum & Parker, 2008).

Prism: Networks as means to elevate reputation

In the early days of its nanotech development, China science institutes were facing difficulties to publish in European and American journal due to their low scientific credibility (Leung, 2013). To break this barrier, Chinese scientist collaborated with more prestigious research institute to raise their legitimacy and visibility.

Apart from research organization, establishing partnership with globally known technology company also pursued to gain prestige. One example of this is the establishment of University of Tsinghua – Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Centre in 2002 (Tsinghua, 2010). The investment provided by the company enabled the university to conduct nanotechnology research while also benefitting from Foxconn global reputation.

The prim effect can also happen in a peer to peer collaboration. For example, the collaboration between Chinese and American scientist which come from respected organizations can bring prestige for both. The Chinese scientist get prestige due to his elevated status as international scientist. While his American counterpart also getting highlight as “China expert (Leung, 2013).

Sponges: Networks as means to develop nanotechnology absorptive capacity

Apart from access and prestige, actors could get learning benefits from connecting to network. One example for this is the information about profiting from knowledge. By collaborating with countries which have better intellectual property regime such as US or Japan, Chinese scientist gained knowledge about patent strategy (Leung, 2013). The network also gave them opportunities to learn business acumen which enabled the scientist to develop product instead of just publishing papers.

Other learning benefits from nanotechnology network is the chance to involve in multi-disciplinary research. Due to the complex nature of nanoscience (Roco, 2007), scientist often do research with their counterpart from different scientific branch. For example, chemistry researcher studying nanomaterials frequently collaborate with their biological and material science counterpart. This provide opportunity for each scientist to learn from multiple discipline which further enhance their capability in nanotechnology.

Learning benefits can also come from relationship with exploitative nature. Network actors with higher status can exploit the lower-status partner for R&D outsourcing and exploring possibilities. On the other hand, the lower status actors gain benefit by getting involved which they probably will not get on their own merit. (Leung, 2013) Example of this is Chinese scientist from lesser known universities which actively seek partnership with foreign companies to get nanotechnology funding and equipment support. Foreign companies will view this offer as opportunities to do nanotech research and development with minimum investment.

Conclusion

China’s foray into nanotechnology development was fueled by aspiration to achieve word leadership in science and technology. Nanotechnology was chosen as focus due to it is relatively new to everyone. China started investing in this technology since the 1980s. By the start of 2000s, nanotechnology became strategic national focus hence the investment and development effort. The following years, the investment started to pay off with the meteoric rise of China in global nanotechnology science leadership.

Looking through the sectoral system of innovation lens, majority of the driving forces behind China nanotech development came top-down from government initiatives. The floodgates of nanotechnology knowledge and technology access started from networking and information sharing which slightly influence by the government. The actors and networks however was majorly contributed by government agencies, fund and institutions. Higher education transformation and publication incentive structure also played a role in China leadership in science publication.

China nanotechnology leadership also driven by the role of networks. Tapping into international nanotech networks opened the flow of information and development updates into the country research community. Partnership with more renown organizations in more developed countries also increase legitimacy and prestige of China nanotech scientists. Finally, networks opened the possibility of further learning by means of R&D outsourcing and multi-disciplinary research partnership which further developed China absorptive capacity in nanotechnology.

References

Appelbaum, R. P. et al., 2016. Will China’s quest for indigenous innovation succeed? Some lessons from nanotechnology. Technology in Society, Volume 46, pp. 149 – 163.

Appelbaum, R. P. & Parker, R. A., 2008. China’s bid to become a global nanotech leader: advancing nanotechnology through state-led programs and international collaborations. Science and Public Policy, p. 319–334.

Bai, C., 2005. Ascent of Nanoscience in China. Science, Volume 309, pp. 61-63.

Cohen, W. M. & Levinthal, D. A., 1990. Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, Volume 35, pp. 128-152.

Dang, Y. et al., 2010. Trends in worldwide nanotechnology patent applications:1991 to 2008. Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Volume 12, p. 687–706.

Guan, J. & Ma, N., 2007. China’s emerging presence in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Research Policy, Volume 36, pp. 880-886.

Islam, N. & Miyazaki, K., 2009. Nanotechnology innovation system: Understanding hidden dynamics of. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Volume 76, p. 128–140.

Leung, R. C., 2013. Networks as sponges: International collaboration for developing nanomedicine. Research Policy, Volume 42, p. 211– 219.

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Its middle of the night here in Manchester when wife and kid already asleep. In a rare serene moment like this, I should be doing the literature review part of my dissertation but somehow there is this imaginary brick wall that stop one’s thought process. Hence another too often moment of procrastination creeps me once again.

Either Hemingway, Capote or Woody Allen which said something that to overcome writer’s block, you just have to keep writing. But rather than grinding papers to fuel my dissertation writing, i decided to recollect slice of my life story which i suddenly remembered due to random up-swiping in twitter. Hopefully, brain dumping this will lubricate the dissertation-mode engine once again. At the very least, procrastinating this way is more productive than yet once again Netflix-binging hole i cant seem to escape every time dissertation journey gets a little bit uphill. 

So just few minutes ago, i read some post about parents that put too much pressure on their kids to perform in school. I am glad i didn’t have this problem because my mom and dad are very understanding about my abysmal school grades. In fact, i felt like they did not have high expectation of me, in a good way of course. Case in point, when i just started college, both of them said that they will be happy if i can graduate in 5 years even though they knew normal bachelor degree can be earned in 4.

In high school, i hardly ever being forced to study by them. So naturally, i never study in school. I didnt put the effort, i didnt see the benefit and i was just too lazy to do that. I was just strolling away from one school test to another with hope that at least i passed and didnt fail.

I didnt have too many friends in junior high, spent most of my times in PlayStation rental. However, i got along with lot of people in high school. Being social was new experience for me that time. Hence i spent most of my times hanging out with them, not worrying about anything. I once got 4 out of 10 for Physics final grade. That was surprising because my final exam was literally zero, i thought i would get worse. But that didnt bother me in anyway. I just didnt give a flying fuck. This happen from first grade up to the very end of third grade.

But one day, a random event shattered my world view and brought reality to my face with momentum of a ten ton truck in an empty German autobahn.

As a background, Both my parents were teachers. I grew up in a decent lower-middle class home, never have i ever feel poor but also never too posh either. One day, i accidentally find information on both of my parents salary on the table. At that time i never knew and i didnt even bother either. What strucked was, that their combined salary at that time was not enough to pay tuition in a private university. I was on final year of high school so i know little bit how much it cost to enter decent universities in Surabaya.

This realisation really hits me hard because if didnt get into public university, theres a little chance my parents can afford that kind of money. So either i need to push through in the national entrance exam or no college at all.

This moment also make me realize my place in this word. I have friends from both worlds, the posh friend who cant wait to go to private med school and the struggling friend who already knew he need to get a job after high school graduation. Apparently even though i didnt have to suffer that bad,  i also did not have the privilege to just slacking around and somehow opportunity will be handled to me in a silver plate.

This realisation slapped me in the face and shouted, what the fuck have i been doing up until now. I started taking my school seriously after that and yet it was already late in the final year of high school. I had no time to start reading learning materials hence i focus on acing the national university entrance exam. I crunched nearly 10 years of National Exam question bank every day up until the D-day. The thought of not having a safety net if i failed the test really burn the midnight oil in the 17 years old me. Super effective to make me start studying, more than any scolding ive ever get in my life up until that point.

Miraculously, i passed the test. I was accepted in Information System ITS, probably more because of my parents endless prayers rather than my last minute effort.

From that point on, my life was snowballing in a great trajectory. I was passionate about the subject, i met with wonderful friends, most of the academic staff was nice, i was involved in a lot of great organisation and activities. The overall college experience really develop myself and opens up so many doors.

One day in the third or final years of college, i was riding my motorcycle and taking a turn to a gas station. Apparently the gas station workers was my high school friend. We had a small talk while he filled up the gas and then i continued my journey somewhere.

In the whole journey, i was contemplating very hard about one thing. The gas station worker, that friend, it easily could’ve been me. Had i didn’t read the salary slip of my parents, my life could as well  be similar like him. No disrespect to him in anyway and i hope he have a great life now but the experience makes me realize (again), i was just one mistake away from living a minimum wage job. Had i didn’t read the salary slip, i would never start studying. Have no chance in national exam and probably would never set foot in any college institution.

Typing this post in my flat right now, i really really count my blessing. Never in my wildest dream i will be here in this place, doing postgraduate studies with scholarship. If not because of God’s subtle nudge to look at random papers in the living room, i probably would never leave my hometown and end up digging ditch or something. Writing this post in my blog, i hope time and time again this experience will always humble me every time i get to cocky and forget where i came from. It also reminded me to not complain. Compared to what could have been happened, all the problem that i have right now is just inconvenience.

So thats all for the story. I need to start writing my dissertation again. Thanks for reading this, whoever you are. Its very nice of you to keep up with this thousand words rambling and i hope you have a very nice day.

This is my submitted essay for professor Ian Miles’s Service Innovation class. I got a really bad grade for this essay, probably the worst grade in my master’s course. However i believe there is some useful info in this essay and hopefully by posting here, it could be a stern reminder for me to keep getting better better again in writing. I hope it helps. 

E-government is an innovation in public services which aim to simplify and amplify the relationship between government and the citizens (Rodríguez, et al., 2011). The technology was seen not only to as a tool public service delivery but also a bigger platform which government can perform better in multiple aspects. Seeing this potential, increasing number of country are developing and implementing e-government. According to UN E-Government report, the number of countries providing services through the internet jumped five times, from 33 to 148 in the span of 2003 to 2016 (UN, 2016). However, the successful rate is very low due to the various challenges both from the technical and non-technical side.

This essay attempt to discuss what is the prospect and challenges of e-government implementation as a public service innovation. First, the trend and historical context which help the conception of e-government will be explained. Following that, the essay will discuss several definitions and classification of e-government to shape the understanding about this technology. Subsequently, potential benefits and promises of e-government will be described. In the final chapter, several challenges regarding e-government implementation will be discussed along with ways to address that.

E-government as public service innovation

Benington and Hartley postulated that there are three competing paradigms of governance and public management (Benington & Hartley, 2001). The paradigm represents different power dynamics between policy makers and the citizen which influence how innovation happened in public service organizations.

The most common paradigm up to the early 1980s is the Traditional Public Administration (Hartley, 2005). Public service delivery is largely bureaucratic and policymaker act as commander which set the direction of the legislation. The population are seen as clients which have a little influence on the delivery of public services (Hartley, 2005). Local and national politician has a central role in innovation which happened in a top-down fashion with limited room for improvement and adaptation.

From 1980s onward, there was a global paradigm shift into New Public Management. Driven by the acceptance of neo-liberal approach in managing public service delivery, public population demanded bigger role in how government serve them (Hartley, 2005). Citizens were viewed as customer which have voices in determining services content, scope, and delivery method. This market dynamics forced politicians to facilitate innovative ideas to make public service delivery effective and efficient (Osborne & Brown, 2011).

During the same time, the rise of personal computers opened a new era of information and communication technology (ICT) adoption in the public administration (Yildiz, 2007). The technology was deemed transformative in making the government process, administer, and deliver information faster and better.

Subsequently in the 1990s, public service paradigm shifted again to Networked Governance which gave more power to the public not only to influence but also co-produce public services (Hartley, 2005). The introduction of internet also opened possibilities for public organization to be accessible anywhere and anytime. The amalgamation of both of this trend help the conception E-government as a public service innovation.

E-government: History and Definition

The early incarnation of e-government can be traced back to United States in the early 1980s. Information technology was used in public sector to automate repetitive operations and improve efficiency of clerical task (Schelin, 2007). During that time, the technology was perceived as supporting tools of day-to-day process rather than enabler to create new services. Following the diffusion of personal computer and the introduction of internet, movement to utilize ICT to reform how government operates started in 1993. US Government started National Performance Review movement in which one of the proposed idea was the formation of one-stop portal for government services called “Firstgov” (Aldrich, et al., 2002). This initiative became the stepping stone of larger e-government movement which culminated in the 2001 E-government act (Schelin, 2007). This legislation funded infrastructure and organizational development to support widespread e-government implementation in the US federal government. Inspired by this movement, Government across the world various initiated similar e-government strategy and plan in the year 2000 (Falk, et al., 2017). This band of the first wave e-government adopters include both developed and developing economies such as United Kingdom, France, Singapore, South Africa and India.

There are no universally agreed standard on the E-government definition. Various literatures postulated different definitions which diverse in scope and context. One of the earliest definition came from Means and Schneider in their book Meta-Capitalism which e-government was described as establishing relationships between governments and its stakeholder using electronic method (Means & Schneider, 2000). During the early adoption era of world wide web, United Nations in their public report further define e-government as providing governmental services and information to the public using the internet (UN & ASPA, 2002). OECD have similar definition from this with addition that e-government is also an attempt to achieve better government (OECD, 2003). Expanding from internet related definitions, Torres et al suggest that e-government is the broad utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) to not only deliver services but also transform government administration (Torres, et al., 2005).

Synthetizing from all the definition above, the e-government definition which will be used in the remainder of this essay is the utilization of ICT to improve public administration and service delivery to the citizen.

Classification of E-government

To understand various value of e-government in different context, it is imperative to classify e-government in several categories. In this chapter, I will categorize e-government implementation using three classification method to understand more about the nature of E-government initiatives.

Based on its user interactions, E-government can be divided into five broad categories (Yildiz, 2007): Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Civil Society Organization (G2CS) and Citizen to Citizen (C2C).  G2G E-government establish relationship between government agents, usually for coordination and communication reasons. G2B is directed to open collaboration with private sector.  Both G2C and G2CS are intended to communicate with citizen for transparency and accountability purpose. The difference is G2CS is organization level while G2C is in individual level. Lastly, C2C aimed to facilitate peer discussion between citizens for information gathering, coordination or other purposes. Summary and more detailed explanation on each category can be seen in the table below.

The next method to classify e-government is by its objective. In 2005, Grant and Chau introduced generic framework in which they described four common strategic focus areas (SFA) of e-government: Service Delivery, Citizen Empowerment, Market Enhancement and Development, Exposure and Outreach (Grant & Chau, 2005). Service delivery e-government aim to provide better government services through ICT. Citizen Empowerment leverage internet and other technology to encourage participation from the people. Market Enhancement aimed to facilitate business development process while the Exposure and Outreach type of e-government seek to give information access to the public. Summary and example of the four e-government SFA can be read in below table.

Another classification method came from Layne and Lee which proposed that e-government implementation has four common developmental stages (Layne & Lee, 2001). The stages of development correlates between the rate of changes in the government process as they progress toward increasingly advanced functions of e-government model. These four stages are: Cataloguing, Transaction, Vertical Integration, and Horizontal integration. These stages will be described in terms of the technological and organizational complexity involved and the varying degree of integration in the graph below, followed by brief explanation for each.

In the Catalogue stage, e-government was developed simply setup government presence in the internet. The functionalities are limited to data presentation. Government usually organized various documents, forms and other related information in a portal-style website or index pages. In the second stage (Transaction), E-government attempt to put database links using web interface enabling citizens to conduct electronic transactional services. Example of this will be renewing licenses/ registrations and paying fine online. As the citizen increasingly use the functionality, policy makers usually will face pressure to provide more services online. To do this, integration process with different function and level of government will be needed which is the gateway to the next e-government stage.

Integration can happen in two direction, vertical and horizontal. The third stage is Vertical Integration which is the service amalgamation between different government levels but still on the same branch. For example, personal tax data is synchronized between local and national government systems. This type of integration is generally required less effort than integrating different function between the same level. Hence in order to achieve horizontal integration, vertical integration will need to be done first. Lastly, the fourth stage is Horizontal Integration. In this mature stage of e-government, citizen can access single point of government services and complete plethora of transactions across multiple level and function.

Prospect and benefits of E-government implementation

With the widespread adoption of e-government, one can wonder what are the promised benefits which enticed government institutions from both developed and developing countries to pursue this endeavor. Several research has highlighted various potential impact for citizens, private sector, and the government itself. This chapter will discuss several of the e-government benefits of which have been summarized by Srivastava, Teo and Haldenwang (Srivastava & Teo, 2007a) (Haldenwang, 2004).

Improving Government Service Delivery

As discussed in the first chapter, The New Public Management paradigm of public services put emphasis on improving the quality of services (Benington & Hartley, 2001). Policy makers are being pressured to deliver services to citizen in a better and innovative way. E-government played important role in this objective in three areas: information, interaction, and transaction (Haldenwang, 2004).

Information

Important innovation in a government-citizen relation is the development of public websites and portals. Using personal computer, mobile devices and internet access, citizen can access government information practically anytime and anywhere. This level of information provision wouldn’t be happening without the emergence of e-government.

Interaction

Providing access to information is the first and early step of e-government, as categorized in Layne and Lee framework in the previous chapter (Layne & Lee, 2001). The next step is to enable remote interaction between government institutions and its citizen. This can be done in various ways, from the simple email, call center up to sophisticated one-stop-services portal. By facilitating this, e-government enable public agencies to react swiftly and flexibly to the citizen demand (Haldenwang, 2004).

Transaction

The third way e-government transform service delivery is by enabling citizen to do administrative transaction online. For this to be successful, government organization need to integrate front office, back office and the online e-government website or portal (Layne & Lee, 2001).

Increase Government Efficiency

Subsequent benefit from e-government implementation is making bureaucratic public administration better and cheaper. Surveys in the United States stated that 83% of government CIO believed that e-government implementation made the government more efficient (West, 2000). This benefit can be realized in two ways: raising government employee productivity, and decreasing the cost of public procurement (Haldenwang, 2004).

E-government raised employee productivity by automating repetitive transactions. Automation can reduce the time which employee spends finishing the task and in an advanced e-government system, replace the need for human interaction altogether.

Another way for e-government to increase government efficiency is by improving public sector procurement. Open and accountable procurement conducted through e-government or e-procurement system prevent fraud and corruption. Prominent example for this is Seoul Metropolitan OPEN system. This web-based e-government services allows public to track all civil application regarding permits, registration, procurement, and contracts in real time (Cho & Choi, 2012).  The system not only successful in reducing the corruption rate but also increasing good public perception of the institutions.

Achieve Better Democracy

Intensification of communication between state and citizen which e-government facilitated, drive transparency and openness of not only administration but also political process (Haldenwang, 2004). Example of this is the development of E-voting to encourage public political participation. E-voting remove the hassle voting especially in the country where citizen must register before voting (Haldenwang, 2004). However uneven penetration of internet services can be the problem especially in developing countries.

Other way e-government improve democracy is by giving constituent access to their representative (Edmiston, 2003). Similar impact to the service delivery, e-government enabled access and interaction channel for government official to get feedback from the public instantly using the internet. For example, In the United States all US senators and public representatives are required website to allow constituents to directly voice issues and concern (Edmiston, 2003).

Increase National Business Competitiveness

An efficient, transparent, and fast administrative government process will also bring positive impact to the public sector too. Increased information availability and bureaucratic reduction through e-government will made various national systems more effective and efficient (Srivastava & Teo, 2007b). On the other hand, national business competitiveness is determined by economic productivity and efficiency (Porter, 2005). Hence E-government development level in a country is positively associated with the level of its business competitiveness (Srivastava & Teo, 2008).

Challenges in developing and implementing E-government

According to UN E-government survey, the number of countries providing online e-government services increased fivefold in the period of 2013 to 2016 (UN, 2016). Inspired by the early adopters and enticed by the potential benefits, more countries are investing state budget to build plethora of e-government platform. However, as implied by previous varying classification of e-government developing and implementing this technology is no simple matter. In fact, up to 85% of e-government implementation failed in one way or another (Helbig, et al., 26).

In this chapter, I will address several challenges in the development and implementation of E-government.

Managing Multiple Stakeholders

Reflecting from the interaction-based classification in the third chapter, we can see that e-government can involve multiple stakeholders ranging from other government institutions, business, citizen as group or citizen as individuals (Yildiz, 2007). Stakeholder e-government implementations may have different financial, social, or political motivation. These interests must be aligned and addressed to avoid conflict and ensure long term effectiveness (Freeman, 1984).

Based on Rowley’s Stakeholder Benefits Analysis Tools (SBAT), there are three steps which e-government initiators need to do to map different stakeholders interest: identify the type of involved stakeholders, recognize their interest, and lastly align the interest relative to their participation (Rowley, 2011). This high-level framework may not be applicable to every project however it can give ample direction guideline on how to approach stakeholder issue in the e-government implementation.

Identification of Stakeholders

From the interaction type of e-governments, one can assume that stakeholders can be divided based on Individuals (G2C) or Organizations (G2G, G2B, G2CS) (Yildiz, 2007). However, Rowley asserted that e-government stakeholders should be categorized using roles instead of groups (Rowley, 2011). This is because in e-government, individuals and organization can play multiple roles both concurrently or sequentially. For example, an individual can be a citizen, employee in a business firms and government officials while organization might be a business or other government institutions.

Synthetizing from various researches, Rowley proposed 12 types of stakeholders commonly involved in the e-government implementation (Rowley, 2011).

Recognition of diverging interest between stakeholders

In his Harvard Business Review, Mintzberg proposed “constituents” model to explain stakeholder interest in public sector (Mintzberg, 1996). The first stakeholder category is Customer which purchase commodity from government agencies. Clients which receive services over period of time. Subjects which is the recipient of mandatory government services without having influence power to the service. Lastly, Citizens which is also the government service recipient but with influence power over the service.

Each of these categories have different interest. What important for Customers is the cost of the transaction. Lowering them will be in their best interest. Clients are more concern about the service quality. Subjects aimed to get fair and consistent service delivery while Citizens wants to ensure accountability and fair outcome of the process (Mintzberg, 1996).

Aligning stakeholder interest

After recognizing the different type of stakeholders and their interest, the next step is try to align them with each other. The step can be done by having interview session with each stakeholder and mapping the type and the interests in a two by two matrix. In her research, Rowley summarized the top three interest for each type of stakeholders which can be seen in the table below (Rowley, 2011).

Addressing Digital Divide

Digital divide is the gap between certain population which have access to ICT and the one who don’t (Bélanger & Carter, 2009). The gap can divide between the economic, demographic, and social boundaries (Edmiston, 2003). This is become significant challenge as government around the world started developing widespread e-government because the population with have limited ICT access would be left behind in terms of receiving public services. Digital divide can further be classified into access divide and skills divide (Bélanger & Carter, 2009).

Access divide, the disparity between population with and without internet access, is major contributor in digital divide. Even in the country with more than 90 percent internet penetration such as US, there is a significant gap in the internet access between ethnicity, income, education, and age (Bélanger & Carter, 2009). For example, according to Pew Research only 2% of the citizens with college degree have limited access to internet compared to 29% of the population with high school degree (Pew, 2017). Among all population, the young and educated are most likely to have internet access (Bélanger & Carter, 2009).

Another part of digital divide is the skill divide which is the significant part of the population which didn’t have the necessary skills to effectively access e-government. These can be because of technical competence such as the ability to operate computer and internet. But it can also be because of the lack of information literacy to digest the e-government data. Pew research found Skill Divide tend to clusterd in the old, less-educated and minority population (Bélanger & Carter, 2009).

Digital divide is a serious issue in e-government because unlike in private sector, public agencies have mandate to serve all the citizens equally. However, the distribution gap of access and skill hindered realization of e-government promise. Government should aware of this challenge and take actions to address this issue. For the internet and computer access, infrastructure development and market push from private sector could lessen this gap. However, for skill divide, e-government services agencies must deliberately design the system with usability and understandability in mind (Bélanger & Carter, 2009).

Adapting from developed to developing Countries

Digital divide not only happened in the boundary of population. There is also disparity between the implementation of e-government between developed and developing economies. The potential of e-government technologies which have improve lives of the citizen in the established country might not be realized yet in the developing countries. The gap can happen due to majority of developing country simply prefer spending money poverty alleviation and infrastructure rather than investing in e-government (Gupta, et al., 2008). Population in developing countries also typically reside in rural areas which become additional challenges for ICT infrastructure development. Despite the disparity, developing countries which decided to build e-government still followed best practices from successful implementation in developed countries (Chen, et al., 2006). Hence addressing the contextual difference in developed and developing countries is beneficial to the general e-government implementation as well.

Factors influencing e-government implementation in developed and developing countries

This chapter will discuss factors which influence e-government implementation and how are they generally different from developed and developing countries based on research by Chen et al (Chen, et al., 2006).

History and Culture

Historical context between developed and developing countries are different in various aspect. Generally, developed countries have early start to make economic growth. This translate into more mature government structure and process. Developed countries also tend to have political stability which have positive impact on the implementation of e-government (Rodríguez, et al., 2011). Developing countries also gained independence much later which made the structure and government process less mature than the counterpart. Cultural difference also impact adoption aspect due to social norm restricting citizens to do something which are common among developed countries (Chen, et al., 2006).

Technology infrastructure

The breadth and depth and ICT infrastructure of developed countries are better than developing countries. As indicated by global spread of internet penetration in the picture below, most of the Asian, African, and South American countries are still left behind compared to the US, Australia and European countries.

The insufficient ICT infrastructure will be a problem for e-government development.

Technical Aptitude of government employee

Government employee for the most developed countries has been well-established. The US and UK have been implementing ICT in public sector since the early 80s (Aldrich, et al., 2002). Compared to government agencies in the developing countries where implementation of ICT is more recent hence on average their ICT competency is lower than developed countries.

Citizens

Due to lower penetration of internet infrastructure, the ICT aptitude level of the citizens in the developing countries. According to Rodriguez et al, country with greater technological aptitude will show greater development in e-government (Rodríguez, et al., 2011).

Government official and policy-maker

Similar to aptitude level of the employee, ICT capability of the official and policy makers also pivotal in the level of e-government development. Officials need ample level of technology literacy to understand the impact and the complexity of e-government initiatives. Hence, computer-literate policy makers will be able to place e-government initiatives as priority. Moreover, developing country tend to still adopt traditional public administration paradigm in managing public services hence the role of ICT-capable policy maker is more crucial (Benington & Hartley, 2001).

Recognizing the gap to develop implementation strategy

Incorporating from the difference factor above, Chen proposed conceptual framework to assess and guide strategic development implementation considering different context of developed and developing countries (Chen, et al., 2006).

Due to the difference in the influence factors, developing countries should not directly adopt developed countries best practice in e-government. E-government actors in developing countries can use Chen’s framework to find where is the biggest gap between the best practice and their current condition. The actor then can decide what is the best way to close that gap to ensure the implementation can be successful.

Conclusion

E-government is an application of information and communication technology to enhance how public services operate and deliver services. This innovation was the result of shifting paradigm in public services which give more power to citizen and the early emergence of the internet. Started in the United States in the early 1990s, e-government has been developed around the world both by developed and developing economies.

E-government is a broad concept which can be interpreted and implemented in many ways.  According to interactions which the system facilitated, e-government can be Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Civil Society Organization (G2CS) and Citizen to Citizen (C2C). From the objectives that the system intended to achieve, E-government can be divided into four strategic areas: service delivery, citizen empowerment, market enhancement and development and exposure and outreach. Also, one of the most common classification of e-government is by the stages of its development. From the early Catalogue state which only provide data and information. Transaction state which enabled business processing remotely. Finally, the later stage which are Vertical and Horizontal integration which aggregate multiple level of function of government in one publicly accessible system.

Implementing e-government can bring various benefits for the public agencies. It can improve public service delivery by enabling information, interaction, and transaction from government to stakeholders. Administration process can be more efficient as e-government facilitate transparency and productivity-enhancement through automation. The more efficient government process also increase the business competency. Further implementation of e-government such as e-voting drive better democratic process due to the interaction between citizens and government become easier and more convenient.

These implementation benefits of E-government enticed many countries to start implementing E-government. However due to its complex nature, majority of the implementation were failed in one way or another. Three major challenges have been discussed in the essay: the importance of managing multiple stakeholder interest, disparity of ICT access between the population and also the problem of merely adapting successful case studies from developed countries. Understanding the challenge and addressing them is important in order for e-government implementation to deliver its promise.

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