Indonesia, Timor-Leste Discuss Research Collaboration with Nobel Laureates

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto received Timor-Leste counterpart José Ramos-Horta and several Nobel laureates at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Friday, August 28, 2026. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed ways to enhance cooperation, including collaboration between Nobel laureates and Indonesian researchers and academics.

"There is, I think, much more potential to explore going forward, especially since these Nobel laureates come from various backgrounds. Some are in biology, some in physics, and so on," the country's Minister of Culture Fadli Zon said in a statement following the meeting, as quoted from the Indonesian Presidential Secretariat on Friday.

Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Arif Satria explained that such collaboration would be an important foundation for strengthening Indonesia’s domestic research ecosystem. According to him, President Prabowo emphasized that the collaboration should be realized as soon as possible.

"It is extremely important for the Nobel laureates to provide inspiration and then become part of the ecosystem for strengthening research talent in Indonesia. The president also very much hopes that this collaboration can be carried out as soon as possible," Arif explained.

Arif said BRIN had previously undertaken a similar collaboration in developing metal-organic frameworks with Japanese Nobel laureate Susumu Kitagawa. According to him, the cooperation involved establishing a sister lab in Indonesia focused on developing natural gas-related technologies.

"As I have previously explained, this Japanese Nobel laureate went on to establish a sister lab in Indonesia. The sister lab in Indonesia is now preparing to develop a way to produce natural gas at lower pressure using the findings from the Nobel laureate’s research," he said.

In addition, Arif said that the laureates had previously visited a conservation area in Sumatra's Lampung province. This also became a topic of discussion at the meeting, particularly on efforts to strengthen nature conservation in Indonesia.

"The president also has a very strong commitment to further strengthening the protection of Indonesia’s flora and fauna. Those were some of the points conveyed by the president earlier," he said.

During the meeting, Prabowo also outlined several of Indonesia’s strategic programs, ranging from food security to the development of fishing villages. According to Arif, the President also shared Indonesia’s experience in implementing the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program.

"The president also discussed various strategic programs related to food security, our experience with MBG, and he also continued to emphasize his commitment to developing fishing villages," he explained.

In addition to discussing research development and national strategic programs, President Prabowo urged BRIN to continue creating innovations to address Indonesia’s potential disaster risks. One innovation receiving attention is the development of earthquake-resistant modular house prototypes, which have been built since 2021–2022.

"The president said earlier that Indonesia is located in the 'Ring of Fire', with many areas highly vulnerable to disasters. Therefore, he said that this requires research and technological innovations to address and anticipate these risks, as well as to continue providing solutions so that such disasters can be prevented from occurring in Indonesia," Arif concluded.