The Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices of the Indonesian Ministry of Health held Medical Devices Research Innovation 2024 in Bekasi on July 18-19, 2024. This activity is an important moment in the world of medical device research and innovation, where researchers, practitioners and stakeholders are present to share knowledge and experience.

Interestingly, this event was held in conjunction with the “Edu Health Fair 2024” organized by the Directorate General of Manpower of the Indonesian Ministry of Health. The collaboration between these two activities not only adds to the excitement of the event, but also aims to strengthen the 2024 Medical Device Research Center Network, hopefully creating better synergy in the development and utilization of medical devices in Indonesia.

On this occasion also launched the Product Downstreaming and Community Service Catalogue and the New Uniform of the Health Polytechnic of the Ministry of Health which reflects the new spirit and commitment of the institution in supporting the development of human resources in the health sector.

In this exhibition, visitors are presented with a variety of innovative and up-to-date medical device research results, which are displayed from various National Universities and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). This exhibition is a forum for researchers and academics to showcase their works that not only show technological advances, but also show great potential to encourage the independence of the medical device industry in the country.

Medical Devices Research Innovation 2024 not only focuses on collecting information on research results from universities or industry partners in the field of medical devices, but also holds other important activities, namely Focus Group Discussion (FGD) of Design Thinking for Research Data Sharing and strategizing the development of a Data Sharing Platform that will support downstream medical device research.

In this series of exhibition activities, the Directorate General of Pharmaceuticals also organized the Medical Device Research Award 2024. The award is given to exhibitors who have superior products resulting from downstream research as a form of appreciation for innovation and creativity in the field of medical devices.

The award winners are as follows:    

• The First Excellent Medical Device Research Product was awarded to Swiss German University with the product Al-Based Digital Stethoscope for the diagnosis of respiratory diseases.
• The Second Excellent Medical Device Research Product was awarded to Gadjah Mada University with Dental Silkbon products
• The Third Outstanding Medical Device Research Product was awarded to Udayana University with the product Monitoring Assistant System for Glaucoma Optic Neuropathy Risk Based on Machine learning Integrated Biometric Model (Glassist).
• The Favorite Featured Medical Device Research Product was awarded to Andalas University with Crown_Lab CC Screen, Crown_ Lab MRSA Assay, and Crown_Lab Pneumoplex.

The Ministry of Health realizes that the independence of the medical device industry is very important to strengthen health resilience in Indonesia. The fulfillment of this independence needs to be supported by the downstreaming of medical device research so as to enable the effective delivery of national medical device research results to the community.

“One of the efforts in building the resilience of medical devices is by strengthening governance comprehensively from upstream to downstream. On the upstream side, the Ministry of Health strengthens research and development by facilitating the creation of innovations in the development of domestic medical devices by reverse engineering, technology transfer, pioneering research, and conducting clinical trials of medical devices,” said Director General of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices L. Rizka Andalusia at the opening of Medical Devices Research Innovation & Edu Health 2024 in Bekasi (18/7).

He further said that, over the past few years, the Ministry of Health together with all stakeholders of medical device research and development have actively carried out a series of programs and activities, which support the implementation of strengthening governance, including strengthening the network of facilities for conducting medical device clinical trials with the establishment of Clinical Research Units and Clinical Research Centers.

“Of course, these efforts need to be strengthened by the collaboration of all stakeholders, which is carried out in a directed and sustainable manner,” said Rizka. She emphasized that collaboration in the form of a network of medical device research centers, which gathers science techno parks from Poltekkes and each university, is the next potential that can be explored to produce innovative products to build health resilience.