Yogyakarta, March 8, 2024 – PT. Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA) held a socialization event for the Call for Proposal Open Innovation 2024 at the Auditorium Biologi Tropika, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) on Friday. The event, attended by various parties, aimed to introduce the Open Innovation BGA program to lecturers, students, and researchers at UGM, as well as to foster collaboration in addressing challenges and creating innovations in the palm oil sector.
The event began with a welcoming speech from the Dean of the Faculty of Biology at UGM, Prof. Dr. Budi Setiadi Daryono, M.Agr. Sc., who emphasized the importance of optimizing existing palm oil plantations to increase production without the need for further land expansion.
Moderating the event was Dr. Wiko Arif Wibowo, S.Si., a lecturer from the Faculty of Biology at UGM. The main speakers were Dr. Azis Natawijaya, as the Head of Corporate Development at PT.BGA, and Abid Zulfikar, S.Si., serving as Corporate Planning & PDCA at PT. BGA. They discussed information related to Open Innovation BGA, including the scope of innovation, requirements for potential inventors, and the series of activities to be carried out.
Additionally, the speakers provided in-depth explanations about palm oil, including the introduction of the plant, its utilization in daily life, and its position among vegetable oil commodities. They also highlighted the distribution of palm oil land cover and land usage efficiency. They also outlined the challenges faced by PT BGA as a palm oil industry and the importance of collaboration with researchers from UGM in addressing these challenges.
During the event, PT. BGA provided ample opportunities for lecturers, students, and researchers from the Faculty of Biology at UGM to propose their innovations and research findings with funding support of up to hundreds of millions. This initiative is expected to encourage productive collaboration between industry and academia in addressing global challenges in the future.
The socialization event for the Call for Proposal PT. Bumitama Gunajaya Agro (BGA) Open Innovation 2024 at Universitas Gadjah Mada is expected to be a good starting point in creating innovative and sustainable solutions in the palm oil industry.
