Indonesia’s Position in Science & Innovation
How ready is Indonesia's science, research and commercialisation ecosystem against world standards? This report maps the country's position across 10 key indicators — from education quality to patents and deeptech funding.
Across 10 key indicators of Indonesia's science ecosystem, the average national readiness score stands at roughly 21/100 — meaning the country has reached about 21% of the standard set by top-tier nations. Seven of the ten indicators are rated Critical. And that is precisely where the great sciencepreneurship opportunity lies: bridging research to industry and the market.
The 10 Key Indicators
Position score 0–100 (the higher the score, the closer to the world's top-tier standard).
Indonesia's PISA score (369) trails Singapore (560) by 190 points — just 11% of the world standard. Most 15-year-olds have yet to master advanced reasoning.
Indonesian R&D spending is just 0.28% of GDP, far below Israel (5.6%). Position score 5/100 — national research still depends heavily on the state budget rather than the private sector.
Indonesia files only about 150 international (PCT) patents a year, against tens of thousands from China. Position score 0/100 — local research rarely ends in global intellectual-property protection.
Indonesia's density of full-time researchers (300 per million) lags far behind South Korea (7,100). Position score 4/100 — the shortage of STEM PhDs is the main bottleneck.
Indonesia climbed to 54th of 133 countries in the Global Innovation Index (2024), a position score of 60/100. Real progress, though still far from Switzerland at number one.
Indonesia scores 3.5/7 on industry–university collaboration, a position score of 39/100. Campus research often ends up as an academic archive that never reaches the market.
Only about 3% of Indonesian venture capital flows to hard-science startups (deeptech/biotech), far behind the United States (Silicon Valley), China and Israel, which dominate global science funding. Position score 9/100.
Indonesia's national publication H-Index is estimated at 250, a position score of 24/100. Publication volume has risen because of graduation requirements, but citation impact remains low.
Only 12% of Indonesian STEM graduates are absorbed into high-tech industry, against 45% in Germany, Japan and Taiwan. Position score 21/100 — much STEM talent ends up working outside science altogether.
Indonesia scores 3.2/7 on IP protection and research incentives, a position score of 35/100. Patent digitalisation is under way, but enforcement and fiscal incentives for industrial research remain thin.
Figures are estimates/aggregates intended for education and to give a sense of position; they are not official government data.