Jakarta, IO – Stanford University will build a research center in the National Capital City (IKN) Nusantara. This was confirmed by the head of the IKN Authority (OIKN), Bambang Susantono.
“Essentially, we want to build a research center first, because if we build a university, we need to do a lot of things,” said Bambang, per Katadata, Thursday (14/3).
Bambang revealed that the negotiation process with Stanford University has been going on for quite some time. In September 2023, the dean of the university came to Indonesia and signed a letter of intent.
Then, in November 2023, the IKN Authority signed an MoU outlining commitment from Stanford University and its alumni to establish a research center.
Bambang said this coincided with President Jokowi’s visit to the university to speak as part of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s dean’s lecture series, where he discussed sustainability in Indonesia and the needs of the developing world. The research that will be carried out in the center includes water management, sustainable urban development, and robotics.
Bambang said the construction of the building construction will also be assisted by the university’s alumni.
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“We will start with research, in collaboration with Stanford alumni. The knowledge [transfer] and research will start as soon as the building is finished,” said Bambang.
Bambang also revealed that there are between seven to eight other international universities that wish to establish their campus at IKN, such as Leiden University, Delft, Rotterdam University and several Finnish universities. (un)