Teruya Suzuki (left), the Managing Director of Hitachi Global Foundation, hands over the award to the ITS researcher, Sri Fatmawati SSi MSi PhD, in Japan

ITS Campus, ITS News – The spirit of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) in promoting research activities continues to strengthen. Two ITS researchers as well as lecturers, Sri Fatmawati SSi MSi PhD and Prof Drs Ec Ir Riyanarto Sarno MSc PhD, who successfully received the 2023 Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award in Japan at the Outstanding Innovation and Encouragement Award category, some times ago.

By achieving the Outstanding Innovation award category, Sri Fatmawati SSi MSc PhD, who is also a lecturer from the Department of Chemistry ITS, explained that the Hitachi Global Foundation is an institution that gives such appreciation to researchers with significant contributions to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Southeast Asia. “This year, the Hitachi Global Foundation is more focused on research in the first and seventh SDGs categories,” she said.

Determined to show ITS concrete contribution to support the first SDGs, Fatma as a lecturer presented Menitemu, a herbal product released by ITS Djamoe. In addition to serve it as an alternative medication for the community, ITS Djamoe is also present to improve the local economy, especially in Kediri, East Java. “We work with PT Payung Pusaka Mandiri to establish Menitemu’s production center,” she explained.

This research, which has been running for more than 20 years, also helped patients affected by COVID-19 during the previous pandemic era by enhancing their immunity. It becomes ITS and PT Payung Pusaka Mandiri commitment to perform high-quality control (QC) in producing highly effective herbal medication. “We immediately distributed this herbal medication which had passed the QC stage to individuals undergoing self-isolation (isoman) during pandemic,” Fatma explained.

The Encouragement Award received by the Professor of ITS Informatics Engineering Department, Prof Drs Ec Ir Riyanarto Sarno MSc PhD

Besides Fatma, the professor of ITS Informatics Engineering Department,, Prof Drs Ec Ir Riyanarto Sarno MSc PhD, also presented an innovation for detecting COVID-19 through underarm odor, entitled i-nose c-19. This innovation has successfully led ITS to receive a second award from the Hitachi Global Foundation in the Encouragement Award category. “The innovation I bring is certainly successful as an alternative method for detecting COVID-19 after Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) swabs,” he explained.

The inspiration for his innovation came from the phenomenon of using sniffer dogs to detect COVID-19 at Dubai International Airport in August 2020. In addition to being an efficient screening alternative, i-nose c-19 has affordable rates of around Rp 25,000 per screening. “This cost includes the maintenance of the device which can make the i-nose is suitable for lower-middle-class patients,” he said.

The device with the world’s first axillary sweat odor screening method has also achieved a minimum screening effectiveness of 91 percents compared to other in-depth screening methods, such as PCR swabs. Thus, the device has passed clinical trials and underwent pilot testing at the Islamic Hospital (RSI) Surabaya in February 2021.

By achieving this award, these two best researchers in Indonesia hope that their research can provide broad benefits both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, the Hitachi Global Foundation has finally acknowledged their research perseverance by giving them a 1.5 million yen research grant. “Certainly, we will use this research grant to improve our further innovation ,” Fatma concluded. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Bima Surya Samudra

Translator: Alya Farah Nabila