Jakarta, INTI - The Head of Indonesia’s Food and Drug Authority (BPOM), Taruna Ikrar, held a meeting with University of the Republic of Indonesia (URI) Governor, Marshal (Ret.) Donny Ermawan Taufanto, to discuss strengthening national human capital through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the development of BPOM’s Vocational School.
The meeting highlighted the importance of integrating AI into the education and development of Indonesia’s future leaders while maintaining a strong focus on human capacity, ethics, and responsible technology governance.
Taruna emphasized that strengthening human capacity is essential to ensure AI can be used responsibly to support strategic decision-making.
BPOM Promotes Human-Centered AI Leadership
Taruna encouraged collaboration among academia, business, and government, known as the Academia-Business-Government (ABG) approach, to establish a human-centered AI leadership ecosystem.
He emphasized that collaboration among these sectors can help ensure that technological development continues to prioritize people and leadership quality.
BPOM also supports integrating AI into interdisciplinary national leadership curricula, particularly to strengthen data literacy and understanding of technology ethics.
The development of AI-powered decision-making simulation laboratories was also highlighted as a potential learning platform for future leaders to test policy options under various scenarios and real-world risks.
Beyond AI-based leadership development, the meeting also explored BPOM’s Vocational School as part of a broader strategy to establish a national talent development pathway in drug and food safety.
Taruna noted that such initiatives are increasingly important as regulatory challenges become more complex alongside advances in pharmaceutical science, technology, and emerging threats in the drug and food sector.
BPOM Still Faces a Significant Human Resource Gap
As of August 2026, BPOM has 6,432 civil servants, representing around 60.06% of its total workforce requirement of 10,710 personnel.
This gap highlights the need for targeted human resource development strategies that can address the evolving demands of drug and food safety supervision.
BPOM personnel are expected to possess multidisciplinary competencies covering technical expertise, digital technology, regulation, testing, evaluation, supervision, and field enforcement.
BPOM’s Vocational School is expected to develop professionals equipped with scientific, regulatory, practical, and public service competencies from the outset of their careers.
Taruna stressed that national resilience depends not only on military defense capabilities, but also on the country’s ability to safeguard public health, food safety, medicine availability, technological capabilities, and human capital.
In this context, the BPOM Vocational School is positioned as part of Indonesia’s national health resilience infrastructure and as a strategic instrument for preparing skilled personnel to carry out the government’s drug and food safety oversight functions.
BPOM and URI Explore Collaboration Opportunities
Collaboration with URI presents a strategic opportunity to optimize existing education programs while strengthening cooperation between drug and food safety oversight and the broader national resilience agenda.
Beyond vocational education, BPOM is exploring potential partnerships with URI to develop AI-based human resource training programs and conduct research on technology-enabled governance in drug and food safety supervision.
BPOM and URI are also considering the establishment of a dedicated research center focusing on AI ethics, regulation, impact assessment, and technology auditing.
The collaboration aims to enhance the quality of human resources in drug and food safety while harnessing AI responsibly to support Indonesia’s health resilience and broader national resilience.
Conclusion
BPOM and URI are strengthening Indonesia’s human capital by integrating AI, vocational education, and responsible technology governance to prepare future-ready talent and support national health resilience.
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