Lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering and Head of Sub-Directorate for Downstreaming of Innovation Results, Business Incubator and Entrepreneurship at UNESA, Agung Prijo Budiono (second from right-kopiah) was the resource person for the BPSDMI IDEA EXPO Inspirational Talkshow in Jakarta.
Unesa.ac.id. , SURABAYA–Downstreaming is the process of changing the results of research and development into products that can be marketed to consumers. This process cannot be done just like that, but must go through a number of important stages until market launch.
This was conveyed by Agung Prijo Budiono, Head of the Subdirectorate for Downstreaming of Innovation Results, Business Incubator and Entrepreneurship at UNESA, when he was a resource person at the IDEA EXPO 2024 Inspirational Talkshow organized by the Industrial Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDMI) under the Ministry of Industry , at Plaza Industri, Jakarta, on December 19 2024.
The event with the theme "Downstreaming Prototype Products Innovation: Determining Products to Branding Strategy" is designed to encourage the development of entrepreneurship and innovation through collaboration between business people, academics and government.
The lecturer at the UNESA Faculty of Engineering said that the underlying reasons for a product to be downstream are: by recognizing product-market fit or PMF. That way, the products produced will be in accordance with what the buyer needs.
Meanwhile, the stages required to achieve PMF can go through several stages. First, research and identify the problem. This is related to market research, about consumer needs or the most common problems.
There are two approaches that can be taken to solve problems, with a design thinking approach (user problems) and reserve design thinking (optimizing and adding features to existing product solutions).
Second, prototype development. This step aims to test ideas quickly and cheaply, identify product strengths and weaknesses, and get initial feedback from consumers or potential users.
Third, product validation. At this stage the product will be tested to find out whether the product can really solve the problem previously identified.
Head of Sub-Directorate for Downstreaming Innovation Results, Business Incubator and Entrepreneurship UNESA poses with other speakers, presenters and organizers after the talk show session.
“This validation can be done by identifying technical problems, surveying and conducting usage interviews, as well as receiving feedback and carrying out development iterations," he explained.
Fourth, product iteration and refinement. At this stage there is a process of developing new features and removing irrelevant features, fixing bugs and technical errors, as well as improving user experience or UX to ensure the product is easy to use. >
Fifth, market acceptance and branding. This stage involves small-scale market testing, analyzing customer data such as retention rates, satisfaction, and feature usage, and increasing customer acquisition by looking at product success measurements.
After these five stages, the next stages that need to be carried out are marketing and product launch, evaluation and further development, and carrying out scale-up including expansion into new segments, increasing capacity operations, and adding new features.
"With these stages, you (participants) will be able to build a product from a prototype to a fit product (PMF) that is ready to be commercialized, especially as most of you are students," said Agung Prijo Budiono.
In this activity, two UNESA students representing the Surabaya Industrial Training Center (BDI) were also involved. Muhammad Sayyidul Ummam Ryo Saputra, from the Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Study Program, brought the Voice Start Moto product.
This product is designed to increase motorbike safety and help users find parking locations and start the vehicle via smartphone using a voice command system. Meanwhile, Salsabilah Alfi Zaidan Amanullah, also from the Mechanical Engineering Bachelor's Study Program, brought the Ride Refine product, which is an innovative motorbike helmet accessory light.[*]
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Reporter: Fatimah Najmus Shofa (FBS)
Editor: @zam*
Photo: Agung Prijo Budiono's personal documentation
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