An innovative step to combine education, research, and industry was taken by Universitas Brawijaya (UB) together with Jatim Park Group through the soft opening launch of the educational facility “Omah Atsiri”. The event, which took place at Batu Love Garden (BALOGA) on Wednesday (2/5/2025) at 08.00 WIB, was attended by various important figures, including UB Rector Prof. Widodo, S.Si., M.Si., Ph.D.Med.Sc., Regent of Trenggalek, Mochamad Nur Arifin, and Rio Imam Sanjoyo, owner of Jatim Park Group.
This facility is designed as a learning and training center based on atsiri, from seeding to final products, with the aim of presenting real benefits from the results of university research to the wider community.
Omah Atsiri was born from a vision to introduce essential oils as a strategic commodity that has many benefits. The Head of UB Atsiri Institute, Prof. Dr. Drs. Warsito, M.S. explained that this facility aims to be a training place, innovation center, and educational facility for the general public.
“Omah Atsiri is a real manifestation of our research results which aims to introduce Atsiri, become a means of education, become a training center for those who are serious about Atsiri, and introduce Atsiri-based innovation research products,” said Warsito.
One of the superior products exhibited at this event was BOUMI, skincare specially designed for teenagers and children. This product was developed by UB Atsiri Team and is one of the innovations that is expected to be able to fill the local cosmetic market with premium quality.
“We are scaling up our collaboration with Jatim Park Group. It might be what we do today seems simple, but more than that, this is one thing that we see more than today, because the process of building collaboration between universities and industry is not easy, and we need to align various things with what the industry wants,” added Prof. Dr. Unti Ludigdo, SE., M.Sc., Ak. in his speech.
Collaboration between universities and industry was one of the highlights of this event. Prof. Widodo, UB Rector, emphasized that research in universities is not enough to only produce scientific publications.
“How universities collaborate with private companies from upstream and downstream means that university research must have an impact, not just journal publications but products that can be enjoyed by the community,” he said.
This was agreed by Rio Imam Sanjoyo from the Jatim Park Group. According to him, this collaboration can have a positive impact, especially for students. “We hope that Omah Atsiri will become a space for innovation that can inspire the younger generation to learn and work,” he said.
The Regent of Trenggalek, Mochamad Nur Arifin, also provided concrete support for the development of atsiri. Even offering land in the Trenggalek area as a land for developing atsiri in Universitas Brawijaya.
“We are willing to donate land on the Trenggalek hill to be planted with atsiri because we have a policy, if the one who enters is a university, we are willing to donate the land. Hopefully Trenggalek, which was previously considered invisible, can get the blessing of triple attractiveness, campus, recreation, and government dynamism,” said Nur Arifin.
The soft opening of Omah Atsiri is expected to be the beginning of a major transformation, not only in the field of research, but also in the development of a local economy based on essential oils.
Prof. Unti said that what is seen today may still be simple, but this is a big step towards a more complex synergy between education and industry.
With the target of becoming a leading atsiri education center in Indonesia, Omah Atsiri is expected to be able to provide real benefits for society, industry, and the world of education. This collaboration shows that innovation carried out together can have a much greater impact. (dilla/UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
