Sumbawa Island: From Gold Mining to Bio-Mining
Arief Budi WITARTO, PhD
Sumbawa Technopark National Program, Director;
Sumbawa University of Technology, Chairman of Board of Trustees
witarto@gmail.com
Sumbawa island has caused Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte to defeat at Battleof Waterloo against UK and Prussia, the creation of the first bicycle and Frankensteinnovel, when Mount Tambora which is located in the middle of the island, erupted in 1815
with VEI-7 – the biggest recorded volcanic eruption in human history – which resulted inthe year without summer in 1816. Yet, just about 40 years later, Alfred Russel Wallace,an explorer from UK passed through Sumbawa Island from Malay Peninsula to Aru Islandat the East and from the observation of flora and fauna of many islands he visited,
proposed the theory of evolution together with Charles Darwin. These two events showed
the importance of Sumbawa Island in the history mankind. Another 30 years after Wallace
visit to Indonesia, the Sultan/King of Sumbawa has been able to build four stories wooden
stilts palace, which still became the biggest stilts house in Indonesia up to now. The Sultan
also sent many young Sumbawa to study abroad like in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to study
Islamic religion etc. The prosperity of Sumbawa at that time, made them called their own
land as “Tana Intan Bulaeng” or “the Land of Diamond and Gold”, although majority ofincome came from selling and exporting agricultural products at that time. However afterIndonesian independence in 1945, and consequently the closing of the Sumbawa sultanate,
Sumbawa economy and human resource quality decreased until became the 2nd lowest
region in the whole modern Indonesia. In 2000, Indonesia second largest gold mine site
was operated in Sumbawa Island, with current production of about 22.6 ton gold, 217
thousands ton copper per-year. There are still more than 10 gold mine sites in Sumbawa
Island with permission from Indonesia Government, which are still on exploration,
instead of production. Unfortunately with low human resource quality, not many
Sumbawa are able to work at that gold mine company. While Sumbawa mineral rich hasbeen exploited successfully, biodiversity abundant has never been explored seriously.
With those spirit, Sumbawa University of Technology, a private owned university, hasbeen established, with I involved in the foundation of Biotechnology Faculty andDepartment. After graduated from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in2000, then worked about 10 years as researcher at various government institutions inJakarta, Java island such as Biotechnology RnD Center of Indonesian Institute ofSciences, and RnD Division of Dharmais Cancer Hospital/National Cancer Center, andDivision of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, the University ofIndonesia, as well as taught and supervised at bachelor, master and PhD degrees in almost
all best universities in Indonesia at various Departments and Faculties such as Medicine,
Food Technology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, I found Sumbawa island was an attractive
challenge to explore, following the path of Wallace but with new tools namely
biotechnology. I prepared first from human resource, besides regular academic teaching,
we also sent students to US and Japan for competition and internship, then young lecturers
to study Master and PhD degrees to Japan, the Netherlands, UK, and Sweden. With thoseachievements, we were able to obtain Technopark National Program by which we wereable to prepare lab building and equipment. So, when our lecturers finished their PhD
around next year, they will have no difficulties in access to required facilities.
Sumbawa island is part of Wallace hot spot, rich in flora and fauna diversity which
different with West part of Indonesia including Java, Borneo and Sumatera islands.
Komodo Island, a UNESCO World Heritage is our neighbor in the east, while famous
tourist site Bali Island is to the West. It is also part of Coral Triangle, where majority ofcoral and coral fish species exists. Among 7 species of living turtles, 5 are living in ocean
surround Sumbawa Island. Thus in term of biodiversity, it is a very unique region, which
already attract international communities. For example, UK’s Kew Gardens just received
grant from Newton Fund to explore Sumbawa forest plants. The initiator and operator of
the world largest shrimp farm in Lampung, Sumatera Island, now moving their businessto Sumbawa Island due to clarity of the sea water. With the availability of highly educatedstaff and sufficient equipment, moving on Sumbawa from gold-mining to bio-mining may
not just a dream anymore. Thus, we invite you to join this endeavor to follow the path ofgreat Alfred Russel Wallace.

Biomedical Engineering~your vision, your opportunities, your future~
Koji SODE, PhD
William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor
Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, US
ksode@email.unc.edu
Biomedical engineering (BME) is a fast-growing, interdisciplinary field that integrates
engineering, mathematics, medicine, and science to improve human health and quality oflife (https://www.bme.unc.edu/about/). Our BME joint department, is a uniquecollaboration between North Carolina’s two flagship universities: The University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The nationally ranked
UNC Hospitals and School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill provide an excellent clinicalenvironment for students to gain experience in medicine, while the College ofEngineering at NC State, one of the finest engineering and computer science schools inthe world, offers state-of-the art facilities for students and faculty engaged in vital areasof research and technology transfer. In this seminar, I will introduce our innovative,
collaborative, translative research environment and activity in BME, together withattractive, friendly, hassle free campus and neighbor at North Carolina for your future andpotential research opportunity.