PALMOILMAGAZINE, JAKARTA – Ihzra Firman Nasrullah, an Anthropology student from the University of Airlangga (Unair), made headlines for Indonesia at the international level by participating in the Global Youth Innovation Summit (GYIS). This global innovation forum, held from July 15-18, 2024, at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), was organized by Global Youth in collaboration with University Malaya and IIUM.
To join GYIS, Ihzra underwent a rigorous selection process, including administrative review, a national insight test, leaderless group discussion (LGD), and interviews. After successfully passing these stages, he joined a team of four other students to develop an innovative project.
The team created a project named Palm Oil Waste Energy (POWER), which explores utilizing palm oil waste from empty fruit bunches as a medium for energy storage or batteries. Ihzra highlighted the untapped potential of palm oil waste, noting its capacity to contribute to energy storage. The project aligns with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goals 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 17.
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“East Kalimantan is one of many palm oil waste producers in Indonesia. We got the initiative to develop the initiative. It started from palm oil wastes in our surroundings. It was researched. If the stakeholders support it, we would plan to directly develop it in East Kalimantan,” he said, as Palmoilmagazine.com quoted from the official page of Unair, Tuesday (27/8/2024).
In its process, the group did not do smoothly. He once said the challenges about the communication in the group when starting the project. To solve it, they decided to reinforce their bonds online. It was running twice of three times a week.
Ihzra also said even though their study background was from Anthropology, it was not fully the same with the project in science and technology – base. Ecology Anthropology where he studied at, would help the team understand how the innovation could be integrated with social and cultural context in the society. This confirm that their innovation would be still relevant and sustainable to deliver answers about environmental issues.
The collaboration and hard work in his team paid off. The group successfully got two achievements as the first rank in SDGs presentation category and the second rank as the best team. The achievements would be the proofs that by good cooperation, every challenge would get the solution and get innovation that would be useful for the people. (P2)
