Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

Monday (30/1) Lecturer in the Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM), Rimawan Pradiptyo , S.E., M.Sc., Ph.D. won the Encouragement Award title at the 2022 (3rd) Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award with the research title "SONJO: Online-Based Social Capital Aims to Minimize the Adverse Impact of COVID-19 in Yogyakarta". SONJO targets to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 11, namely Sustainable Cities and Settlements, more specifically SDGs number 11.3, 11.5, and 11b.

The Asia Innovation Award, or more fully the Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award, is an award program initiated in 2020. This award aims to promote science, technology and innovation that contribute to solving social problems and creating a sustainable society in the ASEAN region. This award recognizes individuals and groups who achieve achievements in research and development (R&D) in the fields of science and technology. The Asia Innovation Awards are also based on a vision of an ideal future society and the implementation of social R&D in order to achieve the SDGs.

SONJO which has been operating since March 24 2020 with approximately 2300 members spread among 30 Whatsapp Groups (WAG). In more detail, there are 6 joint WAGs between SONJO and communities/companies in 5 other provinces. The results from SONJO include: a) 352 SMEs have joined the SONJO storefront application; b) SONJO supported the development of 51 isolation shelters in 3 provinces; c) SONJO's mass-funded mass vaccination has administered 221,829 doses and continues to grow. SONJO aims to support and achieve SDGs 3, 11, 16 and 17.

We congratulate Rimawan Pradiptyo , S.E., M.Sc., Ph.D. for achieving the Encouragement Award at the 2022 Asia Innovation Award. Hopefully SONJO can always realize the achievement of SDGs number 11 and be useful and realize its goals for the welfare of the people in its operational areas.

Reportage: Hayfaza Nayottama
Important link: Recipients of the 2022 (3rd) Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award : The Hitachi Global Foundation (hitachi-zaidan.org)