Meditya Wasesa, Ph.D., a lecturer at the School of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi Bandung (SBM ITB), received the 2026 Asahi Glass Foundation Overseas Research Grant for his research entitled “Business Analytics for Sustainable and Environmentally Conscious Resource Policy.” The Asahi Glass Foundation, established in Japan in 1933, actively supports research in science, technology, and the humanities that contributes to sustainable solutions to various global issues.
“This grant is a testament to trust and responsibility, an opportunity to continue developing years of research and scholarship related to sustainable business analytics, as well as a form of international recognition for the work of the entire team, our collaborators both domestically and internationally, and the students who are the driving force and inspiration for our research team,” said Meditya in Bandung (August 10).
Meditya’s research seeks to address a long-standing issue: natural resource-based industries drive economic growth, but poorly controlled extraction and processing practices increase the risk of natural disasters, deforestation, emissions, and long-term ecological damage. To date, policies related to natural resource extraction, processing, and waste management have tended to be evaluated in a less integrated manner, considering their economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Therefore, a decision-making system capable of addressing this challenge is needed.
To this end, Dr. Meditya and his team have scheduled the development of prescriptive business analytics to project policy dynamics at the macro level and stakeholder behavior at the micro level. Over the course of a year, the team will measure environmental pressures throughout the resource life cycle, build integrated models, simulate policy scenarios such as extraction limits, environmental standards, recycling incentives, and circular economy strategies, and then identify policy combinations that minimize ecological damage while remaining economically viable.
This research continues Dr. Meditya’s focus on research, teaching, and community service, which emphasizes the development of environmentally friendly business analytics that incorporate social considerations. This grant reinforces the credentials of Dr. Meditya’s research team. Meditya has developed numerous simulation techniques (system dynamics, agent-based, discrete-event simulation) and big data analytics for various sustainability business sectors. These include a simulation analysis of Indonesian nickel trade policy published in the journal Resources Policy, a WebGIS analytics study to estimate mangrove carbon stocks in the Pengudang tourism-aware village group in Bintan, and a study of an integrated lithium-ion battery recycling supply chain published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
The Chairman of the Asahi Glass Foundation, Takuya Shimamura, outlined the Foundation’s four main programs: research grants, scholarships, the Blue Planet Prize, and support for environmental education for the younger generation. He invited ITB researchers to attend the Asahi Glass Foundation International Research Presentation and Exchange Forum in Japan this coming November.
The Senior Executive Director of the Asahi Glass Foundation, Dr. Naoki Sugimoto, stated that they have annually supported selected ITB research programs across various fields, including materials science, life sciences, information technology, the environment, sustainable energy, social sciences, architecture, and planning. He believes that ITB’s research vision aligns with the Asahi Glass Foundation’s vision for Indonesia’s development in science and technology.
ITB’s Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, Prof. Ir. Lavi Rizki Zuhal, Ph.D., stated that ITB’s collaboration with the Asahi Glass Foundation has spanned almost four decades and has funded various impactful research programs at ITB. He also expressed confidence and hopes that this collaboration will continue in the future.
