Muhammad Arafat is a PhD Fellow with dual affiliations at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University.
Arafat’s research examines how innovation emerges and diffuses in ethnically diverse economies, with Indonesia as the core case. He previously served at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, where he coordinated Kedaireka, a university–industry collaboration program linking researchers and firms on applied innovation projects. Before that, he was a researcher at Lembaga Demografi, Universitas Indonesia, a leading research institute on population and economic development. He also worked with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Indonesia (KADIN), coordinating citywide productivity programmes for DKI Jakarta—Kaizen, Service Excellence, and Green Productivity—alongside halal certification drives, job fairs, and creative-economy curation, connecting SMEs, government, and civil society through data dashboards, targeted outreach, and outcome tracking. His professional experience includes government, research institutions, and strategic industry bodies such as KADIN. Arafat holds a Master in Planning and Public Policy from Universitas Indonesia and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta.