Technology and Knowledge are the Keys to Digital Economic Growth

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko) Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Aris Nurjani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The digital economy is a prospective sector that needs to continue to be developed amidst the current shift in society's behavior towards digital.

It is recorded that in 2022, ASEAN's digital economic value is projected to reach 194 billion US dollars, with Indonesia capable of having a share of up to 40 percent of this value.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said that as Chair of ASEAN 2023, Indonesia plays a role in providing concrete results to strengthen ASEAN's digital economic foundation through a number of priority programs.

Airlangga gave an example, one of which is accelerating negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) as a strategy to accelerate digital economic transformation in the region.

"To be in line with the international cooperation agenda, the digital economic ecosystem is important to increase competitiveness and we need to optimize various economic cooperation," said Airlangga at the BNI Investor Daily Summit 2023, Tuesday, October 23.

Airlangga explained that the technological aspect is one of the components that is considered to be able to increase digital competitiveness on the international stage.

There are other components that also need to be improved to encourage competitiveness, namely future readiness and knowledge, so that the government continues to strive to increase digital competence.

Airlangga said that with the massive growth of digital players, it is hoped that it will be able to encourage the realization of Indonesia's digital economic potential to reach 360 billion US dollars by 2030.

"Increasing the value of the digital economy will provide concrete benefits for the national economy, ranging from increasing efficiency, effectiveness and innovation, reducing production costs, to strengthening collaboration and inclusiveness," he said.

He added that the government has made several efforts to create an inclusive digital ecosystem, such as strengthening partnerships with the private sector to increase accessibility to digital technology.

Apart from increasing accessibility, the government is also strengthening inter-regional connectivity through the development of the Satria multifunction satellite, construction of a Data Center, acceleration of the construction of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) Towers, expansion of 4G, and provision of 5G services.

According to him, currently knowledge about Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automation and Cloud Computing needs to be a prerequisite in education at various levels.

"President Joko Widodo has said that we don't need to be afraid of AI, because regulations don't yet exist but AI continues to develop. "In fact, we have to anticipate by increasing our competency to become as many AI engineers and experts as possible," said Airlangga.

The government, he said, continues to work together with various stakeholders to improve digital literacy and skills of human resources through the Digital Talent Scholarship program, Pre-Employment Cards, and vocational education.

Apart from that, the government continues to strengthen regulatory aspects including data and cyber security regulations through Law no. 27 of 2022 concerning Protection of Personal Data and Presidential Regulation no. 82 of 2022 concerning Protection of Vital Information Infrastructure is also one of the efforts made by the government to date.

Airlangga added that the digital ecosystem requires solid synergy and collaboration between the government, stakeholders and all levels of society who will certainly feel the benefits of accelerating digital infrastructure.

"Therefore, it is hoped that this summit can formulate synergies in the form of concrete collaboration so that a safe and inclusive digital ecosystem that also protects consumer interests can be maintained in order to maintain the resilience of sustainable national economic growth," concluded Airlangga.