Coordinating Minister Airlangga Shares Recipes On Ways To Build Digital Talent Ahead Of Entering The Era Of Society 5.0

Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto. (Photo: Doc. Coordinating Ministry for the Economy)

JAKARTA - The government's control of the COVID-19 pandemic through the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) has shown success. This can be seen from the Daily Case Number on October 24, 2021, which is much lower than other countries, where there are only 2.72 cases per 1 million population.

The Reproduction Rate (Rt) figure on October 22, 2021, which was 0.71, became an Rt number which was relatively lower than other countries and was in the controlled category. A decrease in the Rt number to below 1 or in the range of 1 indicates a decrease in the number of infections in the community while at the same time showing that the pandemic is under control.

With the success of overcoming the increase in new cases in the last two months, it is hoped that Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2021 will be able to follow the growth rate in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2021, the Indonesian economy managed to record the highest growth since the sub-prime mortgage crisis, reaching 7.07 percent (yoy).

This fairly high growth was also driven by increased demand in the information and communication sector due to a shift in people's behavior towards the digital economy, especially during the pandemic which required people to limit their activities outside the home. This situation is an opportunity to accelerate digital transformation in various economic sectors that will accelerate the recovery of the national economy.

"This is shown by digital economic activity in Indonesia which continues to increase, even 41.9 percent of ASEAN's total digital economy transactions during 2020 came from Indonesia which reached 44 billion US dollars, and in 2025 it is projected to reach 124 billion US dollars," said the Coordinating Minister. Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto at The 1st International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences (ICHSS) 2021.

The activity was held by President University virtually on Tuesday, October 26 with the theme "The Opportunities of Crisis: International Experiences and Best Practices in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond in Society 5.0".

Digital technology is used in various economic and business sectors, such as fintech, e-commerce, online health/education/transportation services, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Especially for health and education services, it is predicted that their contribution to the digital economy will be very large in the future.

"However, for now, e-commerce is the main sector that supports the digital economy in Indonesia. A total of 72.73 percent of the total digital economy transactions in Indonesia come from e-commerce. In 2020, the value of e-commerce reaches 32 billion US dollars, and is projected to reach US$83 billion in 2025," explained Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

According to Airlangga, Indonesia has a demographic bonus that supports the establishment of a sustainable digital ecosystem. The majority of Indonesia's population is Generation Z and Millennials aged 8 - 39 years who have a high level of digital adoption. Meanwhile, there are 37 percent of new digital economy consumers who emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and 93 percent of them will continue to use digital economy products after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The roles of young people including Generation Z and Millennials in this digital era include digital talents, digital entrepreneurs, or potential consumers of domestic products. However, the entrepreneurial world in Indonesia, which is dominated by millennial entrepreneurs (25-34 years old) also recorded a low Entrepreneurial Ratio of 3.30 percent in 2019 and 3.47 percent in 2020.

The government has also made efforts to accelerate the formation of digital talent and the development of the digital economy by developing infrastructure such as 5G internet access and data centers, conducting training through the Pre-Employment Card Program and the Digital Leadership Academy, issuing the Employment Creation Law and its implementing regulations, developing a digital MSME ecosystem, and providing financing facilities to assist startups in the digital technology sector.

Indonesia must also be ready to face the change to Society 5.0, where a large amount of information from physical area sensors is accumulated into cyberspace. In cyberspace, big data is analyzed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the results will be returned to the physical area for use by the community.

"The key is that we still have to build digital talent and increase digital literacy to the general public," added Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

Coordinating Minister Airlangga added that all stakeholders have an important role in the development of entrepreneurship and the digital ecosystem, including from Higher Education Institutions or Universities.

"We use the pentahelix concept in which there are elements of the Government, communities, academics, entrepreneurs, and the media. Here, the Government becomes a facilitator as well as a regulator, while academics are the originators of a good entrepreneurship curriculum, and the driving force for the creation of more startup companies starting from student innovation," he concluded.