The Urgency Of Collaboration Between Government, Academics And Technology Companies To Develop Indonesia's Digital Talents

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Digital talent is one of the keys to digital transformation. The government also continues to encourage the development of digital talents, including the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) which has a stimulus program to train digital talents through the 2021 Digital Talent Scholarship (DTS) program.

The Head of the Human Resources Research and Development Agency, Hary Budiarto, stated that the program that has been running since 2018 aims to provide skilled and competitive human resources in the field of information and communication technology.

"Digital talent is one of the keys to digital transformation. The DTS program is one of the programs to support the instructions of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on national digital transformation, which is targeted at 9 million skilled digital talents by 2030," said Hary in his written statement. , Thursday 29 July.

To meet the increasing need for digital talent, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek) through the Directorate General of Higher Education has also introduced the Merdeka Campus policy, particularly entrepreneurship activities or digital startups.

In the Dikti program, in 2021 it is targeted to implement cooperation with the Ministry of Communication and Information through the development of a startup curriculum and massive online training for lecturers and students. The target of the two Ministries is 100,000 lecturers and student participants.

Through the collaboration of the Talent Scouting Academy (TSA) Digital Talent Scholarship (DTS) with the Merdeka Campus Program, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics also facilitates students who have interests and talents in the field of information and communication technology.

This government effort is also supported by the private sector. For example, as support for the Merdeka Campus, Indonesian technology company Tokopedia presents a certified internship program in the fields of Software Engineering, Marketing and Business Development.

Tokopedia also provides a learning platform for technology practitioners in Indonesia through the Tokopedia Academy. The START Summit technology conference is one of its derivatives. Tokopedia and the University of Indonesia have also launched the AI Center of Excellence, and collaborated with Atma Jaya University to create and organize e-commerce courses.

Apart from Tokopedia, other Indonesian technology companies, such as Telkomsel, are holding various programs to support the creation of Indonesian digital talent. Telkomsel also opens internship opportunities to support the Merdeka Campus program. Telkomsel is also working with Telkom University to hold a special scholarship program for digital talents.

According to a report from The Global Startup Ecosystem 2020, Jakarta was named the second best startup ecosystem in the Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems after Mumbai, India. The indicators used in this assessment are startup performance, funding, market reach, and digital talent. Of the four assessments, digital talent has the lowest value.

This data shows that the need for digital talent in Indonesia will increase in the future, so there is an urgency for collaboration between governments, digital platforms and academics in developing digital talent and achieving the target of 9 million skilled digital talents by 2030.