Indonesia
East Ventures, a pioneering sector-agnostic venture capital firm that has supported over 300 tech companies across Southeast Asia, together with Katadata Insight Center and PwC Indonesia launched the East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index (EV-DCI) 2023, which is the 4th edition since it was first launched in 2020. The EV-DCI 2023 report presents the measurement of Indonesia’s digital competitiveness with the theme “Equitable digital nation“.
EV-DCI 2023 provides data on digital competitiveness across 38 provinces and 157 cities/regencies in Indonesia. Digital competitiveness across regions in Indonesia continues to show a positive trend. This can be seen by the EV-DCI 2023 score of 38.5 which has increased compared to the previous year, which was 35.2 (2022) and the previous 2 years, which was 32.1 (2021).
“In general, digital adoption has been more equal in all provinces (except the new provinces) that East Ventures has mapped for four years in a row. It will be a strong foundation for Indonesia’s digital infrastructure in the future and will foster new innovations throughout Indonesia. We express the highest appreciation for the government of Indonesia, where rapid and equal digital development occurred under President Joko Widodo’s leadership along with all levels of government involved” said Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at East Ventures.
The EV-DCI report is also complemented with the results of a survey towards 39 digital companies, analysis of 8 sectors, as well as perspectives from 22 figures. This perspective includes policy makers of the government, including the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Minister of Health, and others. In addition, it also includes the perspective from the startup founders such as the President of Traveloka, CEO of KoinWorks, CEO of Nusantics, and so on.
These figures provided perspectives in strengthening efforts to improve the digital economy towards an equitable digital nation. The figures emphasized the steps and strategies they were taking to achieve these goals.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the government continues to encourage telecommunication players to actively build network infrastructure to remote areas. Through the Palapa Ring project and the Satria multifunctional satellite, the government is also involved in providing a backbone network. On the downstream side, the government is collaborating with a number of partners to provide digital technology skill training.
The government also conducts literacy training and business coaching so MSMEs are literate in digital marketing through the Proudly Made in Indonesia (Bangga Buatan Indonesia) program. And the most important thing, the government needs policies related to coordination issues between the Central and Regional governments, which are oftenly not aligned.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto hopes that digital growth can be enjoyed by all Indonesian people. “The digital economy is expected to have an inclusive, agile, sustainable economy, and can ensure that the Indonesians can take advantage of this digital growth. Within the framework of developing the 2022-2030 digital economy, of course this can contribute to achieving the vision of Indonesia in 2045.
COLLABORATION TOWARDS EQUITABLE DIGITAL NATION
Indonesia’s digital economy is experiencing growth supported by strong consumption and increasingly widespread digitalization. This cannot be separated from the collaboration of various stakeholders in various sectors. The government and the private sector are working together in maintaining the development of digitalization in essential sectors such as fintech, logistics, edutech and healthtech.
Collaboration with the private sector as a commitment to realizing digital justice was explained through several interviews conducted in the preparation of this report. Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki who encourages the digital transformation of MSMEs through collaboration with e-commerce. In addition, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, encourages an environment for innovation for startup players. Meanwhile, for the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno, collaboration with startup is a necessity.
The growth of the digital economy continues to show a positive trend, where to face 2023, the right strategy to maintain the development of the digital economy in Indonesia is: (1) equal distribution of digitalization, (2) strengthening business fundamentals, (3) increasing collaboration, and (4) implementation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).
“Indonesia’s efforts to achieve equitable digital require collaboration from all stakeholders. Stakeholders in the digital economy ecosystem include startup and conventional companies, governments, investors, and the public. Forms of collaboration can be directed at equalizing digitization efforts, strengthening business fundamentals, and implementing sustainability strategies through ESG. These actions are expected to increase efficiency in creating added value that supports the occurrence of digital economic equality which will lead to an increase in the national economy as a whole,” said Radju Munusamy, Partner and NextLevel Leader PwC Indonesia.
Continue Reading: Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund/HSBC JUMPSTARTER 2023 Open for Application
