Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information is renewing its 1000 Digital Startup Movement, an initiative that was started in 2016.
According to a recent press release, the initiative, which is now called the 1001 Digital Startup Movement, will encourage the development of digital pilot companies.
Doing so will develop a digital economy ecosystem that will help catapult Indonesia to become a Digital Energy in Asia.
The development of a digital ecosystem requires collaboration among all involved parties such as the telecommunications operators, the communities, the co-working spaces, the academics, and the various government institutions.
1001 Digital Startup Movement
The numerical 1001 in the initiative’s name does not refer to the target number of start-ups they wish to establish.
Instead, the characters that consist of the binary numbers 0 and 1 symbolise the adoption of digitisation.
1001, which are binary numbers, represent going digital, which will build 1000 dreams, 1000 works and 1000 solutions for 1 Indonesia.
As compared to the initial program, this version will focus on expanding the scale of coverage and improving the quality of its start-up development activities.
It will also revise the program curriculum to centre more on incubation activity.
Additionally, it will target a wider reach of 15 cities throughout Indonesia, which all meet the criteria of having universities with many students.
As reported, the program was conducted in ten major cities around the country during its first run.
These cities included Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Malang, Medan, Bali, Makassar, and Pontianak.
Participants from these cities joined several events and activities such as meet-ups, workshops, hackathons, boot camps and incubation programs.
Five cities around the country will be added to the roster, for this version, and these cities are Batam, Lombok, Padang, Balikpapan, and Manado.
Managing the Potential
There is a huge potential for Indonesia’s digital industry as its digital economy is estimated to reach US$ 130 billion, with an annual growth rate reaching 50%.
Digital economy is not just about having new technology, but a new world order. The movement is not a school. Rather, it is an effort to create a digital economic ecosystem.
This ecosystem will provide start-ups with opportunities to find solutions in everyday problems, such as those in agriculture, education, and health.
Mutual cooperation
Mutual cooperation will encourage participation of all parties. A series of events and agendas have been lined up that will involve digital start-ups.
At present, there are over 2,500 digital start-ups in Indonesia. Through these events, they will be able to grow and increase the number.
The number of problems that require solutions is directly proportional to the number of digital needed to solve them.
Hence, an increase in the number of problems would require an increase in the number of digital start-ups to be developed.
It all boils down to mutual cooperation from all, which is the spirit of this whole program.