Minister of Communication and Digital of the Republic of Indonesia Meutya Viada Hafid, B.Eng.,M.IP attended the Open Plenary Session of the Board of Trustees of the 62nd Anniversary of Universitas Brawijaya (UB), Sunday (05/01/2025). In the Samantha Krida building, in front of UB academic community, she delivered a scientific oration “Digital Economy: Opportunities and Challenges Towards a Golden Indonesia”.
The world of economics has entered a new dimension known as the digital economy, which is the foundation for structural change to shape the future. Digital government services are one of the president’s focuses and require a good level of security and service integration.
“Communication and Digital (Komdigi) is open to being assisted by UB academics in order to create a safe and reliable national data center system,” said Meutya.
She continued, Indonesia has the ambition to become a developed country with the fifth largest economy in the world by 2045. Therefore, there needs to be economic growth of more than six percent each year.
Meutya hopes that digital transformation will become the main backbone of Indonesia’s economic growth, considering its very high potential. Indonesia’s digital economy is projected to grow fourfold by 2030, which not only involves the large business sector, but also empowers 64.2 million MSMEs.
Indonesia’s digital economy depends on strengthening three pillars, namely infrastructure (network speed, network speed, data center infrastructure), digital human resources, and governance. The strategic steps taken include advancing the national digital ecosystem, strengthening research and innovation, and developing cross-sector partnerships to expand technology adoption.
“UB has many high-quality human resources, we hope that it will not only stop at the university environment, but we encourage UB to carry out tasks outside the university scope, including helping to build the nation by producing quality human resources in the digital field,” she said.
On this occasion, Meutya Hafid inaugurated UB AI Center, signed the AI Center plaque, and submitted a Microsoft AI Training commitment sheet for UB. She also witnessed the handover of Komdigi and Microsoft commitments from the Head of BPSDM to UB Rector.
“In facing the digital revolution, a multihelix collaborative partnership involving academics, government, business actors, and digital communities is needed. We must develop this collaboration to encourage the development of the digital economy, not only in Malang but throughout Indonesia. I am proud to be part of the launch of the AI Center at the first university to have an AI Center in Indonesia,” she said.
This activity was combined with the Declaration of Anti-Online Gambling and Illegal Online Loans by UB Rector which was submitted to the Minister of Communication and Digital. This activity is a form of UB’s support to the government in combating negative content that lowers economic and moral values. [Irene/ UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
