EV-DCI 2024: Examining the digital potential of Indonesia’s regions

The East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index (EV-DCI) 2024 report has again mapped the digital competitiveness of Indonesia’s provinces and cities.

The latest report shows that several provinces are considered to have prospective digital potential, including East Java, Yogyakarta, Bali, Riau Islands, East Kalimantan, North Sumatra, Central Java, Gorontalo, and Southeast Sulawesi.

East Java

East Java ranked third in the EV-DCI 2024 report, with the Infrastructure and Human Resources pillars contributing the most to the score. Thanks to cooperation with PLN Icon Plus, internet coverage in the province has reached 78 percent, while the quality of human resources is improved through the Digital Leadership Academy (DLA) 2023 and Millennial Job Center (MJC) programs, which prepare youth for competition in the job market.

Riau Islands

The digital capacity of human resources is an issue that Riau province is still facing. The EV-DCI 2024 report revealed that human resources in the Riau Islands have not yet taken on the role of creators but are still considered technology users. To address this, the provincial government together with organizations such as Apple, IBM, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) formed a digital academy in Nongsa.

East Kalimantan

Support is needed for MSME players in East Kalimantan to go digital. To address this, the provincial government, in collaboration with the private sector, has initiated MSME capacity-building programs such as the Shopee Campus and the procurement of MSME e-catalogs. According to the East Kalimantan Disperindagkop UKM, thanks to these initiatives, digital MSMEs in the province increase by 10 percent every year.

North Sumatra

North Sumatra’s problems are digitalization and weak product marketing carried out by MSME players. To overcome these, the provincial government held the Fast Track Digitalization (FTD) 1000 KUMKM Bermartabat program to make KUMKM actors reliable digital marketers.

Gorontalo

Gorontalo has great potential with the presence of young talents who graduated from SMK, D3, and D4. Responding to this, Gorontalo Diskominfo has been conducting the Remaja Cakap Digital (Recak Digital) program since 2022, involving 18 schools and 800 high school/vocational school students to prepare human resources who are responsive in the digital space. In addition, in 2023, the Vocational School Graduate Academy (VSGA) was opened as part of the Ministry of Communication and Information’s DTS program, aimed at vocational school alumni and unemployed D3 and D4 students, to improve vocational skills in the fields of digital, communication, informatics, and telecommunications.

Southeast Sulawesi

Entrepreneurship and Productivity is one of the pillars with the highest increase. To make it easier for MSMEs to conduct sales promotions, Kendari City Government presents the Community Information Community E-commerce platform (EcoKIM). This platform can also be used to apply for bank loans and payments via QRIS.

Provinces with the greatest digital challenges

Highland Papua, Central Papua and South Papua still face digital challenges, with only 33.4 percent of Maluku and Papua regions having strong cellular signals, far behind Java with 90.6 percent. The EV-DCI 2024 report recommends that the government encourage the expansion of companies to the regions through incentives and subsidies, as well as the simplification of regional regulations, especially in the supporting infrastructure sector, to attract investors.

The East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index 2024 report can be downloaded at east.vc/DCI.

---

The original article was published on Katadata.co.id, 30 September 2024.