Digital technology has the potential to create new jobs for 20-45 million workers in Indonesia, according to the Indonesian National Development Planning Minister and Head of the National Planning and Development Agency (Bappenas) Suharso Monoarfa. Addressing the Statistical Society Forum, Monoarfa said Indonesia has experienced digitalisation which is projected to create new types of jobs for 20-45 million vacancies.
Indonesia must conduct economic transformation in the post-COVID-19 period, such as by improving the skills of Indonesian workers so that the national economy will not only recover but also grow higher beyond 5% per year.
In addition to the use of digital technology, the economy should be developed in a more inclusive and sustainable way so that Indonesia can achieve its Net Zero Emissions target by 2060, he added. Economic recovery alone is not enough to lift the trajectory of the economy, so it is necessary to speed up economic transformation in order to both restore and lift the economy higher, the minister affirmed.
According to Monoarfa, in 2023, the Indonesia n government is optimistic of economic growth starting to accelerate or being higher than the target in 2022, which ranges from 5.3 to 5.9% year-on-year, thus helping the Southeast Asian nation maintain its status as an upper-middle-income country.
While Indonesia has one of the fastest-growing digital economies in South East Asia, action is needed to ensure that all Indonesians, especially the most vulnerable, can access various digital technologies and services and realise the benefits. Although the accelerated adoption of internet-enabled services during the pandemic is likely to boost the growth of the digital economy, the benefits of such development could be unequal.
For Indonesia to leverage digital technologies for greater inclusion, the new report emphasises three policy priorities. The first is to boost digital connectivity and universalize access to high-quality internet through efforts such as improving the clarity of regulations around the sharing of telecom infrastructure.
The second priority is to ensure that the digital economy works for all. This can be supported by better logistics and greater investment in relevant skills for the digital era. The third priority is using digital technologies to provide better public services, improve the quality of citizen-and-state interactions, and build trust in the digital world.
Despite the progress in expanding the internet over the past decade, the basic connectivity gap remains a major hurdle in Indonesia. Almost half of the adult population is still without access while the urban-rural connectivity divide has not narrowed. In 2019, 62% of Indonesian adults in urban areas were connected to the internet compared to 36% in rural areas, while it was 20% and 6% respectively in 2011. Indonesians in the top 10% of the income distribution were five times more likely to be connected than those in the bottom 10%.
Digitally engaged Indonesians are now experiencing how technologies reshape their lives and commercial activities contributing to a better consumer experience. However, the opportunities are often limited to a particular demographic group with a relatively higher level of skills. Digital gig work is more remunerative than other forms of informal work but is concentrated among urban male workers predominantly in the transportation, storage, and communications sector.
The report recommends the development of a national digital ID framework to enable Indonesians to prove their identity securely online, including a law on personal data protection that is backed by an independent oversight body. It calls for a reorientation from a narrow focus on e-government to a more comprehensive national digital transformation agenda.
Two Frameworks of Cooperation, one in the digital economy and another in the green economy have been fundamentally concluded by the two nations through Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and Malaysia’s Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“The Frameworks of Cooperation in both the digital economy and green economy mark a milestone in the long-standing and multifaceted partnership between Singapore and Malaysia. The Agreements lay the foundation for further cooperation between both countries across various areas of the green and digital economies in Singapore and Malaysia, to deliver tangible benefits to our communities and businesses,” says Minister Gan.
The Cooperation Frameworks serve as the foundation for future bilateral initiatives in the digital and green economies. Singapore and Malaysia have also agreed to work together to sign both Cooperation Frameworks by the end of 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused technological disruption and accelerated digitalisation, significantly altering consumer behaviours and business models while opening up new opportunities.
Singapore and Malaysia will foster greater interoperability and collaboration in the digital economy to capture the next phase of growth.
The Framework for Cooperation in the Digital Economy will facilitate increased collaboration in a variety of areas, including:
This will open a broader range of opportunities for businesses, workers, and communities in both countries.
Singapore and Malaysia will strengthen their collaboration in the green economy to decarbonise industries and enable businesses and workers to capitalise on emerging opportunities.
Both countries have agreed to collaborate on next-generation mobility under the Framework of Cooperation in Green Economy, which includes:
The 12th Malaysia Plan’s objectives of boosting green businesses, lowering pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and conserving natural resources are all in line with the areas of cooperation in the green economy that has been agreed upon, Dato’ Seri Azmin stressed.
The Senior Minister also reaffirmed that this effort is being made as part of the Malaysian Government’s initiative to hasten the transition of the local manufacturing sector, particularly SMEs, to ESG and green economy, allowing them to integrate into regional and global supply chains; strengthening supply chain resilience; and meeting the growing demand of local consumers for ESG-compliant products.
Through this collaboration, the two nations can share their best methods for measuring carbon emissions from the manufacturing sector.
In keeping with the MyDigital Agenda, he also expressed confidence that the Digital Economy Framework will further enable companies to digitally integrate their activities globally, improving economic competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the Enabling Masterplan 2030 (EMP2030), which outlines Singapore’s vision for an inclusive society in 2030, was just made public.
The EMP2030, Singapore’s fourth Enabling Masterplan, was developed by a 27-member Steering Committee and includes 29 recommendations organised around three strategic themes and 14 focal areas that address the various life stages and needs of people with disabilities and their caregivers.
The government has accepted all EMP2030’s recommendations and will work with partners in the public and private sectors to put them into action. The following are some highlights from the recommendations and selected implementation plans:
Singapore believes that everyone has a role to play in creating a fair and inclusive society, one in which people with disabilities can pursue their dreams, reach their full potential, and participate as integral and contributing members of society.
Foreign firms shall be required to store users’ data in Vietnam and set up local offices, according to a government decree (No. 53/2022/ND-CP), scheduled to take place from the beginning of October 2022.
Under the decree, which details the implementation of the Cybersecurity Law coming into force in 2019, must-be-stored data belonging to and created by users in Vietnam includes account names, credit card information, email and IP addresses, service use time, most recent logins, registered phone numbers, and friends and groups users interact with online. Further, financial records, biometric data, and information on a user’s ethnicity and political views must be stored within Vietnamese territory.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), the data must be stored for at least 24 months, and system logs for criminal investigation purposes must be stored for at least 12 months. Firms will have 12 months to set up local data storage and local offices following the reception of instructions from the Minister of Public Security.
The decree will apply to telecommunication service providers and businesses that store and share data in cyberspace or provide national or international domain names for users in Vietnam. Also, e-commerce players, payment intermediaries, transport connection services operating in cyberspace, social media, online video gaming services, and messaging and voice or video call services.
In June, MIC stated that to ensure information security for information systems and Vietnam’s cyberspace, it would strengthen monitoring and proactive scanning, evaluate statistics, and issue warnings in the mass media so that users know and avoid the risk of cyber-attacks.
Earlier this month, the government issued a national cybersecurity strategy in response to cyberspace challenges till 2025 with a vision towards 2030. The strategy targets to maintain Vietnam’s ranking on the global cybersecurity index from 25th-30th by 2025. MIC has laid out the major tasks and solutions in the strategy, including strengthening the overall management of the state over cybersecurity, completing legal frameworks, and protecting national sovereignty in cyberspace.
As OpenGov Asia reported, the government will work to safeguard digital infrastructure, platforms, data, and national cyberinfrastructure. It will protect the information systems of state agencies as well as crucial sectors that need to be prioritised to ensure information security. Through the strategy, the country will foster digital trust and build an honest, civilized, and healthy network environment. It will prevent and combat law violations in cyberspace and enhance technological mastery and autonomy to actively cope with cyberspace challenges.
The government will train and develop human resources in cybersecurity, raise awareness about cybersecurity skills, and work to secure funding to implement cybersecurity initiatives. The strategy also aims to improve national prestige and foster international integration.
Meanwhile, incident response teams of 11 priority sectors for network information security will be formed. The key areas include transport, energy, natural resources and environment, information, health, finance, banking, defence, security, social order and safety, urban areas, and the government’s direction and administration.
According to a report released by the ITU in June 2021, Vietnam jumped 25 places after two years to rank 25th out of 194 countries and territories worldwide in the GCI in 2020. Vietnam ranked 7th in the Asia-Pacific region and 4th among ASEAN countries in the field.
Australia’s largest multi-trades hub is open for business with more than 3,000 carpentry, plumbing, and electrotechnology students learning the latest industry skills at TAFE NSW Meadowbank. The region’s Premier officially opened the new AU$ 157 million state-of-the-art facility which will revolutionise vocational education and training and create a pipeline of skilled and job-ready workers.
The new facility will bolster local training options and support the growing demand for construction trades, which will help grow the economy and secure a brighter future for NSW families.
The new custom-built Hub will enable TAFE NSW to train an additional 1,000 apprentices for in-demand jobs each year at Meadowbank, in a modern, state-of-the-art learning environment. Interestingly, the government has seen a 20% increase in women undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship in the last year, with an 8% increase overall. The Minister for Skills and Training stated that the Multi-Trades Hub is a game changer for TAFE NSW and forms part of the broader Meadowbank Education and Employment Precinct.
The NSW Government’s record budget for TAFE NSW is delivering more opportunities than ever before to help people get the skills, they need for the jobs they want, and this world-class facility is training students for future jobs and connecting them with local industries. The 12,000 square-metre facility features dedicated plumbing pits and a large-scale, flexible space to accommodate the construction of full-scale buildings for use in carpentry and electrotechnology training.
The Member for Ryde stated that the Multi-Trades Hub has been delivered as part of the new TAFE NSW Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) at Meadowbank, which will be a cutting-edge training facility focusing on digital technology.
Ryde is transforming into an education and employment powerhouse, and this new training space will help attract, retain and upskill local workers, which is a win for the community, the Member said. He also said that the completion of the revolutionary new IAT early next year will complement the Multi-Trades Hub and create one of the state’s leading TAFE NSW training facilities.
Recent research notes that the global digital workplace market size is expected to grow from US$ 22.7 billion in 2020 to US$ 72.2 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.3% over the forecast period. The main factors that are expected to drive the growth of the market are the availability of new technologies and tools and employees’ demand for greater flexibility in terms of work-life balance.
Organisations that are working to adopt digital workplace market solutions to enhance employee experience through a simpler and more flexible work style, helping and retaining more experienced and expert workers. However, the lack of training and required education among the workforce is expected to limit the market growth.
The COVID-19 pandemic positively impacted the digital workplace market growth. This can be attributed to the increase in the demand for cloud-based business continuity tools and the rise in the adoption of business continuity tools and workplace solutions due to COVID-19. However, lowered industry spending due to COVID-19 is expected to impact the adoption of digital workplace solutions and services.
SMEs that adopt digital workplace solutions incur a competitive advantage in the industry via increased productivity, cost savings, a more mobile and agile workforce, increased flexibility, and adaptability in the marketplace. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) must focus on their business operations and growth and improve their strength in their domain of business.
The City of Philadelphia cited that since it started PHLConnectED in the summer of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has helped 22,500 people get online in the last two years. Thus, PHLConnectED, the city’s project to give free internet connection to pre-K–12 kids in need, has been extended for another year.
“The connections enabled by PHLConnectED have helped thousands of students take part in virtual learning, access online resources, and connect with their peers and teachers. By connecting our students’ households, we are investing in Philadelphia’s present and future,” says Mayor Jim Kenney.
He added that as Philadelphia prepares to return to school, they must ensure that students have access to the internet to get the most out of their education.
PHLConnectED and other low-cost internet access programmes were found to have a positive impact on the communities, according to Philadelphia’s 2021 report on digital access.
PHLConnectED has supported broad digital equity initiatives, in addition to funding connectivity for enrolled families, over the last year, including:
PHLConnectED and its partners will continue to provide internet access to all eligible students in grades pre-K-12.
PHLConnectED is one of the initiatives in the City of Philadelphia’s Digital Equity Plan, which aims to help the city achieve a baseline of digital equity over the next five years. Internet access, devices, and digital literacy are the three pillars of digital equity.
PHLConnectED provides eligible pre-K-12 student households in Philadelphia with free, dependable internet service until summer 2023. Participants incur no out-of-pocket costs or installation fees.
The initiative will also give training and support for digital skills. United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey manages 211 hotlines, community-based outreach, and the Digital Navigator service as the program’s Coordinating Agent.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Undersecretary of Defence for Research and Engineering, Heidi Shyu, outlined 14 priority technological areas for the Defence Department earlier this year. Among these include biotechnology, the development and storage of renewable energy, and directed energy.
However, the recently approved $54.2 billion CHIPS Act promotes another of the department’s key priorities, microelectronics.
She stated that the CHIPS Act provides both investment and incentive financing to construct semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States and to boost national and regional research and development operations.
In addition, the law contains substantial funding for a national research and development centre, an advanced package manufacturing programme, and up to three manufacturing institutes for semiconductor-related production in the United States. Consequently, investment in all fourteen technology fields is essential to preserving U.S. national security.
Quantum science; future-generation wireless technology; advanced materials; trusted artificial intelligence and autonomy; integrated network systems-of-systems; microelectronics; space technology; advanced computing and software; human-machine interfaces; hypersonics; and integrated sensing and cyber are the eleven other critical technology areas outlined by Defense Undersecretary Shyu.
The United States Department of Defence is strategizing on these investments and collaborating with other companies to prioritise the requirements in these emerging areas.
Deputy Secretary of Defence Dr Kathleen Hicks thanked lawmakers for their bipartisan support, which resulted in the Senate passing the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) legislation.
She stated that the CHIPS Act is critical to the national security of the United States. It will aid in the security of the semiconductor supply chain, which is the starting point for effectively competing with other countries for ground-breaking technologies.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Malaysia’s fastest-growing bidding platform announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). The cooperation and collaboration between the two entities in areas of technology, cybersecurity and data science.
Speaking on behalf of UTM, Prof. Datuk Ts. Dr Ahmad Fauzi stated that the University is looking forward to this collaboration, to which its expertise and research can immensely contribute. The University also recently conducted profound research, especially in Web 3.0 and cybersecurity.
The University will provide robust solutions for the firm while collaborating on real-world research, not only for the university’s betterment but also for the company. In this regard, the University extended its thanks and appreciation to the firm for this opportunity on collaborating with one of the country’s leading and fastest-growing tech platforms.
Echoing the Vice-Chancellor and the Chief Executive Officer of the partnering company stated that the far-reaching and enterprising collaboration between both the two that will start with developing tech solutions and platforms concerning cybersecurity. This includes Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology, Web 3.0 technology as well as areas on Data Analysis and Data Science.
This is the first collaboration for UTM on the e-auction/bidding technology platform. The partnership will be a milestone for the two parties for possible commercialisation in digital sciences and technology. The collaboration will also include other areas such as curriculum design, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Products arising as part of the collaboration will be jointly promoted and marketed, which will also involve commercialising UTM’s research products.
Additionally, the collaboration will also provide employees of the firm and its subsidiaries enrolment opportunities in UTM degree and non-degree programmes, as well as academic and leadership exchange placements in the university. Conversely, UTM academicians and students will have opportunities for industry placements as well as internships and training at the firm and its subsidiaries.
Malaysia is on course to achieve a digital economy contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) of at least 25.5% by 2025, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy). He said, nevertheless, the country lives in a dynamic and competitive environment today, beset with uncertainties.
“We have much to do to meet the aspirations of the MyDIGITAL initiative, to transform Malaysia into a digitally-enabled and technology-driven high-income nation, and a regional leader in the digital economy,” he said in his opening remarks at a virtual dialogue titled Growing the Digital Economy with an Enabling Regulatory Environment earlier this year.
A key feature of the MyDIGITAL initiative that is crucial to its success is the whole-of-nation approach that it has adopted. Under this approach, the participation of all stakeholders is urged to enable the nation to realise the benefits and overcome the challenges of digitalisation.
The aim of this approach is to work together, to achieve the vision and objectives set in the blueprint and 4IR policy while ensuring no one is left behind, and key economic, social, and environmental challenges are recognised and addressed.
In 2020, the digital economy contributed 22.6% of the country’s GDP. E-commerce experienced significant growth of 26.5%, with the e-commerce income of businesses seeing a jump of 17.1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021, amounting to RM 279 billion.
Through the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), a division of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand has developed a digital platform tag as Navanurak aims to support the collection and conservation of cultural heritage in the nation.
Navanurak is a platform for the administration and transmission of knowledge about culture and biodiversity, according to Dr Thepchai Supnithi, Director of NECTEC Artificial Intelligence Research Group. He added that the platform enables users to preserve natural or cultural assets by adding descriptive text to the database along with multimedia files like images, videos, and audio recordings for each object.
NECTEC is creating a knowledge management tool for historic homebuilders and conservators through the Navanurak society and culture platform, fusing technology and innovation to actualize the Bio-Circular-Green Model (BCG) for the growth of the creative economy.
The platform will allow specialised professionals to gain comprehensive bodies of knowledge, expand opportunities for adapting traditional know-how to modern purposes, and upskill Thai conservation building craftsmanship toward high-quality heritage protection. The platform also aims to create a nationwide guild of heritage conservation professionals.
With this, the platform will support the preservation of the Satun Geopark, Thailand’s first UNESCO Global Geopark, which is in the south of Thailand and encompasses four districts of Satun Province: Thung Wa, Manang, La-Ngu, and Muang.
Satun Geopark is well known for its beautiful beach, limestone mountain ranges, caves, and network of islands that attract local and international tourists, in addition to being the site of Paleozoic Era marine fossils dating back 545 to 245 million years ago. It is also home to indigenous people who have a rich culture and local knowledge. Satun Geopark was designated a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2018 in recognition of its importance in geology, ecology, and culture.
NSTDA launched multiple projects to uncover biodiversity, local wisdom, and cultural heritage in Satun Geopark and use the information to promote conservation, education, and tourism to preserve Satun Geopark’s natural and cultural heritage. Extensive research has been carried out by research teams, and organisms and cultural heritage discovered because of the studies have been archived in Navanurak.
This initiative is part of the Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) initiative, which calls for the creation of a digital database of bioresources, cultural capital, and local wisdom to aid in conservation, restoration, and utilisation efforts to strengthen the local economy and tourism industry.
The platform provides access to a diverse set of data and sources on art and culture, traditional wisdom, and biodiversity, as well as spaces for organisations and the general public, to freely store and disseminate their information.
NAVANURAK supports a variety of data forms and has an Open Access data policy to maximise visitors’ abilities to learn, share, exchange, and use knowledge to create new things that benefit the economy, such as conservation-based tourism, job creation, income generation, and community-led sustainable development.
The knowledge of archaeological sites, historic buildings, and towns is critical to the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage sites. This information, however, remains limited and dispersed across various institutes and agencies, as well as stored in formats that pose challenges to public access.
By customising the Navanurak platform for knowledge management suited to the demands of conservation experts and for co-organizing conservation-related contests, such as a timber heritage conservation project competition, a traditional carpentry competition, among others.
It is anticipated that these activities will improve public awareness of conservation careers and expand professional capability in preparation for the soon-to-be-announced formation of Thailand’s first guild of heritage conservation artists.
The Maya-3 and Maya-4 were the first Filipino cube satellites (CubeSats) constructed in a local university setting It was planned and established by the pioneer batch of scholars beneath the Space Science and Technology Proliferation through University Partnerships tag as the STeP-UP project of the STAMINA4Space Programme.
“Maya-3 and Maya-4 were pivotal in the development of the local space industry. These CubeSats are experimental and educational platforms, and while all low earth orbiting satellites will eventually fall to earth, what matters more are the lasting intangibles that the project brought – knowledge, skill, partnerships, and confidence that we can do it,” says Dr Maricor Soriano, programme leader of STAMINA4Space Programme.
The bus systems of Maya-3 and Maya-4 are based on those of Maya-1, but the antenna board has been improved. One of the jobs of both satellites is to carry a commercial off-the-shelf APRS-Digipeater Payload Demonstration (APRS-DP mission), which uses packet radio technology to send information over amateur radio. The only thing that made the missions of the two CubeSats different was that Maya-4 had a near-infrared camera attached to it.
Both CubeSats could send APRS beacons to ten different countries at different times. Different amateur radio operators from 8 different countries were also able to use the satellites to send and receive signals. Thus, Maya-3 and Maya-4 satellites showed that the country can make satellites on its own.
On the other hand, Engineer Paul Jason Co, who oversees the STeP-UP project, said that the Maya-3 and Maya-4 engineers are likely to work in the country’s space industry. He also talked about the future of the space industry since the Maya-5 and Maya-6 are coming up and will be continued by the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) through the Advancing Core Competencies and Expertise in Space Studies Nanosat Project, also called as ACCESS Project.
Maya-3 and Maya-4 were built as part of the STeP-UP project of the STAMINA4Space Programme. This project is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and is run by the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) and the DOST Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI).
Moreover, the nanosatellite development track of the Master of Science (MS) or Master of Engineering (MEng) programme of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute of the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD-EEEI) is also run in partnership with an institute in Japan and with scholarship support from the Department of Science and Technology’s Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI).
One of the goals of the STAMINA4Space Programme is to grow the local space industry. This can be done by building cube satellites in the area. Maya-3 and Maya-4 were created because of what the Philippines learned and how they did things while working on a project with a technology institute in Japan.
The second group of students working on the STeP-UP Project are building two more CubeSats called Maya-5 and Maya-6. They are based on Maya-2 and are set to launch in 2023.
The Space Technology Applications Mastery, Innovation, and Advancement (STAMINA4Space) Programme is funded by the Department of Science and Technology, monitored by DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development, and implemented by DOST’s Advanced Science and Technology Institute and the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD).
In addition, it seeks to cultivate knowledge that supports and sustains the creation of a Philippine scientific-industrial basis in space technology and applications.
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