Minister Urges Innovation and Adaptation to Embrace Technological Advancement

Jakarta, INTI - Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Budi Arie Setiadi, emphasizes that innovation and adaptation are crucial in facing the rapidly evolving technological landscape in the digital era.

"Technology cannot be fought against its progress, nor can it be hindered. Who would want to obstruct technological advancement? That's why we must remain optimistic. And the key words ultimately boil down to just two: innovation and adaptation," he asserted during a visit to the Office of PT Ajaib Teknologi Indonesia (Ajaib) at the Indonesia Stock Exchange Building, South Jakarta, on Monday (13/05/2024).

Minister Budi Arie cited the evolution of communication methods from pagers to SMS, and now to instant messaging applications. This demonstrates how new technology can render the use of older technology obsolete. Another example is the ever-changing landscape of social media platforms popularly used by the public, and the threat posed to e-commerce platforms by the emergence of social commerce.

"Everything disrupts everything else, there will be disruption, then disruption again. So, don't be surprised if people in the world of technology are constantly innovating," he remarked.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo) views technological advancements as enabling digitalization across all sectors of life.

"Soon, everything will be digital because the essence of digital is speed. Making an ID card used to take a month, now it takes a second. That's why digitalization accelerates all life processes," he explained.

According to Minister Budi Arie, Indonesia is also undergoing accelerated digitalization supported by four pillars: digital infrastructure, digital governance, digital economy, and digital society.

"The latter is crucial, which is a digital society. We need to prepare this digital society," he emphasized.

Kominfo assesses that Indonesian society is currently quite adaptive to change. However, it still requires a longer time compared to societies in developed countries to adapt.

"Our level of adaptation, according to the latest McKinsey survey, is somewhat slow. In Indonesia, it takes 6 months to a year to adapt, compared to Germany and Europe, where it only takes a month," he clarified.

Therefore, Minister Budi Arie stresses that the government continues to strive to enhance digital literacy among the public to be ready for future technological disruptions.

"We need to accelerate our development so that adaptation happens faster because the key lies in those two things I mentioned earlier: innovation and adaptation," he concluded.