Hannover Messe 2021 Provides Indonesia with Momentum to Showcase its Industry 4.0 Readiness

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s participation as an official partner country of the Hannover Messe 2021: Digital Edition trade fair in Hannover, Germany is part of the country’s efforts to implement its Industry 4.0 transformation under its Making Indonesia 4.0 plan.

Indonesia’s participation in the event, which is the largest industrial technology expo in the world, is aimed at bolstering its image of an emerging economic power and essential player in the global manufacturing industry.

Hannover Messe is the world’s most prestigious industrial trade expo, running since 1947, and offers strong international exposure to its participants. Over 6,500 participants from 75 countries took part in the 2019 edition of Hannover Messe.

According to Industry Minister (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, this partnership can serve as a momentum for Indonesia to showcase the capabilities of its manufacturing industry, helping it edge closer towards the Industry 4.0 era.

The main initiative of the Making Indonesia 4.0 program is to secure Indonesia’s place as one of the world’s 10 biggest economies by 2030 by achieving three main goals: having its exports contribute at least 10% to its gross domestic product (GDP), increasing its productivity rate by 2X against costs, and increasing research and development (R&D) contributions to the GDP. 

Seven sectors within its manufacturing industry will be given development priority due to their large contributions to the economy. These sectors include food & beverage, textiles and clothing, the automotive sector, electronics, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment production. These sectors contribute up to 70% of the manufacturing industry’s overall contribution to the GDP. Its exports contribute 65% to the industry’s exports and employ 60% of the industry’s total workers.

“The Industry Ministry (Kemenperin) will conduct several strategies to ensure the success of Making Indonesia 4.0, including improving the flow of material goods, redesigning industrial zones, accommodating standard sustainability practices, empowering small-to-medium scale industries (IKM), strengthen the national digital infrastructure, attract more foreign investment, improve the quality of the industry’s workers, foster an innovation-friendly ecosystem, introduce technology investment incentives and aligning relevant policies to this goal,” the Minister said in a written statement on Sunday (11/4).

According to Minister Agus, Indonesia will use this partnership with Hannover Messe to showcase the might of its industrial technologies and improve Indonesia’s role in the global supply network.

“Furthermore, we are hoping that the transfer of technological knowledge at Hannover Messe 2021 will be beneficial to our industries. We can use this event as a platform to showcase the fruits of our digital sector’s acceleration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is where our Industry 4.0 revolution can find its momentum,” he added.

The Minister also noted that up to 140,000 global decisionmakers will be present at the event. “And because this expo will be held mostly digitally, it would be easier for participants to maximize their online presence and interact with prospective customers and clients while still abiding by COVID-19 prevention protocols,” he said.

At Hannover Messe 2021: Digital Edition, Indonesia will have a chance to showcase on its digital expo, conference and networking sessions. Up to 156 exhibitors from government institutions, state-owned companies (BUMN), universities and private sector companies will make up the Indonesian delegation. 

These exhibitors include 65 large-scale companies, 63 startups, 14 BUMNs, 8 industrial zones, 4 ministries and government institutions and 2 industry associations. From the 156 participants, 93 are new registrants while 63 were registrants that were due to participate in Hannover Messe 2020 before the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe.

In preparation for the event, the government forged several partnerships of both the Government to Government (G2G) and Business to Business (B2B) nature.

Hannover Messe 2021 will feature various presentations on product digitalization and hold conferences and business matchmaking sessions on software development.

“We hope that these sessions help foster investment, industrial partnerships and business agreements. We also hope that by participating in this event, Indonesia will become more attractive in the global industrial eye,” Minister Agus said.