Narasumber Road To IDF Semarang

Being on the international shipping lanes has caused Batam to grow into a city of investment and trade. Investments do not only flow in from within the country but also from overseas such as China, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, South Africa, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. New industries are developing, in line with the increasing flow of the investment.



Bisnis.com wrote that the investment in Riau Islands Province - which are mostly placed in Batam - in 2018 was estimated to reach IDR 69.59 trillion or an 8.63 percent increase compared to that in 2017. One of the reasons for this significant increase was the ease in obtaining licenses as a Public Service Mall (PSM) located in the Sumatra Convention Center Building has been established to support delivery of such services.



“PSM offers integrated services, helping investors solve their problems straightforwardly," said the State-Owned Enterprises Minister, Rini Soemarno, during a visit to PSM in Batam, mid-April last year, as quoted from Beritasatu.com.



Established since November 2017, PSM is able to serve around 1,000 visitors every day. PSM offers 433 types of public services, ranging from police services, banking, land, tax, immigration, marriage affairs, licensing services, and various basic services.



Services provided by PSM, which have been made integrated and technology-based, using facilities such as the non-cash payments, have resulted in a more transparent and efficient service delivery mechanism. This support for obtaining licenses and conducting business has encouraged small and medium micro businesses in Batam to grow massively. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics states that the number of MSMEs has reached 75 thousand. Some of these new MSMEs have emerged from the tourism sector.



"MSMEs are able to touch the lowest layers of society to become a force to move the people's economy," said Bambang Purwanto, the fifth member of the Deputy Public Service Agency of the Batam Entrepreneurial Agency, as reported by Batampos .co.id mid-October 2018.



BP Batam is fostering MSMEs in the creative field and supporting the tourism business in the Riau Islands. Examples are the development of batik villages, production of Batam souvenirs, the establishment of Batam culinary centres, art studios, local culture, religion, history, marine tourism, and empowerment of fishing villages.



Public Service Malls and the synergy of Batam Government with the business owners constitute one example of good practices in improving the investment climate and increasing ease of doing business. This is one of the reasons why the 2019 Road to Indonesia Development Forum was held in Batam City on February 21, 2019.



Develop Industry 4.0, Strengthen Vocational Education



Digital technology and the presence of foreign investors have motivated pushed the city of Batam to switch to industry 4.0. This industrial era is marked by the application of remotely controlled machines operated using the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, or AI (Artificial Intelligence).


"Therefore it is necessary to develop a skilled workforce that is produced through vocational education and training which has undergone fundamental changes," said Deputy Chairperson of the Kepri Industrial Zone Association (HKI), Tjaw Hoeing, as quoted from Batampos.co.id, early February 2019.



To achieve that, Riau Islands’ HKI consisting of 119 manufacturing companies, has entered into a cooperation agreement with 31 Vocational High Schools. Collaboration is not only to build industrial competency-based vocational education but also to restructure expertise programs and curricula in educational units to meet with industrial needs, as well as the development of industrial competence infrastructure.



Examples of such collaboration can be seen in SMK Negeri 1 Batam which collaborates with PT Schneider Electric Indonesia and PT Epcos Indonesia or SMK Negeri 6 Batam with PT Citra Tubindo and other schools that have similar collaboration with companies.


"The target in the future is not only Batam but also all over Riau Islands Province," he hoped.



Not just through school institutions, strengthening vocational education is also carried out through workshops and job training. An example is what was done by Infinite Studios Batam, a creative company which has been intensively educating talented workers as animators since 2016.



The animation studio that once collaborated with the Hollywood film industry was even willing to share knowledge with talents from outside Batam with no age limit. This training is motivated by an increase in the need for quality animators. The animators are not only needed by Infinite Studio, but also by other studios in Indonesia and abroad.



"We often make animation schools free of charge to the public," said Public Relations Infinite Studios Batam, Bella, to Tribun Batam, early April 2018.



Participation from industry to improve vocational education is indeed expected by the government to open up future employment opportunities. Minister of National Development Planning / Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Bambang Brodjonegoro, said the government focuses on improving the vocational education system to create a productive and quality workforce.



"The progress of vocational education cannot be made by the government alone, but it needs to involve the business world," said Minister Bambang when launching the Indonesia Development Forum 2019 at Bappenas Office, January 29, 2019.



IDF 2019 which is held by Bappenas is supported by the Australian Government through the Knowledge Sector Initiative. IDF 2019 takes the theme Mission Possible:  Seizing the Opportunities of Future Work to Drive Inclusive Growth. Since it was first held in 2017, IDF has encouraged solutions for economic development and inclusive growth by promoting research-based policies and good practices.