Innovation: Key to Foster Development in Underdeveloped Regencies: Case Studies from Pandeglang and Lebak in Banten Province

Abstraksi

Regional disparity between north and south has long been one of the most prominent development issues in Banten Province. Local governments in its north part, on one hand, achieve nearly same level of development indicators with DKI Jakarta, while two of its regencies in the south, Pandeglang and Lebak, on the other hand, are among 122 underdeveloped regencies entitled by Presidential Regulation Number 131 of 2015. Since most innovation success stories are from more advance municipalities, to fill the gap, this research aims to identify strategies, and the underpinning motivation, undertaken by Pandeglang and Lebak in coping with their drawbacks. Examining types of innovations in the vast literature, this study draws two types of innovations, structural reforms and new ways of working within existing institutional settings, as a conceptual framework. As a descriptive case study, in-depth data collection regarding innovation practices, involving multiple sources of information such as observations, interviews, audiovisual materials, documents and reports, has been compiled from Pandeglang and Lebak. The study found that diverse innovations both in Pandeglang and Lebak, mostly structural reforms, are intended to increase fiscal capacity of the local governments particularly from Dana Insentif Daerah. To foster development in these two regencies, the study further proposes recommendations for more innovations in the way they work within existing institutional settings, such as public expenditure management. The study also set directions for future research.