Regarding the Opportunities and Challenges of Indonesia's Creative Economy in 2017

Bekraf was specifically established by the government to focus on advancing Indonesia's creative economy. The government is well aware of the potential of the creative economy which is believed to slowly dominate as a source of state revenue. In order to continue moving in that direction, there is a need for real cooperation between the government, the private sector and the actors themselves. But what are the steps?

In a panel discussion held by Plug and Play Indonesia entitled "Indonesia Creative Economy 2017", presenting various speakers from the three actors. Starting from Ricky J Pesik as Deputy Head of Bekraf, Mari Pangestu (Former Trade Minister), Gandi Sulistiyanto (Managing Director Sinarmas), Aloysius Budi (Chief Human Capital Dev Astra Intl), and Dino Patti Djalal (Former Indonesian Ambassador to the United States).

From the Bekraf side, Ricky emphasized that currently Indonesia needs to straighten out its understanding of the creative economy. From the realm of ministries and institutions (K/L) it seems that the creative economy intersects with 27 K/L, therefore it is necessary to re-make tasks so that they do not overlap.

To support this, currently Bekraf together with other Ministries/Agencies are in the regulation preparation which replaces Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 6 of 2009 concerning Creative Economy Development, which has been officially no longer valid since 2015.

In addition, Ricky revealed that there is still a lot of homework for the government to support the creative economy through the development of startups. For example evaluating or making new regulations that support industrial activities.

"From the government's point of view, to support the creative economy is to re-evaluate a number of old regulations or create new, more adaptive regulations. In my opinion, startups really need clear regulatory support because they were born as a result of rapid changes," said Ricky, yesterday (8/3). .

Meanwhile, from the private side, Aloysius Budi said that currently Astra is starting to concern to work with startups to join the Astra Digitalization Program. This is intended to accelerate Astra's business through innovations offered by startups.

Likewise with Sinarmas, Gandi Sulistiyanto added that Sinarmas' attention to startups can be seen from the establishment of Sinarmas Digital Ventures (SMDV) and joining as a member of Plug and Play Indonesia. According to him, becoming a member can give Sinarmas access to add to the network of startups that Sinarmas has the potential to invest in.

"involvement from the private sector is important for startup success. Because they also need mentors, while for us we need to connect ourselves with startups for business acceleration. This is the solution win-win, said Gandhi.

Meanwhile, from Mari Pangestu and Dino Patti's perspective, they only provide input for startups to be more competitive in the future. Let's say that startups are required to be close to the industry. The goal is that startups can provide the right solution to the problems faced by the industry.

Not only that, Mari also emphasizes the importance of ability for startup business management. According to him, a good idea will not necessarily run successfully if the management is not right.

Dino also agreed with Mari's words. Dino said that startups should not have a narrow nationalist mindset. This, he continued, is still found in campuses in Indonesia which regard the use of foreign languages ​​as capitalism.

"Jargon like this cannot make them compete after leaving campus. The creative economy is about how you behave with open nationalism, don't be closed. Mastery of foreign languages ​​is very necessary when doing business," he concluded.