Google Announces New Initiative to Print Quality Digital Talents in Indonesia

Apart from announcing funding for misinformation prevention, the annual event "Google for Indonesia 2022" highlights various new initiatives to create more digital talent in order to meet the shortage of quality talent in this country.

The first initiative is to grow the creator economy in the gaming sector. Google will fund Google Play x Unity Game Developer Training, a pilot program in collaboration with the Indonesian Game Association.

This program provides Unity training and certification to 500 students at 15 universities and 50 developer professional. Training is provided through free online self-paced courses, and developer can opt for instructor-led online training sessions.

"Unity is one of the world's leading game development engines. Unity is used globally, both by developer big or small, from game studios indie to major game studios. Improve student skills and developer through various courses and training available at Unity will equip them with the knowledge of making world-class games," said Director of Google Play Partnership for Southeast Asia and Australia Kunal Soni during a presentation at Google for Indonesia 2022, yesterday (7/12).

Next, unlock a new batch for the program Rise, namely industrial training for students, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (under the Merdeka Campus program), GoTo, Traveloka, DeepTech, and several other universities. This program will accept 9.000 students for the 2023 batch, a threefold increase from 2021.

Not only students, this time Google opens the same opportunity for vocational students. This 900 hour program teaches the science of machine learning, mobile development, and cloud computing, has produced more than 5.000 Rising graduates. The number of technology company partners who will receive participants this time is also more, it is said that there are 77 companies.

Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim said he was always proud and inspired every time he met Bangkit graduates. His party is aware that the need for digital talent in the country is very large, namely 600.000 talents per year. Hence, much needed collaboration.

"The Rise Program comes as an initiative to develop student competencies for careers in the world of global technology, with the hope of producing technology leaders in Indonesia who can contribute to accelerating the digital economy in the country," said Nadiem.

green initiative

At the same time, Google also announced the signing of a non-commercial agreement with the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency to present the Green Light Project in Jakarta. This project aims to optimize the function of traffic lights to reduce congestion, fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.

The research team from Google will provide recommendations to the DKI Jakarta Government to optimize traffic light timings to reduce traffic jams, based on anonymous traffic data and Android-based community mobility data.

Google's VP of Engineering and Research Yossi Matias said this was the first time this initiative had been launched in Southeast Asia. Project Green Light uses AI to optimize traffic lights at intersections around the world, helping to minimize congestion and the resulting pollution. This collaboration will later show how AI technology can provide useful solutions for society with little investment.

"We don't need to develop new tools or knowledge because we use it machine learning and infrastructure cloud which has existed. For example, AI allows Google to analyze data without additional sensors or even changing infrastructure, before sending recommendations to city agencies who then implement ways to optimize settings," said Matias.

This project will start in 2023 through several stages, namely (1) analysis of anonymized location data from the navigation system, (2) measurement of intersection traffic flow metrics, (3) provision of recommendations that will evaluate changes together with the city.

In India, the project has helped cities better optimize traffic light timing, reducing waiting times at intersections, road congestion and carbon emissions. In 2022, particularly in Bangalore, see initial results of a 20% reduction in congestion.

"By using our AI technology, it is hoped that this initiative will improve fuel efficiency, reduce emissions, improve air quality, and make driving activities safer and more enjoyable in Jakarta," he said.

Google believes AI has the potential to transform environmental challenges in a number of areas. Partners, such as the World Resources Institute in India, use Google Earth Engine to generate maps and the type of analysis needed to plan planned interventions.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Insights Explorer is available in 17.000 cities across Asia-Pacific, enabling governments to quantify sources of carbon emissions and identify appropriate strategies for implementing cleaner energy sources.

Recently, Google expanded Open Buildings to South and Southeast Asia, provided data to inform urban planning, and used AI in partnership with local organizations such as CSIRO Australia to study how seagrass can better protect underwater ecosystems in Indo -Pacific.