Amid the strong current of globalization, technological transformation is crucial and inseparable from manufacturing. Indonesia is therefore implementing the Making Indonesia 4.0 roadmap as one strategy to accelerate the national manufacturing industry's digital transformation so it can be more globally competitive.
To carry out the Making Indonesia 4.0 priority programs, the Ministry of Industry consistently grows hundreds of technology-based startups that connect with small and medium industries (SMIs), so problems faced by industry can be solved through technological transformation.
“The Startup4ndustry program is Kemenperin's strategy for preparing Indonesian tech startups as technology providers for industry and society,” the Director General of Small, Medium and Miscellaneous Industries (IKMA) at Kemenperin, Reni Yanita, said at the Indonesia 4.0 Conference & Expo at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Wednesday (23/8).
According to the Director General of IKMA, the Startup4industry program plays an important role as a hub connecting industry and startups to share resources, such as access to mass production manufacturing, financing, a database of industrial problems, technology implementation competitions and wider markets, all the way to going global.
“Startup4industry aims to spread the implementation of digital transformation so that competitiveness, added value and efficiency in the industrial sector keep increasing,” she stressed. Kemenperin opened registration for the 2023 Startup for Industry program from 14 March to 31 May 2023. This year's competition, the sixth edition, carries the theme Inspiring Industry Transformation.
“A total of 1,115 startups took part and went through administrative, video and pitching and matchmaking selection. From this process, 111 finalists were chosen, along with 100 business relationships between startups and industry,” Reni said.
Later, 20 selected finalists will carry out three-month implementation projects at 20 SMI partners, supervised and mentored by the Startup4industry team to meet the set key performance indicator targets.
“Once the finalists are selected, the tech startups will implement several technology solutions, such as automation, the industrial internet of things, business process digitalization, artificial intelligence, green industry, immersive technology, advanced digital marketing and traceability,” she said.
Through this program, the Directorate General of IKMA has disbursed IDR 3 billion to fund 58 implementation projects in 2018–2023, and gives awards to the winning startups at the end of the program. “Going forward, Startup4industry aims to produce real success stories of technological transformation that can inspire industry players to make the same changes for the expansion and sustainability of their businesses,” Reni added.
The Director of Metal, Machinery, Electronics and Transport Equipment SMIs, Dini Hanggandari, said the Indonesia 4.0 Conference & Expo, held on 23–24 August 2023 at JIExpo, is also a means for Kemenperin to promote the development of startups that benefit industry players. “We took part in the Indonesia 4.0 Conference & Expo to promote the S4I program together with the Start Up For Industry Indonesia Association (Starfindo),” Dini explained.
Veren, Head of Commercial Business at Primeskills, one of the finalists, said the solution they built, Scanpedia, can help with engagement marketing and gauge customer loyalty to a brand. “We will help SMIs in several aspects, especially engagement rate, by measuring how often users interact with AR Gamification features on a web-based site or platform.” Veren also said joining the Startup4Industry program was very interesting because they could learn about the problems of each SMI.
Another finalist, Sugeng Mulyadi, Business Development at Trinusa, said the Startup4Industry selection process helped them develop products suited to industry needs, assisted by judges experienced in industry.
“Trinusa will bring a Real Time Production Monitoring solution for manufacturing processes, which is also ready to move toward MES (Manufacturing Execution System) with watchdog information on the status of several machines used by SMIs,” Sugeng said.
Source: Press Release of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia