The Role of Academic in Narrowing Digital Divide Budi Rahardjo Director of Research & Development Center on Industry and Information Technology Institut Teknologi Bandung Presented at Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Regional Forum for ICT Experts in South-East Asia, 4-5 February 2004, Jakarta, Indonesia

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 2 Summary Roles of academic –Human Resource Development –Technology Development –Content Development –Catalyst in Entrepreneurship

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 3 Human Resource Development ICT is a new area, human resources are still scarce globally HR development natural task for academician Train/teach –Technical: IT specific workers –Non-technical: the use of IT at work, at home

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 4 HRD in Indonesia Problems –Wide gap between developed area (cities) and rural area –Low-level literacy, not just IT literacy –Teaching teachers is one approach, but the quality of teachers varies. Mostly low, but students quality increases –Most students only want the degree, not the skill / knowledge –Lack of commitment of academicians

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 5 HRD problems (2) –Access (infrastructure) is still limited and is sometimes unaffordable. Even there is no electricity in some parts. –Formal IT certifications are relatively expensive –IT equipments are (still) relatively expensive and not a priority. It’s just nice to have. –Too much intellectual property protection. Expensive!

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 6 Initiatives Various initiatives in Indonesia –Upgrading teachers capability (e.g.. Vocational school teachers) In using IT In teaching IT –Introduction to IT to various schools and communities Roadshow: formal & informal –Results: too early to tell, but there is an increase in ICT users

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 7 Technology Development Part of academicians’ job, especially who focus on research Develop technology that is applicable (affordable, culturally accepted) locally. –While technologies are neutral, the success of their implementation/use depends on culture There are research centers in Indonesia, but most are still struggling

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 8 Problem in Tech Development Development is expensive and fund is limited Delopment cycle is short and fast Lack of IT high-skill Human Resource Production (e.g. hardware products) in Indonesia economically is not viable

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 9 Content Development Academicians have knowledge that can be shared (help to share) Content can be formal and informal

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 10 Problems in content development Lack of local / appropriate contents, especially for school kids / children. Contents in Indonesia are mostly entertainment & news … and things that lead to consumerism not productivity Most contents are in English Culturally, we are not a reading culture. Plus low level literacy Sharing is not common

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 11 Entrepreneurship Brings practice to theory Produce Inovations … Provide places to work / employment Academicians act as catalyst –By encouraging students to start companies –By starting companies –Incubating start up companies: “Pusat Inkubator Bisnis” (Business Incubator Center) at ITB

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 12 Bandung High Tech Valley kurusetra.com INTI Technopark

Academic Narrowing Digital Divide - Budi Rahardjo 13 Concluding Remarks There are still problems, but we are committed to eliminate them Some of the problems are global problems, we have to solve the together