BANDUNG, Telkom University – Telkom University through the School of Economics and Business is holding the International Conference on Sustainable Collaboration in Business, Technology, Information and Innovation (SCBTII) 2021. SCBTII is an international conference that brings together academics, professionals, entrepreneurs, researchers, students, and other related groups from around the world who have a special interest in theory, as well as practice in the field of the digital economy for global competitiveness.
This conference provides opportunities for both presenters and participants to exchange new ideas and experiences, establish research relationships, and find global partners for future collaborations to effectively address the challenges of social and technological development. SBTII was held online through the ZOOM Meeting application on Wednesday (28/07).
This event was attended by seven countries including Indonesia, America, Japan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, and the United Kingdom (UK) with a total of more than 100 paper submissions. Carrying the theme ‘Acceleration of Digital Innovation & Technology towards Society 5.0’, SCBTII 2021 invited several international speakers, including Prof. Ashish Chandra as Prof. of Healthcare Administration University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL), Houston, Texas, USA; Prof. Koji Mikami as Prof. of the School of Media Science Tokyo University of Technology, Japan; Dr. Sandhir Sharma as Prof. & Dean of Chitkara Business School Chitkara University; and Dr. Ir. Rina Djunita Pasaribu, M.SC., CPM., EPC. as Vice Rector for Resources at Telkom University.
Prof. Dr. Adiwijaya as the Rector of Telkom University explained that current economic growth in some developed countries is projected to slow down further as the trade war continues to expand with the decline in globalization and increasing digitalization as well as financial risks.
To deal with the global economic slowdown, the government has implemented economic transformation policies to address various economic challenges; this will lead to sustainable, competitive, and quality growth. To support the transformation of the Indonesian economy, support from various business sectors is needed.
The business world must have the ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Companies must strive to achieve sustainable competitive advantage by synergizing management capabilities, mastery of technology, and innovation strategies to adapt to external trends and events.
“The theme raised at SCBTII 2021 is really interesting. This is a focus that can provide solutions related to recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic and how we need to accelerate post-pandemic innovation and technology so that we can rise again, and grow again. It is hoped that economic growth can be felt by the community, generally for the blessing of this nation,” he said.
Prof. Adiwijaya also hopes that this international conference can provide opportunities for both presenters and participants to exchange new ideas and experiences, become a research relationship that leads to research collaboration, find global partnerships for collaboration in the future, and answer existing social and technological challenges.
The event also invited the Indonesian Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, Teten Masduki. In his speech, Teten Masduki said that through this event, we have an interest in connecting with the digital world which has become a solution and opportunity for MSMEs to survive and grow during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teten Masduki explained that until June 2021, 14.5 million MSMEs had been connected to the digital platform. However, the President has set a target of 30 million to be connected to digital platforms by 2024.
“I think, if we look at the data for 2020, the value of transactions in e-commerce increased during the COVID-19 pandemic by 54 percent with more than 3 million transactions per day. This is an astonishing number,” he said.
Teten Masduki also added that there was an increase in the delivery of goods by 135 percent and 37 percent of digital economy service users were new users and the trend will continue to grow. 56 percent of users of this digital economy service live outside urban areas.
“Then amid this COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia achieved a digital economy income of USD 44 billion or around 640 trillion Rupiah. These data show a positive circulation, showing that our digital economy is very large.”
This COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital disruption and has presented many innovations and technological solutions for the convenience of the community, many technological initiations were born in the era of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Currently, the Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises is also approaching to create more entrepreneurs and future MSMEs based on creativity and technology.
Teten Masduki said that universities have an important role as institutions that become incubators and enablers so that the younger generation can produce entrepreneurs and technology-based innovation candidates. Through this activity, it is hoped that it will produce many young, technology-based entrepreneurs.
“Hopefully, this activity can create some innovations, both in technology and business models so that they can present digital solutions and have a broad impact for the people of Indonesia.”