Innovating to Explore Potential, Synergizing to Grow the Economy

On Tuesday, 12 April 2022, an open senate meeting was held in the Hall of Politeknik Negeri Ketapang (Ketapang State Polytechnic) to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Politeknik Negeri Ketapang, attended by a limited number of the Politeknik Negeri Ketapang academic community.

Politap Director Endang Kusmana presented a retrospective on Politap's journey from 2008 to 2022. Endang conveyed that the theme for the 2022 Anniversary was

The key ideas of "Innovating to Explore Potential, Synergizing to Grow the Economy" as part of "Building Vocational Education from Villages." This topic was grounded in background considerations such as the current drive toward post-pandemic economic recovery, the development of digital talent, and MSME digitalization. According to him, Indonesia's digital economy is the highest in ASEAN, valued at US$70 billion (40% of ASEAN's digital economy share), and is projected to continue growing to US$146 billion by 2025. With Indonesia's digital economy opportunities backed by 191 million Gen Z and Millennials, this needs to be capitalized on by MSMEs. According to Endang, Indonesian MSMEs account for 64.2 million enterprises (contributing 60.51% to GDP or equivalent to IDR 9,580 trillion), absorb 97% of the total existing workforce,  and mobilize up to 60.4% of total investments. MSME challenges, according to Endang, include innovation and technology that need upgrading, financing, human resources, branding and marketing, legalities, as well as standardization and certification. For this reason, Politap continues to innovate to encourage and support MSME digitalization—expected to foster a Super Smart Society that balances services through technology capable of integrating cyberspace and physical space. Digital disruption has not yet reached its peak and will continue to unfold, alongside advancements in Agri-tech and Food-tech (digital farm vs. local farm); Health-tech (digital consultation); Edu-tech (e-Learning); Interactive Experience and Games (digital entertainment media, data collection); and Digital Banking and Fintech (peer-to-peer lending, equity crowdfunding).