What’s the main reason for MS to invest in Indonesia?

Indonesia is an important market in a global economy. Its projected GDP growth is 7% by 2011. It will soon join BRIC, and we are an enabler in accelerating economic growth.

Meanwhile, 40 million Indonesians have access to computers, an encouraging figure for further growth in the future.
Meanwhile, its 240 million population is one-third of APEC, another factor that says much about the country’s potential.

The Indonesian business community is in a great position to prepare themselves for cloud computing. By the end of the calendar year cloud computing will be here. The business model will help our local partner to develop ecosystem in Indonesia.

MS Citizenship plans to narrow the digital gap by transforming education, fostering innovation and enabling job opportunities.

 What is MS’s perception of the Indonesian market? How is MS committed to Indonesia; can you elaborate on its investment plan in this country?

Indonesia has a huge growth potential, as Internet access covers 38.8 million users, while broadband penetration is  one million.
There has been a broadband explosion: 700.000 growth in the past five quarters.
Internet access with mobile phones represents the fastest growth, with mobile phone shipment reaching 30 million.

MS Indonesia has been here for 15 years and employs 100 people directly. We work with more than 4,000 partners to help them become successful.

According to IDC every one Indonesian Rupiah invested in an MS ecosystem will earn earn 23.5 Rupiah.

MS ecosystem accounts for 31% of IT employment in the country.
The IT industry is growing by another 120.000 jobs by 2013.

On community development, what programmes have MS embarked on to help Indonesia? Anything on affordable PC programmes?

Everything MS brings to Indonesia is meant to help the country develop its potential and reach their goals through our business and citizenship initiatives.

We also enable people to get jobs; there are now 120 Community Technology Centers (2.4 million farmers and migrant workers trained), WebsiteSpark for small medium businesses (140) and BizSpark Startup (100).

Indonesia has 12,500 i-cafes, which is a primary source of internet access for communities. 70% of its users are in the 15-24 age bracket.
Primary usage are Facebook, email and chatting, though 48% of all PCs here are not yet Win-7 ready.

Within the realm of education, can you elaborate on your programmes for learning?

Indonesia has 45 million students and 2.7 million teachers.
20% of its State Budget is allocated for education. There are now 5,600 universities, with a student to PC ratio of 1: 3,600.
We need to narrow the digital gap quicker. We are transforming education by coming up with “Partners in Learning” (PIL), which provides access to affordable software and skill trainings.

PiL has reached more than 14 million students and 200.000 teachers in 20.000 schools in 30 provinces.

We also foster innovation, as we have five Microsoft Innovation Centers (MICs) in five leading universities.

In 2008 & 2009 Indonesian students won global awards at Imagine Cup by developing applications for environmental protection and for detecting malaria disease with mobile phone cameras.

In addition, DreamSpark has 120.000 students.

We are also engaged in biodiversity research with the Ministry of Research & Technology (RISTEK) and local governments such as Wakatobi Regency and Papua Province.

Indonesia is a country comprising of hundreds of islands. How is MS reaching out to various communities, including rural ones, so that they are not left behind in today’s connected world?

MS sees technology as a bridge between communities, as Indonesia has 17,508 islands.

Java island is the country’s economic powerhouse with 110 million people.

We are engaged in nurturing Community Technology Skill programme in partnership with local NGOs specifically designed for rural communities.
MS has 120 Community Technology Centers in 20 provinces, reaching 2.3 million farmers.

As Indonesia is the second richest country in the world in terms of biodiversity, MS has started working with local governments and related ministries to support biodiversity research in Indonesia using MS Technology – High Performing Computer (HPC), MS pivot, photosynth, clouds and others.

Interoperability is a critical element to the success of this project. We want to make sure a collaboration among research communities in Indonesia is possible and well implemented in a mixed technology environment.

In conclusion, let me say that MS cannot work alone to solve all of the problems in the community. We want to have a positive human impact in Indonesian citizens.

As such, we need to have a strong partnership with the government, academia, businesses, and NGOs.

Neutral Technology policy is an important foundation to establish a stronger and closer partnership as well as to foster innovation and fair competition in order for the ICT industry to grow in Indonesia and accelerate the country’s economic growth.