UK-Indonesia Holds Cooperation in the Digital Startup Sector

UK and Indonesian cooperation in the technology, digital, and startup sectors has grown rapidly, since the launch of the UK-Indonesia Tech Hub. The British Embassy in Indonesia, in its release on Monday (22/2/2021) announced that the two countries are holding cooperation in the digital startup sector, which discusses tackling climate change, cybercrime, and inclusiveness.

The British Embassy will hold a series of webinars-themed “TECH TO IMPACT 2021” scheduled from February 23 to March 2, 2021. The webinar entitled “Collaborative Innovation for a Better Nation” will be held on February 23, 2021, from 14.00 WIB – 16.00 WIB.

Meanwhile, the webinar “Smack the Hack – Creating the Best Strategy to Deal with Cyber ​​Threats” will take place on February 25, 2021, at 19.00 WIB. Then, on March 2, 2021, at 19:00 WIB, is the schedule for holding the webinar “Accelerating economic empowerment with inclusive business-ready”.

The British Embassy said that the launch of the webinar series will also introduce the “UKode Hackathon 2021”, which will run until March 2021. The event is the first activity to invite innovative talents to tackle the problems and challenges of climate change through digital discovery.

Through the Hackathon competition, UK – Indonesia Tech Hub encourages creative new technological solutions for climate change. It is known that Britain will host the Climate Change Conference, COP26 in November 2021. The country is also committed to encouraging all countries, including Indonesia, to be more ambitious in dealing with climate change.

Opening the Door to New Funding Opportunities

The British Embassy said that a number of Asian countries, namely China, Japan and South Korea, recently announced Net Zero targets, giving a clear signal to investors and businesses that the future is low carbon – making their countries more attractive to business people who want to invest in economic sectors in the future, such as renewable energy and electric vehicles.

The British Embassy believes that Indonesia’s technology sector involved in climate change will open the door to new funding opportunities. Therefore, through the one-year celebration of the UK-Indonesia Tech Hub, the UK stated that it would continue to support the growth of the digital ecosystem in Indonesia.

The British Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste, Owen Jenkins said that in 2020, the UK-Indonesia Tech Hub had increased Britain’s involvement in the digital sector.

The UK-Indonesia Tech Hub also supports the growth of Indonesia’s digital ecosystem, and develops initiatives to support women and marginalized groups in increasing their digital literacy so that they can participate in this growing sector, said Ambassador Owen Jenkins.

Startups that have a Social and Environmental Impact are more Attractive to Investors

He also emphasized that in 2021, Britain holds the Presidency of COP26, and climate change is a priority that is more important than ever. This prompted the country to realize how some of the needed solutions could be offered, to prevent dangerous climate change.

Apart from these issues, the two countries also highlighted the problem of cyber crime and the increase in the potential for inclusive business in the digital sector in Indonesia.

Ambassador Owen Jenkins also hopes to see more Indonesian talents participating and joining the UKode Hackathon 2021 competition – so that they can push their creative boundaries and create digital solutions that can help the global community – and support Indonesia’s economy to advance to the world level.

Currently, investors are currently not only focusing on green economy businesses, but also on those that have a social and environmental impact as a whole or impact investment. This includes startups engaged in the green economy, renewable energy, education and more.

Dealroom’s data shows that globally, the social impact startups most targeted by investors are those related to climate change and clean energy. Its investment has contributed more than 50 billion Euro since 2015.