Govt Aims to Produce 3,500 Technopreneurs
Indonesia needs additional business incubators to produce technopreneurs. At present, the country only has 120-130 business incubators.
KUTA, KOMPAS — The government is targeting to produce 3,500 technopreneurs from technology-based start-ups in the 2020-2024 period. The presence of many young technopreneurs is expected to maintain sustainable economic growth.
"The abundance of Indonesia\'s natural wealth makes the target of producing 700 technopreneurs per year become very possible," said the director general of Institutions of Science, Technology and Higher Education of the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry, Patdono Suwignjo, at the opening of the Technology Business Incubator Forum in Kuta, Bali, on Monday (26/8/2019).
To produce the many technoprenuers, we need quality and mature incubators. An incubator is an intermediary institution that will accompany prospective start-up companies until they are ready to stand on their own.
At present, there are only 120-130 incubators throughout Indonesia, both belonging to the government and private sector. That means, each incubator is responsible for producing five to six technopreneurs each year. That is a high target because even a good incubator only produces two to three successful start-up companies per year.
"Besides improving the quality of the incubators, the number of incubators also needs to be increased," he said.
Among the efforts to improve the quality of incubators is to certify them. In the Business Incubator Forum on Monday, the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry presented awards to eight technology business incubators of the A classification, namely to the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology and seven universities.
The technology business incubators with a A classification that are managed by the universities were won by the University of Indonesia (UI), Bogor Institute of Agriculture, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Diponegoro University, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology. The only private university that received the award was Multimedia Nusantara University.
Networking
The acting director of the Zone of Science, Technology, and Other Supporting Institutions of the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry, Kemal Prihatman, said improving the quality of incubators could also be done by increasing the incubator network with other incubators at home and abroad, such as by holding an incubator forum.
This has already been done for the past few years but this time, the forum should invite business incubator managers from China and Australia.
The Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry in the 2015-2019 period accompanied 64 incubators for development.
"A good incubator makes the opportunity to produce successful technopreneurs and start-up companies based on technology even greater," he said.
The serious challenge being faced in developing business incubators today is the absence of high-quality technology incubators and certified incubator management experts. Therefore, the government also needs to encourage the entry of angel investors to invest in venture capital in start-up companies.
Thus far, the financing of start-up companies has been much helped by the government. However, this method is not sustainable. Bank loans are unreliable because start-up companies are generally not included in groups that are eligible for bank loans.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the Indonesian Business Incubator Association, Asril Fitri Syamas, said the success of producing a technology-based start-up company depends on the concept of the products made up to the downstream level. Products with a high market appeal have a greater chance of success in the market.
The entrepreneurial spirit of the prospective technopreneur is also an important factor. In some cases, a number of prospective technoprenuers who are fostered by incubators do not have the consistency to run their business and the incubation process or product manufacturing stops in the middle of the road.
"People\'s mindset about entrepreneurship needs to be changed slowly," he said.
Until now, being an entrepreneur is still seen as offering less certainty for the future and a good income compared to being an employee. Developing an entrepreneurial spirit also needs to be initiated by universities. (MZW)