Heaptalk, Jakarta – Indonesia makes a huge leap by sending about 36 delegations to compete in a prestigious ICT Award APICTA 2024, which was held in Bandar Sri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. Organized from 4 to 7 December 2024, the representatives competed against 500 participants from 17 APICTA’S economic members by demonstrating their breakthrough in the ICT industry.
“The number of participants has increased significantly this year. At this moment, we sent about 36 delegations, but some of them withdrew from this competition,” stated Febrizal Efendi, Vice Chairman for SOE and Government Partnership of Aspiluki.
Indonesian delegates who participated in the competition includes storyjourney.ai, Primeskills Edukasi Indonesia, UNIKOM, AMIKOM Yogyakarta University, DesktopIP, Directorate General Badilag, Kideco Jaya Agung, Pusdatin Kemdikbud, Taspen, PP, Bank Mandiri, Bukit Asam, Prima Sejati Sejahter, Citilink Indonesia, and Angkasa Pura Indonesia.
Regarding competitiveness, Febrizal conveyed that the competitive atmosphere is intense because Indonesia competes against the Asia Pacific countries that are famous for their ICT, spanning Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
However, between multiple categories, Febrizal mentioned that the competition for the student category is very fierce as several countries, such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and others, intervene directly to guide the participants to win. “In this category, we can assume that this is the ICT battle between countries, and the participants for the category are guided by each government directly. But for Indonesia, it is still limited from ASPILUKI and universities,” added Febrizal, who also sits as the Official Coach of APICTA 2024.
For information, the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards) is an international awards program organize by APICTA, which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide. By providing networking and product benchmarking opportunities to ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in the region, the program is designed to stimulate ICT innovation and creativity, promote economic and trade relations, facilitate technology transfer, and offer business matching opportunities via exposure to venture capitalists and investors.
Febrizal mentioned that this ICT competition is crucial for Indonesia, especially to maintain the competitiveness landscape in the Asia Pacific region.
”This competition also becomes a platform to keep up with ICT global trends,” concluded Febrizal.