The cultural and creative industries are the new pillar industries in Indonesia and have made great contributions to the country’s economy and social employment.
The data shows that the Asia-Pacific region is the most prosperous region of the world’s cultural and creative industries (total revenue of US$743 billion), followed by Europe (total revenue of US$709 billion), North America (total revenue of US$620 billion), Latin America (total revenue of US$124 billion) and Africa and the Middle East (total revenue of US$58 billion).
The creative industries are ready to become a new economic driver in Indonesia via the incentives and supports such as science and technology parks and the involvement in international fairs by the government.
The Indonesian government has also set out new regulations to simplify the process and the requirements for investors to invest in this sector.
In this article, we will give you a more detailed look into these booming creative industries.
SUPPORT BY THE GOVERNMENT
According to a forecast by Indonesia’s Creative Economy Agency (BEKRAF), the creative industries in Indonesia have hit a new high in 2018. BEKRAF even expects a 12% surge in GDP, 10% increase in exports, and a 13% rise in employment (about 16.7 million workers) contributed by the creative industry in 2019.
In order to achieve this target, at least five technoparks in Bandung, Semarang, Denpasar, Batam and Makassar have been developed by the Ministry of Industry.
The development of the digital economy has affected some traditional industries such as print media and brick-and-mortar stores, but it has injected vitality into more relevant fields in Indonesia.
On top of that, BEKRAF has engaged Intel, Nielson and PwC — world-class research agencies — to analyse the local creative industry and find areas for necessary improvement.
To encourage foreign investment, BEKRAF also came up with a framework namely Investment Readiness Levels (IRL) for several subsectors as mentioned earlier. Investors can use IRL as a benchmark or reference to assess investment readiness while investing their capital in a specific creative sector they are interested in.
A DIVERSITY OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN INDONESIA
The creative industries in Indonesia are diverse and can be divided into 16 categories:
architecture, apps and game development, product design, interior design, fashion, movies, visual communication design, animation, photography, movies, crafts culinary arts, advertising, publishing, fine art, television and radio, and performing arts.
E-commerce: One of the Most Important Creative Sectors
E-commerce has become an important retail segment in Indonesia as part of the creative sectors. According to the BKPM (Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board), US$27 million of investment in e-commerce has been recorded.
Many foreign investors have their eyes on e-commerce players that are popping up in Indonesia as due to their undeniable growth potential.
Some of the big e-commerce players in Indonesia are Lazada.com, MatahariMall.com and Tokopedia.com.
TRANSFORMING TRADITIONAL BUSINESSES
Despite the unceasing growth of creative industries, the Indonesian government is working hard to raise the bar of the competitiveness of traditional markets in order to protect them.
In 2015, the government in Indonesia even allocated IDR 997 billion for the revitalisation of 1,002 traditional businesses with each market receiving between IDR 2 billion and IDR 20 billion. From this initiative, it is obvious that the development of creative industries in Indonesia is unstoppable.
In Conclusion
Creative industries in Indonesia hold massive potential for investors from all over the world. Extensive government initiatives also create solid ground for these particular sectors, and foreign investments are welcome.
Contact Cekindo to get more information about restrictions on foreign ownership in Indonesia, and start a company in one of the creative industries in Indonesia. We can assist you.
