These digital talents will be the main navigators driving the digital ecosystem
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The need for digital talents continues to increase along with growing national digital transformation in various walks of life, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate stated.

According to his press statement here on Wednesday, Plate noted that the intensification of digital transformation has implications in the form of increasing the need for digital talents.

"These digital talents will be the main navigators driving the digital ecosystem. Currently, Indonesia needs at least 600 thousand digital talents every year," he noted at the National Digital Talent Program 2022 in Yogyakarta.

Plate explained that amid the rising need for digital talent, a gap exists between digital talents and job opportunities.

He quoted an example wherein more than 50 percent of the CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region encountered difficulties in recruiting digital talent with the right skills.

"It is projected that by 2030, there will be a shortage of 47 million digital talents in the region. Nationally, at least 50 percent of our workforce has only basic and intermediate digital skills. On the contrary, those with advanced digital skills represent less than one percent of our workforce," Plate pointed out.

According to the minister, the digital talent gap must be addressed seriously, especially for Indonesia's goal to become a competitive nation globally.

However, he noted that in addition to considering the requirement for digital talents as a challenge, Indonesia also needs to look at its current digital potential.

He pointed out that the potential valuation of Indonesia's digital economy is projected to reach US$315.5 billion, or Rp4,531 trillion, by 2030.

In supporting efforts to realize the digital potential, the Ministry of Communication and Informatics had readied the Digital Talent Scholarship and Digital Leadership Academy programs as concrete initiatives to accelerate the development of national digital talents.

In 2022, the Digital Talent Scholarship will provide digital technical training for 200 thousand participants, with themes related to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and programming.

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Translator: Arnidhya Z, Kenzu T
Editor: Sri Haryati
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