Partners call for greater govt participation in ICT

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 06/25/2007 10:09 AM  |  Life

Arwana Widagda, Contributor, Jakarta

In this information age with a knowledge-driven economy, productivity is increasingly linked to intellectual property, information and communications technology (ICT) and innovation.

By communicating and sharing information for research and development, knowledge workers will be able to deliver new products and services faster than before. This, in turn, will foster growth of invention and innovation of new technologies, improving quality of life.

This was the underlying idea among participants at the Innovation Forum Indonesia 2007, held on June 12 at the Grand Hyatt Jakarta.

The event backed by Microsoft, the Ministry of Research and Technology, the Directorate General of IPR from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), showcased success stories of various ICT programs that aimed to foster awareness of IT, bridge the digital divide, and encourage and promote research and invention through innovation centers.

ITB rector Dr. Djoko Santoso discussed the current landscape and what was on the horizon. He pointed to several examples in Asia of how ICT had successfully improved the quality of life. These included the success of Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh, of the Philippines' Globe G-Cash and its SMS micro-payment services, and I-Mode FeliCa and its cell phone innovation as a digital ID and electronic wallet.

Djoko also mentioned that costs for communication and, consequently, Internet access had declined significantly over the past few years.

Members of the ITB-Microsoft innovation center were also happy to present one of the fruits of their collaboration efforts -- an application for astronomy students.

In his closing remarks, Suhono H. Supangkat, chairman of the ICT team and the Business Incubator Center director of ITB, highlighted that there is a ""need (for) a comprehensive solution and synergy for ICT industry development between industry, university and government"".

Meanwhile, Andy N. Sommeng, the IT-CIO director at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights' Directorate General of IPR, saw the ITB as a very good example of what Indonesia and its people were capable of, adding: ""The main function of innovation centers are to achieve a main goal, which is the valorization of inventions and innovations. Each innovation support organism has to be adapted to the economic, cultural, legal, industrial and social situation of each country.""

Speaking from the government's perspective on innovation and intellectual property rights, he mentioned three specific problem areas in Indonesia: legislation uncertainties, law enforcement uncertainties and labor rigidity.

He firmly believed that the underlying legal infrastructure was already in existence and that the government needed to focus more on fostering technological innovation in ICT and intellectual property rights ""implementation"".

Members of the audience raised concerns regarding the current patent and copyright national registration process, which is considered ""too long, tedious and troublesome"".

While Andy sympathized, he said the government was simply abiding by the rules and regulations on patent applications as determined by the World Intellectual Property Organization, of which Indonesia is a member.

When asked whether the government was able to make special consideration for Indonesian companies and individuals, he answered: ""That would undermine the supremacy of law and the underlying idea that everyone is equal before the law,"" and that all the government could do was simplify the process, though he pointed out that the present procedure was already ""very simple"".

In his view, the key issue was the lack of qualified manpower to review all patent applications, particularly patents for advanced technology.

With issues such as purchasing power disparity between people of developed and underdeveloped nations, the forum reached a general consensus that there was definitely room for improvement on current, worldwide intellectual property rights.

Marshall Phelps, Microsoft's corporate vice president of intellectual property commented: ""We recognize, of course, that patent quality has become a real issue in business and the law. And as I just noted, we support balanced patent reform.""

He added, ""There's no doubt that reform is needed, especially in improved patent examination, first-to-file priority, and other arenas of patent law and practice that need to keep up with today's new technology challenges.""

Piracy was also raised, about which Andy agreed that there was still ""a very serious problem"", but he added that the problem fell under the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies, not the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

The rampant piracy in Indonesia means that there is virtually no incentive for software developers to market software locally, and more so for local developers.

Financing is another factor, and as Phelps pointed out, Indonesia lacked the necessary venture capital infrastructure.

""That's why the government (role) is so important,"" said Tony Chen, president director of Microsoft Indonesia.

By becoming serious in protecting intellectual property, the government would not just be protecting the rights of big software corporations such as Microsoft, but also small software companies in the local market. Consequently, such a stance would do more to encourage software and content developers than providing financing and easier access to technological resources such as patents and copyrights.

Chen cited various Microsoft programs and support for various innovation centers and the localized version of Windows, as well as the much publicized US$3 million educational software package for students in underdeveloped countries, recently announced by Bill Gates.

He pointed to these as examples that big corporations such as Microsoft was willing to ""meet half way"".

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