U

nited States tech giant Apple Inc. is living up to its commitment to develop an innovation center in Indonesia by establishing a developer academy, which will open its doors on June 25.

Apple is teaming up with Bina Nusantara (Binus) University, which will provide lecture rooms for the academy on one of its campuses in Tangerang, Banten.

According to the program’s description on the university’s official website, the Apple Developer Academy at the university would be “Asia’s first ever initiative to empower Indonesia’s economy by creating world-class developers for the world’s most innovative and vibrant app ecosystem”.

The academy is offering a free nine-month program and participants will be provided with transportation allowances.

The program will not only teach computer-related skills, but also business knowledge and character. Enrollment is open to anyone over the age of 18.

According to the Industry Ministry, at least 180 participants would be accepted to train at the academy.

The academy is part of an effort by Apple to adhere to Indonesia’s policy on local content requirements (TKDN).

The regulation states that a mandatory 30 percent of components for all 4G phones sold in Indonesia should be procured locally, a policy which limited the sales of Apple’s smartphones.

Apple had previously agreed to comply with the regulation and made a commitment to build a research and development center (R&D). It also pledged to invest US$44 million into developing the facility.

Industry Minister Airlangga Hartanto said the innovation center would be the company’s third largest IT center in the world after Brazil and Italy.

“I hope that with our cooperation with Apple, Indonesia will become one of the world’s digital hubs,” Airlangga said recently, as quoted by tempo.co.

Sanny Iskandar, a ministry staff member, told The Jakarta Post that Apple had plans to establish a second innovation center in Java, and a third outside Java.

Currently, Apple’s R&D center is a rented office at the Green Office Park in Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) City in South Tangerang, Banten.

“But Apple will relocate its R&D center to a digital hub close to its current office,” Sanny said on Wednesday, referring to BSD City’s digital hub.

Last year, property developer Sinarmas Land began construction on an integrated smart digital hub at BSD, aimed at connecting startups, technology leaders and digital communities.

BSD City digital hub project leader Irawan Harahap said Apple had not yet sealed a long-term deal to occupy the area. However, he added, if Apple planned to build an R&D center, then the capacity of the current space that the company was renting would not be enough.

“Our digital hub is ready to welcome any technology companies, especially Apple,” Irawan told the Post.

Aside from the academy, Apple also set up the iOS Foundation — named after its mobile phone operating system — that aims to teach Binus University students app development on the iOS platform.

The four-week program will be taught by Apple-trained instructors and will mainly focus on coding to build apps on Apple’s platform.

Apple’s representatives for Indonesia declined to comment.