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Astra offers students, start-ups digital innovation opportunities through Astranauts
Since 2020, companies around the world have had to innovate in ways like never before to stay afloat during the pandemic.
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(Courtesy of Astra)
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ince 2020, companies around the world have had to innovate in ways like never before to stay afloat during the pandemic. It quickly became evident that the digitalization era would be greatly accelerated by the health crisis. According to Katadata, Indonesia is home to over 2,000 start-ups, placing it among the countries in the world with the most start-ups.
As a company that champions innovation and continues to innovate, Astra has made innovation its core value and credited innovation with the success Astra has enjoyed for the last 65 years.
“Innovation is something that is highly developed and appreciated at Astra. This is a manifestation of the company's philosophy, Catur Dharma," said Paul Soegianto, chief of group digital strategy at Astra.
Astra now also strives to help others do the same. The Astranauts program is part of the company’s efforts to create a space for closer collaboration between students, start-ups and Astra, as well as an effort to strengthen its start-up ecosystem.
“We want it to be an event to create, to introduce Astra to people outside of Astra, but also to explore this idea, explore innovations outside Astra so that they can be developed even further,” Paul said in a video explaining the company’s Astranauts competition.
Paul added that 13 innovations were in the works so far. The Astranauts program was initially established to support the development of digital and technological innovations by Indonesian students and start-ups.
Registration for this year’s competition – themed Inspire, Innovate, Collaborate – is already open and closes on July 8. Applicants must choose from five competition categories: Future of Mobility, Future of Finance, Industry 4.0, Sustainability or Emerging Technology.
"With Astranauts as a space for innovative ideas, Astra hopes to produce ideas that can normalize various changes, especially digital transformation in people's lives, so they can be useful to the nation and the state," Paul said.
The competition is open to all students in bachelor’s, master and doctoral programs who have an idea that they think can change the world. Both local and international start-ups are also welcome to join but must have a minimum viable product (MVP) to be eligible.
Astranauts also has other terms and conditions, including that each team must have at least two members and a maximum of five. Applicants are also required to submit a pitch deck consisting of five to 20 slides or a pitch video. Selected applicants will then proceed to the preliminary round of the competition.
The next stage offers an opportunity to take part in an exclusive two-week mentorship involving professionals from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Accenture, Ernst & Young, Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and more.
The finalists are required to present their products to the jury and selected experts on Demo Day. The winning start-up team will be awarded a prize of Rp 75 million (US$5,027), while the winning student team will be awarded Rp 30 million. The prize includes awards for the first and second runner-ups.
Paul said the Astraunauts competition could lead to more job opportunities and new businesses, as the winners would have an opportunity to collaborate with Astra and become a part of the company’s start-up community.
The program includes a public event called Astranauts Week, filled with a series of webinars, workshops, digital showcases and career fairs that are open to the public. The complete schedule for Astranauts Week is available on the Astranauts 2022 website (astra.agorize.com).
The concept of Astranauts as a space for innovation is in line with Astra's mission to develop national prosperity and support the country in realizing its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This article is published in collaboration with Astra
