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ndonesia Startup Insights, an annual startup pitching event, was held in Singapore to bridge Indonesian startups and Singaporean investors amid Jakarta’s attempt to back President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s vision of having 1,000 techpreneurs.

The event took place at PSB Academy, Marina Square on Saturday, which marked the National Heroes Day, and was organized by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore. It involved 400 investors and representatives from 10 Indonesian startups.

Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Ngurah Swajaya said the event was hoped to encourage more unicorns — private startup companies valued at over US$1 billion, such as ride-hailing app firm Go-Jek and e-commerce company Tokopedia, as envisioned by Jokowi.

“We continue to support the development and cooperation of Indonesian startups and their partners in Singapore,” he said in a press statement. “In 2017, we also held a hackathon in Batam Polytechnic” in nearby Batam, Riau Islands province.

Some 500 participants took part in the hackathon, Ngurah added.

In March, the embassy inaugurated Nongsa Digital Park in Batam as a “bridge” for Singaporean and Indonesian digital players.

Ngurah further said he also hoped for better synergy between the Indonesian government, startups and investors — particularly those from Singapore — as such cooperation would create the best ecosystem and incubation for startup development in Indonesia.

At Saturday’s event, also attended by Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) deputy for infrastructure Hari Sungkari, the startup representatives were required to pitch their ideas to the investors within seven minutes, the statement says.

Hari took the chance to evaluate and give suggestions to the startup representatives on how to develop and operate such entrepreneurship by taking account of regulations in Indonesia and Singapore.

In October, the Embassy invited National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro to disseminate Vision 2045 to representatives of the Indonesian community living in Singapore.

In his presentation, Bambang said that with the current economic growth, Indonesia’s gross domestic product would be the fifth-largest in the world by 2045, the country’s 100th year of independence.

Therefore, the government had been pushing four pillars of development in realizing the respective vision, he said. The pillars were development of human resources, science and technology; sustainable economy; development equality; and national resilience through good governance.

Bambang further said the government had prioritized the development of manufacturing industry, digital economy and industry 4.0, or the use of automation and data to perform day-to-day tasks.

The government also aimed at mainstreaming disaster prevention and mitigation considering that Indonesia was vulnerable to natural disasters, he added.

In October’s presentation, Ngurah said that such an activity was essential as a direct communication platform to invite all elements of Indonesian society in Singapore to make a positive contribution to realize Vision 2045.

“Economic disruption, changes in the global political constellation, and climate change are our problems and we should look for solutions to these challenges in order to create a strong and prosperous Indonesia,“ said Ngurah.