JAKARTA, 7 October 2022 – The 8th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Dialogue took place on 5 October in Jakarta, Indonesia. The dialogue discussed opportunities and challenges faced by digital start-ups and explored concrete initiatives with the private sector to further enhance the ecosystem and facilitate growth of digital start-ups in ASEAN.
In his remarks, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for AEC Satvinder Singh shared ASEAN’s progress in the digital economy. He revealed that the region’s digital consumer base expanding by nearly 20% since the pandemic began, and the digital economy adding about US$ 363 billion of gross merchandise value by 2025.
Tech for Good Institute’s Founding Executive Director Dr. Ming Tan highlighted the importance of digital start-ups in the region to achieve economic growth, while fostering a confident digital society. “The digital economy will be the engine driving Southeast Asia’s growth; and digital start-ups can be the catalyst to ensure that this growth is inclusive, equitable, and sustainable,” said Dr. Tan.
The first panel speakers consisted of representatives from Infocomm and Media Development Authority of Singapore, OVO, Versafleet, and Binar Academy. They identified areas where support and attention are much needed to enhance the growth of the digital start-ups’ ecosystem. They also noted that regulatory gaps might hinder start-up growth and recommended that economies should actively reskill workers to address talent gaps.
The panel agreed that closer collaboration with the public and private sector will become more important than ever to keep ASEAN’s digital economy resilient in the face of the challenging global economic outlook.
At the second panel, speakers from Temasek Trust Capital, Grab, Start-Up Village, and Cradle Fund discussed opportunities where digital start-ups can be involved in the broader developmental agendas of the region.
The participants of the dialogue recognised that technological and business innovation borne out of ASEAN’s digital start-up ecosystem can and should serve the communities that use them. Furthermore, they remarked that impact in business should go beyond corporate social responsibility activities and impact-focused initiatives should be integrated in the fundamental business model of digital start-ups in ASEAN.
The dialogue was organised by the ASEAN Secretariat, in collaboration with ASEAN Business Advisory Council, with the Tech for Good Institute as the dialogue’s knowledge-partner. Over 350 participants from start-ups, venture capitals, big tech companies and government agencies attended the dialogue both in person and online.
For further information, please contact the Enterprise and Stakeholder Engagement Division (ESED@asean.org).
