Surabaya, September 3, 2026 – Minister of Creative Economy/Head of the Creative Economy Agency (Ekraf), Teuku Riefky Harsya, attended the Open Doctoral Examination Session at the Graduate School of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Surabaya, Thursday (3/9). His attendance was part of efforts to strengthen synergy between the government and academia in addressing challenges in developing the creative economy ecosystem amid ongoing digital technological developments.
Minister of Creative Economy/Head of the Creative Economy Agency (Ekraf), Teuku Riefky Harsya, attended the Open Doctoral Examination Session at the Graduate School of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Surabaya, Thursday (3/9/2026).
Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, said that the presence of several ministers at the open doctoral examination demonstrated the importance and relevance of the dissertation being discussed, including the development of the creative economy, which is increasingly closely connected to digital spaces and younger generations, particularly Generation Z.
“This dissertation shows that we should not only provide digital spaces for democracy to grow and develop, particularly among Indonesia’s younger generation, but also ensure the impact of that participation on the quality of our democracy,” said AHY.
The open doctoral examination assessed a dissertation entitled “The Influence of Digital Democracy, Political Literacy, and Post-Truth Politics on Generation Z’s Political Participation in the 2024 General Election in Indonesia,” authored by Agust Jovan Latuconsina. The topic is relevant to the transformation of the creative economy, which influences how young people obtain information, interact, create works, and participate in various digital spaces.
Photo: Bureau for Communication, Ministry of Creative Economy / Creative Economy Agency.
The Minister of Creative Economy said that higher education institutions such as UNAIR have a strategic role as sources of knowledge, research, and innovation. Under the hexaahelix approach, collaboration among the government, academia, businesses, communities, media, and the public is important in addressing the increasingly complex challenges facing the creative economy ecosystem.
“This dissertation also shows that digital democracy has a positive and significant influence on Generation Z’s participation. For the creative economy, this development is highly relevant because young people are an important part of the digital ecosystem while also possessing great potential as creators and drivers of the creative industries. Therefore, we need to ensure that digital spaces can be utilized to encourage creativity, innovation, and the creation of works with added value,” he said.
Photo: Bureau for Communication, Ministry of Creative Economy / Creative Economy Agency.
Collaboration is needed to formulate knowledge-, research-, and data-based policies and strategies for creative economy development that are also capable of responding to changes in young people’s behavior amid the acceleration of technology.
The dissertation findings demonstrate a strong relationship between digital spaces and Generation Z’s engagement. One of its conclusions states, “Digital democracy has a positive and significant influence on Generation Z’s political participation in the 2024 General Election in Indonesia.” This finding demonstrates that digital spaces hold a strategic position in shaping young people’s engagement, including in relation to the development of their creativity, innovation, and participation in the creative economy industry.
“The significance of digital democracy for development in Indonesia is that it has become part of our lives, while advances in information and communication technology are inevitable and cannot be avoided. As I have explained, digital democracy has a paradoxical nature. It facilitates access to information, socialization, assessment, and monitoring, making it easier to attract people in terms of quantity,” said Jovan.
Photo: Bureau for Communication, Ministry of Creative Economy / Creative Economy Agency.
Also attending the examination were Minister of Transmigration M. Iftitah S. Suryanagara; Deputy Governor of East Java Emil Elestianto Dardak; and several Senior High Leadership Officials from the Coordinating Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development.
Kiagoos Irvan Faisal
Head of Bureau for Communication
Ministry of Creative Economy / Creative Economy Agency
