Batam, January 18, 2025 – Minister of Creative Economy/Head of the Creative Economy Agency, Teuku Riefky Harsya, visited the Apple Developer Academy Building and Infinite Studios at Nongsa Digital Park, Batam. The visit continued with a discussion on an integrated digital ecosystem for sustainable creative economy development at the Preview Room on Saturday, January 18, 2025.
Minister of Creative Economy Riefky stated that this discussion served as an appreciation of Nongsa Digital Park’s achievements as a fully integrated Special Economic Zone (KEK). He acknowledged that this area plays a significant role in boosting the contribution of the creative economy sector to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"I fully understand the challenges of the past 20 years because I was once part of this creative economy sub-sector as a practitioner. It is not easy to survive and gain international recognition while contributing to the national GDP. The creative economy is an extraordinary sector and serves as the new engine of growth for the national economy," said Minister of Creative Economy Riefky.
The Ministry of Creative Economy hopes that this visit will strengthen collaboration, find solutions to existing challenges, and continuously drive sustainable creative economy development. With these efforts, the growth of the creative economy in the Riau Islands, particularly in Batam, can continue to thrive, as this region has been designated as a priority area for creative economy development in Indonesia.
"We are focused on generating impact by creating job opportunities in the sub-sectors that have already developed at Nongsa Digital Park (NDP). Sub-sectors such as film, animation, digital applications, and local gaming must expand across Indonesia. At NDP, there are facilities for live production, animation post-production, and a game academy integrated with a data center. This is a potential hub for reaching international markets," Minister of Creative Economy Riefky added.
Meanwhile, Infinite Studios welcomed this positive collaboration and highlighted the challenges faced by Indonesia's animation film industry. They expressed their hopes for the development of local intellectual property (IP), particularly in the fields of animation and gaming.
"We have been involved in developing creative business services such as set building, visual effects, post-production, and animation while collaborating with various international OTT platforms. Our goal is to create our own original content or local IP that can be embraced by the global digital ecosystem," said Ghea Lisanova, General Manager of Infinite Studios.
Accompanying Ministry of Creative Economy/Head of the Creative Economy Agency Teuku Riefky Harsya during the visit were Deputy for Strategic Creative Economy Development, Cecep Rukendi, and Director for Infrastructure Facilitation, Fahmy Akmal. Also present was the Head of the Riau Islands Provincial Tourism Office, Guntur Sakti.
Kiagoos Irvan Faisal
Acting Head of Communications Bureau
Ministry of Creative Economy/Creative Economy Agency
