February 24, 2025
JAKARTA – The Artificial Intelligence Movement for National Sovereignty Resilience (GARUDA) program, a collaboration initiated by tech firm Binar and the State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Foundation, is set to educate 100,000 civil servants with AI technology materials provided by Microsoft.
This program serves as a strategic initiative to strengthen national resilience through AI utilization.
“Binar’s vision is to be a facilitator in AI transformation. The GARUDA program is a concrete step toward realizing that goal,” Binar president director Alamanda Shantika Santoso said in Jakarta on Wednesday, as reported by Antara news agency.
Alamanda said that Indonesia currently ranks 38th out of 120 countries in terms of civil servant performance.
Equipping civil servants with AI skills is a strategic move to enhance competitiveness on a global scale, she added.
According to the official GARUDA program registration website, the program includes key AI learning, “weBinars” with experts and an AI Hackathon.
The AI Hackathon is held in collaboration with impact investment ecosystems, including venture capital from both within and outside the BUMN network.
The top three social enterprises with AI-driven ideas will receive grants to bring their innovations to life.
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Beyond training civil servants, the government is actively working to expand the domestic digital talent pool, aiming to reach 9 million tech experts by 2030.
Second Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Nezar Patria said his ministry collaborated with various technology companies, communities and universities. The companies included Microsoft, Google, IBM, Amazon, Alibaba, Huawei and ZTE.
“We are collaborating with various communities to provide training and enhance the capacity of our digital talents,” Nezar said, as quoted by cnbcindonesia.com.
The ministry has introduced several initiatives for digital talent education, including the Digital Talent Scholarship, which was launched in 2020.
Over the past four years, 654,083 individuals have participated in the training, with 572,000 successfully completing the program and earning certification.