German Professor Predicts 2050 Indonesia Will Become Economically Strong Country

INDUSTRY.co.id - Berlin, In his working visit to The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology of IPK, Germany, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto met and discussed with Prof Dr Ing Holger Kohl of Berlin University, who is well known to experts in the field of production systems and technology design at the German research institute the.

On that occasion, Kohl stated, Indonesia is a prospective country in the era of development of the digital industry today. In his presentation, Kohl also projected within the next 32 years, Indonesia can enter the four major countries of the world.

That is, by 2050, Indonesia will become a strong country economically, "he said according to his written statement in Berlin, Germany (4/5/2018).

The conviction that Kohl presented was based on, because over the next 15 years Indonesia enjoys a period of demographic bonus, in which its population will be dominated by productive age. This momentum will be one of the drivers of Indonesia's economic growth.

Some Asian countries that have entered demographic bonus periods, such as Japan, China, Singapore, and Thailand, are experiencing rapid economic growth. I think Indonesia is like that, he said.

After hearing the explanation from Kohl, Minister of Industry  is more optimistic with Indonesia's economic growth in the future. In fact, Kohl told us that the application of the 4.0 industry in Germany did not reduce employment at all.

"Instead even absorb a lot of labor, and able to increase economic growth of the country," said Airlangga.

For that, according to Airlangga, the Indonesian government is determined to spur the young generation's competence to take advantage of opportunities in the digital era. To prepare human resources (HR) the quality, Indonesia needs to mirror the Germans who became pioneers in the implementation of industry 4.0.

"So, we are working with Fraunhofer to prepare skilled human resources according to the needs of the industry today so that it will increase the absorption of local workforce," he added.

Furthermore, Airlangga said, the increase of R & D activities in Indonesia, is also an important factor for implementing the latest manufacturing technology so as to produce competitive product innovation.

In Germany, the Minister of Industry together with the entourage also met with Deutsche Messe AG, one of the big players for international exhibition business. The plan, Ministry of Industry will also work with the exhibition company based in Hannover.

"Deutsche Messe this could be an important means to increase exports and investment," he explained.

Airlangga said, the exhibition held by Deutsche Messe AG in Germany has a strategic role to expand the export market access for national industrial products, especially to countries in the European region.

"Included also for promotion of products produced by IKM national," he said.

During this time, several commodities from the country that have been exported to Germany, such as palm oil, furniture, footwear, cocoa, shrimp, textile and clothing, coffee, rubber, and automotive and electronic components.

"We hope the cooperation will strengthen bilateral relations, as well as to complement each other and increase the trade volume of Indonesia-Germany," he concluded.