The COVID-19 pandemic has made it urgent for countries to advance digital transformation amid lockdowns and quarantines, which forced individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments to shift to digital platforms to continue their activities.
BIMP-EAGA is stepping up efforts to improve digital connectivity and fast-track pandemic recovery in line with ASEAN’s Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap. These include improving internet access in remote and isolated areas of the subregion, helping businesses to embrace digital technologies, and reskilling and upskilling workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it urgent for countries to advance digital transformation amid lockdowns and quarantines, which forced individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments to shift to digital platforms to continue their activities.
The Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap: An ASEAN Digital Transformation Agenda to Accelerate ASEAN’s Economic Recovery and Digital Economy Integration outlines a plan from 2021 to 2025 to deepen ASEAN’s digital integration and connectivity. It was endorsed during the 53rd ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting on 8–9 September and during the 20th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council Meeting on 18 October.
Preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
At the recent 24th Ministerial Meeting and 14th Summit, both the ministers and leaders stressed the importance of the roadmap in preparing member countries for the fourth industrial revolution.
In line with the roadmap, the ministers said member countries should continue helping MSMEs in adopting digital technologies aligned with the Go Digital ASEAN project, an initiative supported by Google that aims to equip micro and small enterprises with digital skills and tools to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. They learn how to grow their businesses online and protect against cyber threats.
The ministers also committed to continue supporting the startup ecosystem through the subregion’s ICT CEO Forum and the Startuphub@BIMP-EAGA, which are both led by the private sector. The ICT CEO Forum serves as a venue for business owners to network, while the Startuphub@BIMP-EAGA aims to establish a network of startup hubs or technology business incubators. Since 2016, startup hubs were created in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam; Pontianak and Makassar in Indonesia; Kota Kinabalu and Kuching in Malaysia; and Palawan, Zamboanga, and Davao in the Philippines.
The BIMP-EAGA ministers said startups from the subregion will participate in the virtual ASEAN Startup Festival on 8 December to be hosted by Brunei to expand and establish the SME network and learn best practices from other regions.
“To help the BIMP-EAGA work force adapt to market demands and the crisis, we will focus on reskilling and upskilling of technical, vocational education and training and higher education,” the ministers also said.
The rise of the digital economy is expected to create more job opportunities. A study by the Asian Development Bank sees a transformational impact of fourth industrial revolution technologies on skills and jobs in Southeast Asia with more jobs created than displaced by 2030.
Improving connectivity
BIMP-EAGA is targeting 100% broadband coverage by 2025.
Ahead of the BIMP-EAGA ministers’ meeting, the ICT Cluster reported the private-sector-led BIMP-EAGA Submarine and Terrestrial (B.E.S.T) Cable Project will be expedited after lockdowns halted marine and land surveys needed for the project. The $150-million project will improve connectivity via a hybrid communications platform either through sub-sea cable, satellite, or terrestrial systems.
Despite project delays, the ICT Cluster still expects satellite connection from Tawau in Sabah, Malaysia to Tarakan in Kalimantan, Indonesia to be available by December 2021.
Satellite technology is already being used to provide internet in remote areas in BIMP-EAGA. For example, Malaysian satellite operator MEASAT’s CONNECTme Now serves rural parts of Sabah and Sarawak. In Mindanao, a university is installing satellite antennas in remote and isolated communities as a pilot project in southern Philippines. The Philippine government has also provided free Wi-Fi sites and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) facilities in remote islands in Mindanao. Malaysian startup Angkasa-X is also targeting to launch a low-earth-orbit satellite 3 years from now to connect Borneo to the internet, and has partnered with Brunei-based HallBru Tech and gained the support of the Brunei Darussalam BIMP-EAGA Business Council.
Better connectivity is also key to efforts to promote e-commerce, which is one of the cluster’s strategic priorities to help businesses. Over the past year, BIMP-EAGA countries and the private sector have adopted measures to help small businesses shift to the digital economy.
Other ICT initiatives
The ICT Cluster also cited ongoing initiatives in the subregion in its report.
In Brunei, Darussalam Enterprise (DARe), a government body created to help SMEs, has set up iCentre, a startup incubation program and co-working space for entrepreneurs.
In the Philippines, Tech4ED, a project that provides individuals and communities digital access at the grassroots level continues to be rolled out. Fifty Tech4Ed centers have been established so far across Mindanao and Palawan, and another 38 will be set up by end-2021. The cluster said 31 local governments units in Mindanao and Palawan have also started implementing an online system for issuing business permits and licenses.
Under the Startuphubs initiative, the Philippines has organized 10 webinars on digital marketing, technopreneurship, and social media marketing for MSMEs across Mindanao and Palawan. The program has also incubated 47 startups in Palawan and established eight startups hubs in Mindanao and Palawan.
Malaysia, meanwhile, has the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre, an initiative approved by the Sabah Cabinet in August 2019 to accelerate industries through technology, innovation and creativity, and collaboration with various stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Other initiatives disrupted by the pandemic will be resumed once the pandemic situation improves. This includes organizing outreach programs to introduce Internet of Things and other digital solutions to farmers.