Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian country that had been allocated the partner country status of Hannover Messe in the past 20 years. This is because Indonesia has one of the highest Industry-to-GDP ratios among other ASEAN countries, excluding Vietnam. The country’s massive potential for industrialization was also cited as one of the reasons behind the allocation “Indonesia is ready to be a partner to Germany in developing the industry in ASEAN. Our goal [at Hannover Messe 2020] will be on implemeting Making Indonesia 4.0: making Indonesia one of the world’s 10 largest economies by 2030,” said Indonesian Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto at the Indonesia Industrial Summit 2019 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, West Java. Making Indonesia 4.0 is a roadmap launched by the Indonesian Ministry of Industry in 2018. In it, the Ministry identifies the key sectors that the Indonesian government would prioritize towards adopting Industry 4.0. The roadmap also identifies the issues and challenges that would be faced, as well as the proposed solutions to these challenges. Adopting Industry 4.0 is a key interest to Indonesia. Realizing the importance of technologies related to Industry 4.0, such as industrial automation and IoT, energy and environmental technologies, energy efficiency, research and technology transfer and robotics, the current administration has made adopting Industry 4.0 a priority in order to develop the nation’s economy. “A study from McKinsey has shown that [adopting Industry 4.0] has the potential of increasing our GDP by between US$120-150 billion by 2025. It was also estimated that [adopting Industry 4.0] could contribute up to 1-2% to the nation’s GDP,” said Minister Hartarto. This is why Indonesia’s designation as the partner country of Hannover Messe 2020 is of significant importance. Widely recognized as the birthplace of Industry 4.0 - in reference to the 2011 iteration of the trade fair during which the buzzword took hold of industrialists around the world - Hannover Messe allows for massive international exposure. The five-day trade fair boasts more than 6,500 attendants representing over 73 countries, some 225,000 international visitors from 91 countries, and around 5.6 million potential business deals. Hannover Messe is a project of Deutsche Messe AG. Indonesia had been an official partner country to the Hannover Messe in 1995. The partner country designation was officially handed back to Indonesia from Sweden, the partner country in 2019, in a ceremony held on April 2. Representing Indonesia was Mr. Thomas Lembong, head of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board. The event was also presided by Ms. Ute Brockmann, Deputy Managing Director of EKONID. The handover was part of the ASEAN forum on April 2, organized by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) in cooperation with the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (AHKs) in ASEAN. Aside from being a catalyst to Indonesia’s own strategic efforts to adopt Industry 4.0, Minister Hartarto also said Hannover Messe 2020 is an opportunity for Indonesia to conduct national branding. Thus, in order to raise the attention of potential Indonesian exhibitors for Hannover Messe 2020, the Indonesian Ministry of Industry and Deutsche Messe AG will jointly organize a roadshow to different regions in Indonesia in cooperation with EKONID in 2019. “So this is a very important opportunity, not only for large companies but also Indonesian small-and-medium enterprises,” Minister Hartarto concluded.
Over 100 participants, both from the public and private sector, attended a German-Indonesian Business Forum on “Biomass Utilization: Sustainable energy solutions from residues from the agricultural and food-producing industry” on April 9, 2019, at the Ayana Midplaza Jakarta. Held by EKONID, in cooperation with Renewable Energy Academy (RENAC) and with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the forum saw experts from both Germany and Indonesia discussing the latest technologies and solutions in utilizing biomass – a seldom mentioned yet highly potential industry within Indonesia’s energy sector. Indonesia is known to possess the world’s second largest supply of renewable energy, according to the World Bioenergy Association – at 34.3%, just below Brazil at 39% and above India at 25.4%. Meanwhile, the world continues to inch move closer in favor of renewable energy. By the end of 2018, a third of the global power capacity are based on renewable energy, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. Meanwhile, Indonesia's ever-growing energy demand and the government's goal of obtaining 23% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2025, drive the development of renewable energy plants forward. In addition to small biomass plants for the private use, the market for larger commercial plants is starting to develop in Indonesia, opening up a potential operating field for foreign companies. In this regard, Indonesia has a comparative advantage for bioenergy production, according to Mr. Trois Silisusendi, Head of the Bioenergy Preparation Program at the Indonesian Directorate General of New and Renewable Energy, who was a speaker at the forum. Mr. Silisusendi also noted however that Indonesia has still a long way to go before fully utilizing its total potential for biomass. “Based on our survey, we are blessed with huge potential that come from palm oil, corn, cassava, wood, cow dung and MSW [Municipal Solid Waste] to generate electricity up to 32 GW. But, currently we have a total of 1.85 GW. This number is still far from the total potential that we have also from our target of reaching 5.5 GW by 2025,” he said. Mr. Bernd Wollwerth, Head of Division Solar Energy and Rural Electrification at RENAC, who was also a speaker at the event, agreed on the potential of bioenergy in Indonesia, citing the country’s bountiful agricultural residues. He hoped that more German companies would cooperate with Indonesian companies to drive this industry forward. “The technologies are there, they are reliable and working, there is no further in-depth research that is necessary to be conducted. So I believe that German companies can definitely support the Indonesian market and partners with the technologies to create new markets and to produce as much bioenergy as possible,” said Mr. Wollwerth. In order to drive this perspective forward, EKONID also organized a B2B meeting for the participants of the biomass event. Following the one-day forum, EKONID facilitated site visits and business meetings between German and Indonesian companies who operate in the field of bioenergy. The two-day B2B meeting was held from April 10 to 11, 2019. German companies that participated in this business forum were: Aprovis Energy System GmbH, Maxxtec GmbH, Carbonauten GmbH, Envitec Anlagenbau GmbH & Co.KG, Planet Biogas Global GmbH, Werner Droppstadt Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co.KG, Emka Energie GmbH, and Classen Aparatnbau Wiesloch GmbH.