Fintech firm Kudo aims to connect Indonesians without a bank account to e-commerce services. Photo by Sigid Kurniawan for Antara.
Major social and technological innovation is expected to be required if countries are to meet development challenges into the future. But government initiatives have typically had limited success in driving the transformative change required. Recent years have seen the private sector increasingly stepping in and financing startups to meet societal challenges, while also generating business profits.
What spurs private sector companies to innovate in ways that cater to lower-income customers, what forms do these innovations take, and how have governments responded to such innovation?
In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dave McRae chats with Professor Michiko Iizuka from the National Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). Professor Iizuka recently co-authored a three-country study (with Gerald Hane) on disruptive and inclusive innovation, which included Indonesia as one of its case studies.
This episode is the latest in the “Policy in Focus” series of Talking Indonesia episodes, supported by the Knowledge Sector Initiative (KSI), a partnership between the Australian and Indonesian governments that aims to improve the use of evidence in development policymaking. This series will appear periodically in alternate weeks to the regular Talking Indonesia episodes. The views expressed in this podcast episode do not represent the views of the Australian or Indonesian governments.
In 2022, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.
Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via Apple Podcasts or listen via your favourite podcasting app.
