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Software giant Microsoft has been at the forefront of
fighting not only piracy but also technology illiteracy across the
globe. To that end, Pamela Passman, Microsoft Corporation's corporate
vice president of global corporate affairs, visited Indonesia recently.
The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno met with Passman to discuss how to
make Indonesia more respectful of intellectual property rights and more
innovative with regard to technology. Below are excerpts from the
interview.
Question: Many developing countries, including Indonesia, are striving
to move toward a knowledge-based economy, where knowledge resources,
including intellectual property, are more critical than resources such
as land and labor. What are the requirements for Indonesia to create a
knowledge-based economy?
Answer: Creating an environment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
in the information technology sector to be successful is key. Our
sectors are really full of SMEs, creating local services and local
applications relevant to the economy, such as tourism, oil and gas, and
whatever else.
For Microsoft to be successful in a country there has to be a strong,
vibrant local software industry, because we do certain things, but we
don't do everything.
The environment for SMEs is important: how much regulation is there to
start, how they get money to be able to grow their businesses and (what
kinds of skills) the people coming out of the university have -- not
only computer science and engineering skills, but also entrepreneurship
skills.
Universities are key in that, local companies are key in that, and the
government plays an important role in that.
Indonesia is one of the world's biggest piracy offenders, with a piracy
rate of 85 percent. How would you help the country resolve this issue?
What's critical is the commitment of the government. What's critical is
the environment improving over time -- maybe it's slow but there is a
trend where the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) is
becoming stronger and stronger over time.
If piracy is rampant, SMEs are not going to be successful. Unless we
can see that these smaller companies have the opportunity to be
successful and grow the whole software market here, it's not the place
where multinational companies are going to invest. So, you need that
environment where SMEs can be successful, and that really grows the
economy.
You have concerns about the piracy not only in Indonesia, but in other
countries in the region, including Vietnam and China.
What are you doing to address the issue?
We are doing a variety of things. We are working very closely with the
governments to make sure that legal infrastructure is in place to
protect IPR. We are working with enforcement agencies. We work closely
with prosecutors and judges so they have the training they need to
enforce the law, because generally the law is fine. They are good laws
-- they are up to the international standards -- but they are not
enforced.
The other thing is the government's legal software is critical. It's
very challenging to ask the government to enforce the law when it is
not following the law (itself). So, having the large local companies,
SMEs, government all working together, to create an environment that is
respectful, is key.
You have research centers in India and China. What are you planning for
Indonesia?
Having innovation centers in Indonesia is a very good first step.
Indonesia is blessed with ... strong universities with very good
reputations. The government for many decades has been very supportive
of young people going overseas (for study). So, there is very good
talent here, but again, creating the environment is very critical for
that.
Because we are a software developer, that's all we do. Whether we have
a research institution or a development center, we are working with
others in the industry, and so there has to be a strong local industry.
Could you share with us what you consider best practices in other
countries that Indonesia could emulate?
South Korea is a very interesting example. I was actually in Asia, in
Tokyo, when they went through the financial crisis. In Korea, the
government made some bold policies, bold investment, and had specific
plans and focus to drive the information technology (IT) industry, and
not only within the South Korean economy, but to be a global leader.
So, they invested in education in the late 1990s and made it a lot
easier for SMEs to start and take risks and grow. They had huge
collaboration between universities and the private sector and the
government on research and development, and huge investment in
broadband.
It's remarkable to see some of the bold things (both the private sector
and) the government did ... to come out of the crisis.
It's very thoughtful, long-term vision, and very specific things that
the government, universities and the private sector are doing together,
and building a long-term sustainable model to be a leader in the use of
IT in the country, and also creating and supporting their companies
that are leading globally.
Chile is another very interesting model, starting from the previous
government and (continuing with) the current government, with very
strong investment in the government's use of technology.
They really invest in the government's services online, creating
incentives for people to do things online (such as) filing taxes,
getting licenses, etc. In its delivery of services (the government) is
very much improved. And it's reducing the cost (of) services.
There are some talks about technology transfer, where developed
countries or multinational companies are said to be reluctant to pursue
that. What about Microsoft?
It's a huge challenge, especially in new and growing fields, to have
the right incentives for people to invest in innovation.
What is important is how government, international organizations, the
private sector and universities are coming together for new creative
ways of bringing resources together, and then making technology more
broadly available. Having commercial incentives there is pretty
critical for investment.
In the cycle of innovation the government supports university research
and universities work closely with the private sector to commercialize
their research, (enabling) more investment. That's actually how the
industry was built.
It wasn't just the private sector investing, it was government
investing in computer science in universities, and university
researchers innovating, creating technology that could be
commercialized by the private sector. So, it's not just technology
coming from the developed world.
What has Microsoft been doing to help developing countries like
Indonesia move toward a knowledge-based economy and achieve prosperity?
We try as a company to come up with very specific, concrete ways to
work with the stakeholders. It's really a framework ... and in the end
it's a very consistent thing, but how it is implemented in a country
and how a country builds a knowledge economy is different. But clearly,
education is really a key issue.
Most countries in the world lack qualified teachers (to keep) young
people interested in and excited about learning, ... ensuring there are
enough people studying computer sciences, engineering and mathematics.
There are all these issues that we see, very consistently, around the
world. We try to build programs for primary and secondary schools. The
"partners in learning" program here in Indonesia and also in over 100
countries around the world is very focused on professional development
for teachers, helping them understand how to use IT skills in the
classroom.
To teach IT skills is one thing, but to integrate IT into a curriculum,
whether it is history or language, is a way for teachers to bring in
more content to engage young people, and do e-learning, distance
learning and a variety of things.
We also recognize that (worldwide) very few people can buy computers.
We need to create some programs, products, business models and
licensing models that can reach those people who today do not benefit
from technology.
We are also very focused on rural computing and shared access,
recognizing special needs in farming areas. This is such a huge
agrarian economy, so our community technology skills program is
bringing computers to some farming areas.
Our community access point is helping create new businesses, helping
individual entrepreneurs make connections. We are a very strong
supporter of the talent center movement. Many of them are managed by
not-for-profit and non-governmental organizations.
Over time, we are also working with talent centers to build a more
sustainable model and then provide some of the services to the
community, whether it's being the channel for the government services,
for insurance or other things.
Ultimately, it's about creating jobs. Every economy is the same. Every
government is the same. The priority of every government I have ever
known is creating jobs. We believe that information and communications
technology (ICT) has a very central role to play in creating jobs.
So much potential very much depends on those three things and how they
work together: education, local innovation and creating jobs. All these
things have to be in place, with strong support from local industries,
the government and universities. That's the goal of our Unlimited
Potential program. It's very ambitious. We ... may not be successful in
some things, but we feel that we have to try. We as a company have to
have very strong aspirations.
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