Photo caption: Telkom Human Capital Management Director Afriwandi at the virtual grand launch of InnoVillage 2021, Tuesday (31/8).

Jakarta, 2 September 2021 – PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk held again this year the social entrepreneur competition or sociopreneurship in digital technology, also known as InnoVillage. InnoVillage 2021 is organized in collaboration with Telkom University, the Indonesian Chancellor's Forum, APERTI BUMN, and the Indonesia Career Center Network (ICCN). This competition is held as one of Telkom's ways to produce more digital talent in Indonesia, and a manifestation of the company's commitment to support Indonesia's digital transformation. 

InnoVillage 2021 is held for the second time, after the first one in 2020. InnoVillage's theme this year is Empowering Young Sociopreneur for Sustainable Digital Village, with an expectation that the event would produce young sociopreneurs with innovations to assist the rural communities solving various social problems.

Students from all universities in Indonesia can participate in InnoVillage, by registering and submitting  project proposals between 28 August and 10 September 2021 through the website www.innovillage.id InnoVillage 2021 is estimated to receive more than a thousand activities proposals from students in various universities.

“InnoVillage is one of Telkom's social programs in developing community digital competence in the university environment. This program aims to facilitate students to hone in their social sensitivity, while remaining productive during the Covid-19 pandemic by producing digital solutions to overcome social problems in society. This program is expected to produce digital innovation works and foster young digital talents who could contribute to the people and the nation. Students from all universities in Indonesia can participate in InnoVillage 2021. We expect there will be 120 digital innovation works selected that will receive funding from Telkom and be realized as solutions for the community," Telkom Human Capital Management Director Afriwandi said during the virtual launch of InnoVillage 2021, Tuesday (31/8).

The InnoVillage 2021 proves Telkom's commitment to transforming into a preferred digital telco to advance society and the nation. The innovations from this competition are expected to be applicable and oriented towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and result in many benefits to society, the economy, and the environment.

The Chancellor of Telkom University and the Chair of the BUMN APERTI Prof. Adiwijaya said the InnoVillage competition is a way for universities to manifest the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology's Merdeka Learning Merdeka Campus program. "Of course we must have the initiative to manifest the spirit of Merdeka Learning at the Merdeka Campus, and make students accustomed to being keypoints and being able to carry out fulfilling activities in an independent Indonesia. The InnoVillage 2021 has wider scope than the previous one in order to yield more benefits from this competition," Adiwijaya said.

According to the Chair of the Indonesian Chancellor's Forum, Panut Mulyono, InnoVillage 2021 can benefit a lot to the community and students, because there will be many social problems that the soon-to-be-emerging digital innovations can solve. “We welcome the collaboration and synergy to make the InnoVillage 2021 program a success, because we believe this program is very useful for society, especially for students, to experience firsthand the real problems at the community level and to help find solutions and solve them in the best possible way. I call on all universities in Indonesia to participate and encourage their students to participate in this program," Panut said.

On the same occasion, ICCN President Teddy Indra Budiwan said students can hone their skills and expand their network by participating in the competition. “InnoVillage is a unique event because it gives students the opportunity to contribute to society. The identified problems, the proposed solutions, and their impact on the community are so relevant that they can change the lives of the people. This illustrates that the solutions that have emerged from InnoVillage are very good and relevant,” Teddy said.

Students interested to participate in InnoVillage 2021 must meet a number of requirements for this competition. First, participants must be bachelor or diploma students who are currently in at least semester 3, or are pursuing masters degree. Second, the proposal submitted must be the work of a team of one to three students. Third, a student is only allowed to be in one team.

Each team must be accompanied by one assistant lecturer. Supervisors may accompany a maximum of three teams at InnoVillage 2021. Student participation in InnoVillage 2021 can be converted into credit scores for on-the-job training or internship according to the Merdeka Learning Merdeka Campus program, and will receive certificates for 120 selected projects. Participants must also submit innovative ideas related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and have elements that benefit the community.

Furthermore, participants are required to upload a 3-5 minute video on YouTube containing a summary of issues and innovation ideas. After that, prospective participants must register through the official InnoVillage website by attaching a proposal and video link. Each participating team is also required to attach a cover letter or recommendation from the chancellor/head of their universities. 

Telkom Indonesia will provide Rp15 million funding to each participant selected to be on the Top 120 list of InnoVillage 2021. Names on the Top 120 list will be announced on 26 September 2021. The funding from Telkom Indonesia must be spent to execute their innovations in the field from 26 September to 14 November 2021 .

The finalist assessment and the final round will be held on 5 – 15 December 2021. All information about InnoVillage 2021 is available on the competition's social media handles and official website.

There were four universities that participated in InnoVillage 2020 with 301 proposals submitted. They were selected into 100 proposals that received funding from Telkom. In InnoVillage 2021, the program coverage will be increased and the judges will select the best 120 proposals, which Telkom will give funding to carry out social projects in 120 villages in Indonesia. Telkom has prepared matching funds of more than Rp1.8 billion, and a total prize of Rp400 million for the selected social projects .

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