Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

As part of the 27th Anniversary of the Master of Development Economics Study Program (MEP) Faculty of Economics and Business UGM, a National Seminar was held on Saturday (11/06) with the theme "Digital Transformation of Economic Development and Property Dynamics in Indonesia." The seminar was held offline at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Ballroom and was also broadcast online via Zoom Meetings platform and MEP FEB UGM’s YouTube channel. There were three speakers present at the seminar, namely Dr. Nursiah, S.Sos., M.Si, as Deputy Regent of Central Lombok, Budiharto Setyawan, S.H., M.Si, as Head of BI Yogyakarta, and Guntur Pramudiyanto, S.E., M.Ec.Dev., as Chairman I DPN MAPPI.

Before entering the main session, the seminar was opened by remarks from the Head of the Department of Economics, FEB UGM, Rimawan Pradiptyo, S.E., M.Sc., Ph.D., followed by a keynote speech delivered by Prof. Sri Adiningsih, Ph.D. In her speech, she stated that the transformation of the digital economy will develop deeper, wider and more evenly, and will penetrate all sectors including the property sector. After the pandemic, more and more people are adopting an online lifestyle and this is affecting the property market. She also explained that digitalization in the property market will make competition more competitive and business actors in the market are required to take advantage of property technology (prop tech). Therefore, related human resources in the sector need to be able to use technology creatively in order to compete in the market.

The event continued to the main session, which was the discussion of the material by the speakers. As the first speaker, Dr. Nursiah, S.Sos., M.Si, the Deputy Regent of Central Lombok, discussed the material with the topic “Economic Potential and Digitalization in Central Lombok Regency.” Regarding the regional development policies and economic potential, Central Lombok is designated as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with main economic activities in the tourism sector (Mandalika, Rinjani Global Geopark, Motocross Circuit) and agriculture (rice, corn, melon) supported by the presence of small medium industry and businesses.

Then, Nursiah explained about the economy-driving digital innovations that have been successfully implemented in Kab. Central Lombok. For instance, in the field of procurement of goods and services, an Electronic Procurement Service (LPSE) has been developed in the form of a website that provides information ranging from general procurement plans to tender results. The existence of these services accelerates the procurement of goods and services and also accelerates government spending for economic growth.

Regarding the development achievements of Kab. Central Lombok, in 2021, after experiencing a fairly deep contraction in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic growth of Kab. Central Lombok shows a recovery phase with a growth value of 4.03% and is the highest among districts/cities in NTB. In addition, the increase in total investment in the 2017-2021 period reached 145%, from IDR 1.06 trillion to IDR 2.6 trillion. In the future, the policies that will be developed in Kab. Central Lombok is aimed at strengthening human resources, improving the quality of public services, leveraging the economy, developing superior centers, and increasing investment.

The material discussion session continued with the second speaker, namely Budiharto Setyawan, S.H., M.Si, as the Head of BI DIY Representative, who discussed the topic of digital transformation of the payment system. He explained that there are several challenges and risks in digitizing in the regions, such as many as 21 provinces in Indonesia still have a community internet inclusion level below 55% and the capacity and capability of BPD in providing access and services for non-cash payments is still considered inadequate.

However, based on Budiharto's explanation, currently Bank Indonesia has issued a blueprint for the Indonesia Payment System 2025 which consists of five visions for navigating payment policies in the digital era, which are supporting the integration of the national digital economy-finance, supporting banking digitalization, ensuring interlinks between fintech and banks, guaranteeing national interests in the digital economy and finance between countries, as well as ensuring a balance between innovation and consumer protection, integrity, stability, and fair business competition.

Next was a presentation by the third speaker, namely Guntur Pramudiyanto, S.E., M.Ec.Dev., as Chairman I DPN MAPPI. Guntur explained that the property market is undergoing a behavioral transformation marked by the emergence of various trends. Some of the impacts of the property market transformation are the expansion of the marketing area, the easier transaction process, the distribution of the property development market that is not concentrated in one city, the shift in the rental system being preferred over the buying system, and the increase of adaptive and innovative demands.

Not only the property market that has undergone a transformation, according to Guntur, the appraiser profession has also transformed. In terms of the scope of assignments, appraiser professionals are now adopting the concept of smart contracts that use a blockchain system to draft contracts with the aim of time efficiency and risk mitigation. From the inspection side, drones and the Internet of Things (IoT) are used to make inspections more efficient and have a wider range, facilitate remote inspections, and integrate databases with paperwork. Meanwhile, in terms of reporting, the concept of visualizing is applied where reports will be made more attractive using 3D modeling, video, or virtual reality. At the end of the event, a question and answer session between participants and speakers was held which then continued to the next series of events for the 27th MEP FEB UGM Anniversary, which was the Alumni Gathering.

Reportage: Kirana Lalita Pristy.