The Role of Diaspora in Indonesian Semiconductor Ecosystem
“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try”
Data Driven Decision.
As of today, Indonesia is still in its early phase of developing an ecosystem for semiconductor industry. Just like in any other field, our semiconductor success story depends on a series of decisions determining the best course of actions.
Anyone involved in the industry long enough knows that the semiconductor industry is full of outragous numbers – government incentives reaching hundreds of billions of dollars, engineering breakthrough that took decades to develop, human-made structures that is only a few atoms thick, to name a few. Behind any of these great achievements, there were hard work and sacrifices from thousands of people including engineers, researchers and government officials.
Enabling a semiconductor ecosystem in Indonesia will be a long-term and expensive battle as well. Therefore, it is only responsible to ensure that the series of decision we make now are sound and thoughtful. With so much at stake, the margin of error is slim. Gut feelings should be avoided, and those fortunate enough to decide the fate of this project should do their best to make data driven decisions.
There is a well-known model to understand how one can adopt a data-driven decision making practice: the DIKW pyramid [1]. It stands for Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom.
Data is an unprocessed fact. Information is when data has been organized and processed. Knowledge emerges when information is understood, and Wisdom is the ability to make decision based on a given knowledge.
Indonesian Diaspora
The Indonesian diaspora refers to the global community of Indonesians living outside of Indonesia. In Germany alone, there are at least 15,000 Indonesians working in various professions. In the German semiconductor industry, it is estimated that there are dozens – or even hundreds – of Indonesians working in various roles, spread across many major companies in the 16 German states.
Compared to Malaysia and Vietnam, we do have fewer engineers per million population [2]. However, there is still potential within the Indonesian diaspora community to be tapped into. Many of these individuals have gained invaluable insights into how the industry operates, received training from their employers, and experienced first-hand what is required to succeed in the field. A few have even accumulated decades of research and industry experience.
However, it is important to understand that the real strength of the diaspora lies in one aspect: experience. And experience translates to knowledge, when applied correctly.
Except for a few rare cases, the majority of the diaspora are not in positions where they can recruit new employees without due process. Especially in major companies in Germany, there are often checks and balances to ensure that every hire is made based on skill and experience. Providing access to research opportunities or employment is simply not a typical strength of the majority of the diaspora.
Moving Forward Together.
The majority, if not all, of the semiconductor diaspora are employees. Although this provides them with access to company data, it also means that they do not own the data and are obviously prohibited from sharing it externally. Therefore, the role of the diaspora in the DIKW hierarchy is not to provide data and information. Facts and figures need to be acquired by other means: publicly available data, market research services, technology journals, conferences, and interviews.
It is also not the diaspora’s mandate to offer wisdom, as defined in the DIKW hierarchy. The responsibility for making decisions lies with those accountable for fostering the semiconductor ecosystem. The government, universities, and research institutes in Indonesia are the ones who must make these decisions.
What the diaspora can contribute to the data driven decision-making process is, in fact, their greatest strength: knowledge. Unlike data and information, which are objective facts, knowledge is subjective. It is, after all, an interpretation of facts grounded in years of the diaspora’s work experience. While subjective, it is also valuable, especially when supported by well-reasoned arguments.
It is not only possible but quite common for employed engineers to share their knowledge with the public through conferences and journal publications. In fact, many engineering standards developed through the IEEE Standards Association are a result of engineers from different companies working together toward a common goal. The ground rules apply: no pricing or customer information is shared, and the engineers represent themselves as individuals. [3].
Summary and Proposal.
The country has a need for semiconductor industry knowledge, and the diaspora possesses it. The transfer of knowledge must happen continuously and systematically, in an environment where contributors are free from legal issues and conflicts of interest. Such a platform is both possible and necessary.
ICDeC is a neutral, non-profit organization in Indonesia, with a mission to build the foundation of IC design in the country. The organization has great potential to facilitate conversations between the diaspora and the Indonesian semiconductor community.
Therefore, the author would like to make two proposals:
ICDeC should be designated as the organization to accommodate the Indonesian diaspora overseas and to formulate the necessary codes of conduct.
The Indonesian diaspora with knowledge of the semiconductor industry should join ICDeC as volunteers. For Indonesia Emas 2045.
For Indonesia Emas 2045.
References.
[1]. Rowley, Jennifer E.. “The wisdom hierarchy: representations of the DIKW hierarchy.” Journal of Information Science 33 (2007): 163 - 180.
[2]. The Diplomat (https://thediplomat.com/2024/08/indonesia s-bold-bid-to-become-a-semiconductor-hub/)
[3]. IEEE Guidelines and Policies (https://ieeemce.org/planning basics/general-guidelines/ethical-guidelines and-policies)
[4]. ICDeC (https://www.icdec.or.id/en/).
