The opening of the Apple Developer Academy in Bali, Indonesia, will likely boost the Southeast Asia tech scene by helping residents develop coding skills to secure careers in the growing iOS app industry. According to the press release, this, the fourth academy in Indonesia, will welcome 100 students to its inaugural class. Susan Prescott, Apple Inc.’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations, said the country’s aspiring developers will be able to learn, build businesses, and impact their communities.
The tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia has rapidly expanded over the last few years. The e-Conomy SEA Report 2024 by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Co. labelled it the region’s rise of the digital decade. It showed an increase in tech startups in multiple industries, a myriad of opportunities, innovation hubs, regional and global headwinds, a path to profitable growth, and a march towards a sustainable digital economy by 2030.
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Apple’s other academies opened in 2018 in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Batam, with over 2,500 developers completing the programme to date. The new Developer Academy in Bali will begin its first class with learners from various backgrounds, ranging from 18 to 56 years old. Many students will hail from Bali, while others are from 32 cities across Indonesia. The Bali campus will also be the first to allow international students from 11 countries worldwide.
Potential benefits of launching the Bali academy
With the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) increasingly demanding skilled tech talent, the Bali campus offers a pathway to support this growth. A limited employee pool of experts in multiple industries in the region has forced companies to hire skilled foreign workers to stay competitive. Even though human resource technology (HRtech) streamlines the process of getting the best recruits, finding the cream of the crop depends on the availability of a large data set of quality employees.
Global tech giants like Apple are investing in the region to foster talent and innovation. The company also invested in Singapore last year to the tune of USD 250 million to upgrade its Ang Mo Kio district campus. Meanwhile, Google invested USD 2 billion in Malaysia to establish a data centre and a Google Cloud area.
Here are a few potential benefits of Apple’s investment in the Bali academy:
Development of local talent
As mentioned before, the most important contribution will be to help Indonesia’s young, tech-savvy citizens develop the skills needed for app development. For example, Apple’s press release highlighted one such citizen, Bali native Marry Kusuma. Her career as an IT consultant stalled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but she will be among the students joining the inaugural cohort.
She said she looked forward to the experience and expected to learn new skills, engage with other students, and kickstart her tech career.
Boosting the job market
Apple Inc. noted that the three other academies in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Batam enabled 90% of graduates to get jobs in many sectors, including education, eCommerce, transportation, and sustainability. Indonesia Venture Capital (VC) trends show that investors seek employees who can innovate solutions in financial technology (fintech) and digital services.
Indonesia leads the way in the eCommerce market in ASEAN, and forecasts show that it will account for over 40% of the region’s market by 2030. The dominant position is attributed to a growing middle class and increased internet usage. Thus, the ecosystem will need talented developers to build online retail platforms that function seamlessly and are usable across Southeast Asia.
Enable sustainability and diversifying Indonesia’s economy
Sustainability support has become a vital aspect of the region’s push for environmental protection. ASEAN is home to 20% of all the world’s known species and has many critical natural resources. With the Bali Academy helping to bridge the skills gap in the country and Southeast Asia in general, the new developers can design apps that offer solutions for climate change, carbon credits, waste management, recycling, and more.
The island is known for its tourism rather than technology, but the Bali Academy joins the other three in developing experts who can push the nation towards digital transformation and innovation. These employees can significantly impact multiple industries, help streamline operations, enhance productivity through technology, and create new revenue streams for emerging startups.
New opportunity for Southeast Asia’s tech scene
The Southeast Asia tech scene has been evolving over the last few years, presenting opportunities for startups, investors, and governments to create solutions for the public, become more efficient, and earn massive revenues.
By setting up the Apple Developer Academy in Bali, the company has challenged other global giants to boost the tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia by investing in education and talent development. This approach will position the region as a leader and enhance access to more skilled employees.