The next wave of global capital will not simply be looking at cheap labour or tax incentives, it will flow to national economies that can deliver predictability, scale, and superior returns. MNCs today prioritize states with strong industrial capacity, resilient supply chains, and clear economic prospects. For Indonesia to compete, well targeted policies, efficient infrastructure, talent, and regulation must reinforce each other, and public incentives must be aligned with sectors that have clear market demand.

Indonesia holds vast natural capital from forests and oceans to critical minerals which provides a great opportunity to build a modern environment-friendly economy around it. However, a successful, growth-generating green transition must be organized around a national, well-articulated strategy, market-driven, in identifying the green most competitive sectors and grounded in verifiable impact to translate this endowment into sustainable green growth.

Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking has declined from 27th in 2024 to 40th place in 2025 in the IMD annual World Competitiveness Ranking with the evaluation of infrastructure and government efficiency being the main factors for the drop of 13 places. Improving the country’s overall competitiveness will depend on a more efficient approach to infrastructure investment, on the development of human capital, on adoption and optimum leveraging of new technologies to increase productivity, on improving government efficiency by streamlining regulations and promoting the policies most propitious to sustain economic growth benefiting all the segments of the population.

Given the government emphasis on inclusive growth and on “putting the people first”, one key issue is how to adopt and leverage AI and frontier technologies in ways that not only raise productivity, but also enhance inclusion, and avoid widening divides. What are the capabilities that Indonesia must build to harness disruptive innovation for overall economic growth as well as for the public good? However, some key requirements must be met for disruptive innovation to create inclusive growth.

The global landscape is now characterized by volatility and uncertainty. This context stems from increased risks of confrontation between great powers, the rise of protectionism, the reshaping of global chains, an emerging new balance of power and the intertwining of geopolitics and technological innovation. In such a context how can countries – and especially middle powers and emerging market economies – define mitigation strategies against economic or geopolitical shocks, and the risk of becoming collateral casualties of unexpected international crises?