Indonesia Seeks Better Metrics to Unlock Event Industry’s Growth

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Indonesia's Minister of Creative Economy, Teuku Riefky Harsya, said the event industry plays a strategic role in Indonesia’s creative economy by serving as a platform for collaboration across multiple creative subsectors while generating broad economic activity. He stressed that stronger data and impact measurement tools are needed to better quantify the industry's economic contribution.

“Every program funded by the state budget must be evaluated based on its outcomes. Therefore, we need to strengthen the way we measure the contribution of the creative economy, including the event industry, so that its impact can be assessed more accurately,” Teuku Riefky said during a meeting with the National Event Industry Alliance in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

The meeting focused on strengthening the event industry as part of Indonesia’s creative economy ecosystem through improved industry data, workforce competency development, and more comprehensive measurement of the economic impact of events.

The minister affirmed that feedback from industry players is essential in addressing challenges facing the creative economy, particularly the event sector, which connects various creative industries.

“The Ministry of Creative Economy has been working to address the challenges within the creative economy ecosystem. The input provided today by the National Event Industry Alliance reinforces the need for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to building a high-quality, sustainable, measurable, and impactful event industry,” he said.

During the meeting, the National Event Industry Alliance—comprising IVENDO, Forum Backstagers Indonesia, APMI, AFJI, IMARINDO, Rental Indonesia, and representatives of event organizers—submitted the White Paper on Indonesia’s Event Industry Policy, outlining strategic recommendations to strengthen the national event industry.

Forum Backstagers Indonesia Chairman, Andro Rohmana, said the event industry plays a vital role in driving economic activity and creativity but continues to face challenges related to institutional recognition, business classification, professional standards, and economic impact measurement.

“We prepared this white paper with the spirit of transforming the industry from being unseen to becoming indispensable. The event industry has long been an important part of Indonesia’s creative economy, but it still requires stronger institutional support,” Andro said.

The alliance also proposed several strategic initiatives, including strengthening business classification through better industry data, expanding professional certification programs, adopting best value for money procurement practices, implementing risk-based licensing, and developing standardized tools to measure the economic impact of events.

Responding to the recommendations, the minister said the proposals would be followed up through technical discussions with relevant government units. The discussions will cover strengthening industry data, improving workforce competency and certification, developing economic impact measurement tools, and exploring collaboration opportunities for the World Conference on Creative Economy 2026.