Indonesia Needs Better Data to Boost Creative Service Exports

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta – Indonesian creative economy exports are projected to reach USD 31.94 billion by 2025. However, the contribution of digital creative services to foreign exchange earnings cannot yet be accurately measured because the available statistics still combine exports of goods and services.

Senior Analyst at the Indonesia Strategic and Economics Action Institution (ISEAI), Ronny P. Sasmita, said the government needs to build a more detailed database on service exports to identify which creative subsectors generate the most foreign exchange. Such mapping is considered crucial for determining policy directions regarding talent development, financing, intellectual property (IP), and access to global markets.

“There is a lot of talented creative talent, but not all of them possess business skills, language proficiency, global marketing expertise, project management skills, and an understanding of international markets,” Ronny said in a statement to Antara in Jakarta on Tuesday, October 6, 2026.

He noted that talent alone is not enough to increase foreign exchange earnings from creative services. Business operators also need the ability to commercialize their work and understand the nature of international markets.

Financing issues also limit IP monetization, as banks still find it difficult to assess idea-based assets and IP. “This is because IP is not an asset like property or machinery that can easily be used as collateral,” said Ronny.

According to him, strengthening financing and IP protection can transform creative works into economic assets that generate recurring revenue. Such commercialization has the potential to increase foreign exchange earnings from Indonesia’s creative products and services.

Access to international markets also needs to be strengthened through distributors, agents, platforms, business matching, and global networks. “Creators are often capable of producing works, but they lack the distributors, agents, platforms, business matching, or global networks needed to bring those works to foreign markets,” he said.

By 2025, the creative economy is projected to attract IDR 183 trillion (USD 10.22 billion) in investment and employ around 27.4 million workers. Ronny believes that more precise data on service exports will help the government identify new sources of foreign exchange and direct investment and industry support toward subsectors with the greatest global potential. ***