The global technology industry is largely filled by migrant talent.\nIndia is the champion, with many giant technology companies led by\nexecutives from the \u2018Land of the Hindustan\u2019. Among them, Microsoft is\nled by Satya Nadella, Alphabet (Google) by Sundar Pichai, and IBM by\nArvind Krishna. Thanks to the migrant talent India possesses, the\nhigh-tech industry has flourished in Bangalore, with 40% of the\ncountry\u2019s software exports originating from there. Not only at the\nexecutive level, but engineers and managers also form a global network\nthat enables India\u2019s high-tech industry to grow. And of course, there\nare scientists in various research laboratories, even leading\nprestigious universities like MIT and Carnegie Mellon.<\/p>\n
Great hopes for accelerating Indonesia\u2019s economic growth rest on\nhigher education institutions. President Prabowo Subianto has met and\nheld dialogues with university leaders and professors four times in the\nlast 21 months. Actively involving them in various policy formulations\nand human resource development ready for the future is a way to unite\nall potential to advance the nation. In the era of the knowledge\neconomy, superior talent will determine a nation\u2019s progress. Along with\nthe demographic bonus, superior talent is Indonesia\u2019s biggest\nopportunity to escape the middle-income trap.<\/p>\n
To do this, Indonesia can learn from other Asia-Pacific countries\nthat have successfully combined their domestic and diaspora talent. How\nshould talent be managed to accelerate national progress? Various\nindependent international institutions project that Indonesia will\nbecome the fourth or fifth largest economy in the world by 2050. This\nprojection is based on the demographic bonus Indonesia has enjoyed since\n2012, which is expected to end within the next ten years. Not only\ndomestic talent, but the significant role of the diaspora in various\ncountries is also rarely discussed. KPU data shows an aggregate of\n4,694,082 Indonesian citizens registered at Indonesian representatives\nabroad in 2024. In the United States, there are 117,085 Indonesians\nspread across Washington, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and\nSan Francisco. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recorded 2,544,062\npeople, with 51.97% in Malaysia (2024). Meanwhile, Pew Research Center\nrecorded 145,000 Indonesians living in the United States (2023). The\nlargest diaspora populations are from India and China (each over 3\nmillion people), followed by the Philippines, Vietnam, and Korea. The\nnumber of Indonesians currently studying abroad reaches 60,000.\nAustralia is the main destination, followed by Malaysia and the United\nStates. In the United States alone, out of 1.13 million foreign\nstudents, India sends 313,000 students, followed by China with 277,000,\nwhile Indonesia sends 8,348 students (Institute of International\nEducation, 2024). This data shows a relatively low number compared to\nother Asian countries active abroad.<\/p>\n
Economists Harbison and Myers (1965) stated that a country\u2019s wealth\ndepends on its ability to develop talent and utilise it effectively. In\nthis context, talent represents not only human capital (knowledgeable,\nskilled, and experienced) but also social capital (the social and\nprofessional networks an individual possesses). This is not just local\nor national, but transnational in line with globalisation in the digital\nera. This understanding is interesting to examine when a nation\u2019s talent\nworking abroad for a certain period is considered a brain drain. This is\nthe negative impact experienced by a country when its best talent\nmigrates, especially to more developed countries. However, the positive\nimpact experienced by India or China shows the opposite. Over time, the\nsocial capital owned by the diaspora can connect and become a lever for\nthe growth of new industries in the technology sector\u2014a brain gain.\nAlthough they cannot contribute physically in their home country, their\nsocial capital can connect them with global talent and business\nnetworks.<\/p>\n
Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, in his book The Four Talent Giants\n(2025), explains this phenomenon using talent portfolio theory.\nBorrowing the logic from the financial sector of having an investment\nportfolio with maximum returns and minimal risk, Prof Shin applies it to\nmanaging a nation\u2019s talent. The theory he proposes explains how a nation\nmanages talent through a 4B strategy: brain train, brain gain, brain\ncirculation, and brain linkage.<\/p>\n
Brain train shows how a nation develops its human resources but keeps\nthem connected to the home country. This includes not only formal and\ninformal education domestically but also providing scholarships abroad\nwith an obligation for recipients to return home. There is a weakness,\nnamely falling behind global market trends in research and education\ncollaboration. Japan is a country that has successfully implemented this\nstrategy. Brain gain shows a nation\u2019s efforts to cover human resource\nshortages by bringing them in from other countries. This is not only by\ndirectly importing human resources to work domestically but also\nindirectly through training foreign students at local universities\nbefore \u2018using\u2019 them. The negative aspect is anti-immigrant sentiment,\nparticularly when immigrants obtain better jobs and incomes than local\nresidents. Australia and the United States predominantly use this\nstrategy. Brain circulation shows a nation\u2019s efforts to encourage its\ntalent to work abroad for a certain period and then return home with\nenhanced skills, experience, and networks. This strategy is more\neffective than brain train because talent gains direct global\nexperience. However, the risk is that talent may not return home. China\nhas successfully implemented this strategy, especially in the last two\ndecades. Brain linkage shows a nation\u2019s efforts to connect its diaspora\nwith the domestic economy without requiring them to return home. This\nstrategy maximises the social capital of the diaspora to open market\naccess, investment, and technology transfer. India is the most\nsuccessful country in implementing this strategy, as seen in the growth\nof its information technology industry. For Indonesia, the most\neffective strategy is to combine brain circulation and brain linkage.\nThe Indonesian diaspora, especially in the United States, has great\npotential to become a bridge for the nation\u2019s economic progress.\nHowever, this requires a systematic and structured approach, not just\nrelying on individual initiatives. The government needs to build a\ndiaspora database, facilitate networking, and provide incentives for\nthose who contribute to national development. With the right strategy,\nIndonesia\u2019s talent portfolio can become a major engine of growth, just\nas it has for India and China.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/talent-portfolio-and-national-progress-1783291887", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }