Building Together with Indonesia

Every day, millions of Indonesians turn on Android phones, conduct searches via Google, use Google Maps to determine travel routes, collaborate through Google Docs, learn via YouTube, attend meetings on Google Meet, and communicate using Gmail. For most people, these various services have become so ingrained in daily life that their presence is barely noticed anymore. They have all become digital routines that help students complete assignments, business people grow their enterprises, and communities stay connected, while workers adapt to an increasingly digitalised world. However, behind these familiar applications lies a much larger story about how technology can shape a country’s economic development. For more than two decades, Google has consistently helped lower the cost of participation in the digital economy for the public. This success is not solely because the company managed to create popular products, but because Google built various platforms that enable millions of individuals, business people, and technology developers to create their own innovations. With this approach, digital capabilities that were previously only accessible to certain circles are now available to anyone with an internet connection, unrestricted by geographic location or income level. As Indonesia enters a new phase of its digital transformation, this kind of approach becomes increasingly relevant. The future of the digital economy will not only be determined by companies that present the latest technology or the most sophisticated artificial intelligence models. What is far more important is companies that are willing to help the country build its own digital capacity, strengthen the local ecosystem, and leave behind knowledge that continues to create value even when their products have evolved into the next generation. Therefore, Indonesia needs to ask a more fundamental question. Amidst the intense competition among global technology companies for users, cloud computing services, and leadership in artificial intelligence, what exactly should a country expect from its technology partners? Is success measured merely by the number of Indonesian users utilising a platform, or rather by how much the company helps Indonesia build its own digital capabilities? The answer to this question will likely determine the next chapter of Indonesia’s digital economic journey. When people hear the name Google, most immediately think of its products. The Google search engine revolutionised access to information. Google Maps changed the way people navigate cities, find business locations, and plan journeys. YouTube democratised the world of publishing by giving anyone with a smartphone the opportunity to share knowledge, entertain, and build an audience without needing a television station or publishing house. Android transformed the mobile phone industry by enabling manufacturers in various countries to produce affordable smart devices, allowing billions of people to access the internet for the first time. The same philosophy is reflected in Google’s other services. Gmail provides world-class communication services for free. Chrome accelerates access to the internet. Google Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Meet provide high-quality collaboration tools for students, start-ups, and small businesses without requiring expensive software purchases. Google Translate reduces language barriers that have long separated markets and cultures. Google Classroom expands access to education, while Google Play opens opportunities for app developers worldwide to reach a global market. Viewed individually, each of these products solves a practical problem. But collectively, they reveal something far more important: Google’s philosophy of lowering the various barriers that previously prevented people from participating in the digital economy. The company has successfully reduced the cost of searching for information, publishing ideas, collaborating, learning, and even starting new businesses. In doing so, access to technology has become more democratic and inclusive. This approach has become so embedded in modern digital life that it often goes unnoticed. Yet, this is one of Google’s greatest contributions to the development of the internet: not just creating successful products, but expanding digital opportunities for people on an unprecedented scale. Google’s most enduring contribution may not come from its products, but from its willingness to build open platforms that enable others to innovate. The success of Android, for example, is not merely the success of a smartphone operating system. Through the Android Open Source Project, Google enabled hundreds of manufacturers to build innovations on the same technological foundation without being tied to a closed ecosystem. Affordable Android devices then became the gateway for billions of people, including millions of Indonesians, to connect to the internet.