East Ventures, a pioneering and leading sector-agnostic venture capital firm, together with Katadata Insight Center, launched the East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index (EV-DCI) 2026 report. Under the theme “Strengthening national development through digital technology enablement”, the EV-DCI 2026 report emphasizes the importance of translating digital readiness into tangible socioeconomic outcomes. The report underscores that true digital transformation must serve as a catalyst for higher productivity, stronger digital entrepreneurship, and quality job creation across Indonesia.
“With our digital access now well distributed, Indonesia’s competitive advantage lies in our willingness to drive efficiency across data collection, an integrated platform to process the data, and trustworthy information distribution. By integrating these capabilities with national programs, we can seamlessly execute well-planned national programs, monitor in real time, and iterate quickly to adapt to bottom-up issues. This will turn digital infrastructure into a tangible, digital dividend for all,” said Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at East Ventures.
Since the inaugural launch of EV-DCI in 2020, East Ventures’ objective has remained the same: to deliver data-driven insights and rigorous analysis on the impact of digital economic development in Indonesia. Through EV-DCI, East Ventures aims to foster inclusivity and promote a more equitable distribution of digital and economic opportunities for all Indonesians.
Key findings of East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index 2026
The EV-DCI 2026 provides data on digital competitiveness in 38 provinces and 157 cities/regencies in Indonesia. Over the past seven years of reporting, Indonesia’s digital transformation has shown steady and progressive growth, with the average provincial score increasing by more than 50% since 2020. This year’s report stated that the EV-DCI score increased from 38.8 in 2025 to 42.2 in 2026. This also shows a continuous increase over previous years: 38.1 (2024), 37.8 (2023), and 35.2 (2022).
The report highlights that 37 out of 38 provinces recorded an improvement in score, with the top 10 provinces with high index scores still dominated by provinces in Java, with DKI Jakarta and West Java consistently ranking first and second place over the past six years. Sequentially, the top 10 provinces are: (1) DKI Jakarta, (2) West Java, (3) East Java, (4) Banten, (5) DI Yogyakarta, (6) East Kalimantan, (7) Bali, (8) Central Java, (9) Riau Islands, and (10) South Sulawesi.
Southwest Papua secured the largest ranking surge, climbing 15 spots. This growth was supported by the Infrastructure pillar, driven primarily by an increase in the 4G-Connected Village Ratio. Almost all metrics in the Entrepreneurship and Productivity pillar grew, including the ratio of workers using the internet for social media sales.
Although nearly all provinces have experienced improvements, the gap between the provinces with the highest and lowest levels of digital competitiveness has not narrowed significantly. As the highest-scoring province, DKI Jakarta outperforms the lowest-ranked province by nearly 60 points, indicating that one province is almost twice as digitally prepared as the other.
The next phase of Indonesia’s digital transformation, from digital adoption to digital value creation
The EV-DCI 2026 findings show that digital transformation is becoming increasingly integrated across Indonesia’s economy and public services. It also outlines that National Priority Programs embed digitalization in their implementation. As these programs are rolled out nationwide, digital readiness will be an important factor in their effective implementation.
Moving forward, the challenge is no longer solely about expanding digital adoption, but about ensuring that improvements in digital capacity translate into stronger productivity, digital entrepreneurship, and higher-quality employment opportunities across regions.
A key enabler of this transition is digital talent. However, while positive progress has been made, the pace of digital talent development has begun to moderate. At the same time, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the skills required in the digital economy. This shift moves demand away from basic digital literacy toward more advanced and applied competencies, particularly the ability to integrate AI into business processes, products, and public services.
As countries across Southeast Asia accelerate investments in AI talent, strengthening workforce readiness will become increasingly important to sustaining digital competitiveness. In Indonesia, this agenda is gaining urgency alongside the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure. While data center capacity is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, realizing its full economic potential will depend on the availability of AI-ready talent, effective data governance, and enabling regulations that support innovation and productivity growth.
Based on the findings of EV-DCI 2026, strengthening Indonesia’s digital competitiveness should focus on four key priorities:
- Promoting collaborations to accelerate digital transformation
Indonesia’s digital transformation requires stronger collaboration across government, the private sector, startups, academia, and local communities. By adopting a collaborative governance approach, stakeholders can jointly design and implement digital solutions, accelerate innovation, and ensure that national and regional digitalization efforts deliver measurable and inclusive outcomes.
- Expanding digital connectivity to accelerate equitable regional digital competitiveness
Closing regional digital disparities requires targeted investments in digital infrastructure, internet quality, and affordability. Expanding network coverage, improving internet speed and capacity, lowering access costs, and increasing access to digital devices can help ensure that connectivity investments translate into stronger economic opportunities and better public services across all regions.
- Digitalization of MSMEs to boost local economic inclusion
MSMEs are the backbone of Indonesia’s economy, yet many still face barriers to financing, technology, and market access. Strengthening the digital economy ecosystem can accelerate MSME digitalization, expand financial inclusion, and drive more inclusive economic growth across regions.
- Building a future-ready digital workforce
Accelerating human capital development through training strategies, upskilling, and strengthening AI competencies is crucial to align local talent capabilities with the rapid growth of global digital infrastructure, enabling Indonesia to transform digital readiness into highly competitive innovation, productivity, and high-competitiveness economic value.
About East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index 2026
EV-DCI 2026 measures the digital competitiveness of 38 provinces and 157 cities/regencies. This index consists of three subindexes: Input, Output, and Support. Each sub-index is built on three pillars, resulting in nine pillars that form the foundation of the EV-DCI. These nine pillars are represented by 50 indicators, with each pillar consisting of three to nine indicators.
The EV-DCI 2026 report can be downloaded at east.vc/DCI.
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