Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with 56% internet user penetration and 53% of its population active mobile device users. Recently, the World Economic Forum released The Future of Jobs Report 2020 that reported that the need for a workforce with high competencies in technologies, digital, big data, and artificial intelligence will keep increasing.

To meet the challenge, BINUS University, together with Apple presented the Apple Developers Academy @BINUS – which was founded on 7 May 2020 and has developed 558 graduates from three batches as well as creating hundreds of applications that are solutions for many issues in society.

Today (8 December 2020), the Apple Developer Academy Indonesia held the graduation ceremony of TalentSpark Apple Academy Indonesia which consisted of 400 students from three campuses – Apple Developer Academy@BINUS, Jakarta; Apple Developer Academy Universitas Ciputra, Surabaya; and Apple Developer Academy@Infinite Learning, Batam.

Held online via ZOOM Cloud Meetings, this event was attended by Prof. Bambang Permadi Soemantri Brodjonegoro, S.E., M.U.P., Ph.D. (Minister for Research and Technology/Chairman of National Agency for Research and Innovation), Eko Cahyanto (Head of BPSDMI of the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia, representing Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, the Minister of Industry of the Republic of Indonesia), Lisa Jackson (Apple's Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives), Emil Dardak (Vice Governor of East Java), Prof. Dr. Ir. Harjanto Prabowo, M.M. (Rector of BINUS University), BINUSIAN leaders, the leaders and students of Apple Developer Academy Surabaya and Batam, partner industries and venture capitals, as well as the families of the Apple Developer Academy’s students.

In this graduation ceremony, four developer groups were given an opportunity to present their creations. There were two applications from Apple Developer Academy @BINUS presented in the session. The first one was Aura that is already available in the App Store. Aura is an application for emergency care and destigmatizes people with epilepsy. The second application is Muara, an interactive long-distance educational platform for the National Museum of Indonesia.

BINUS Higher Education with the vision of “Fostering and Empowering the Society in Building and Serving the Nation” is committed to empowering society by producing solutions to the needs and problems in the community.

A lot of graduates are currently working at the unicorn and multinational companies, as well as founding multiple startups. Their involvement in the companies has made significant impacts, where the experience in focusing on the customer journey results in an effective and efficient mindset in developing apps.

Many of the graduates are entrusted with responsibilities to lead various projects at their relatively young age. In September 2020, two teams were chosen and granted an Apple Entrepreneur Camp Scholarship. Moreover, some startups by the graduates also received funding from accelerators.

“Approximately 90% of programs were conducted in virtual ways through thousands of hours of discussion and mentoring. In adapting to the dynamics of the Batch 3 students, the program was adjusted in such a way to facilitate the students with special needs such as visual impairment and blindness. We appreciate Apple for their commitment through the Apple Developer Academy Program. We are also expressing our gratitude to all parties who have supported the Apple Developer Academy@BINUS; our partners from various industries and media, as well as the full support from the government since the beginning of this program, until today,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Harjanto Prabowo, M.M (Rector of BINUS University) in his opening speech.

Apple Developer Academy@BINUS is one of the programs in the (2+1)+1 program at BINUS UNIVERSITY. The (2+1)+1 program provides opportunities for the students to experience a real professional environment for one year. In that year, the students will learn many things outside of the campus as well as gain precious knowledge and experience from multinational or global companies. Through this program, they can get into the working world much earlier, which will equip them with advantages compared to graduates from other universities.