Mixed news surrounds Indonesia's technological landscape following the release of the East Ventures – Digital Competitiveness Index (EV-DCI) 2026 report. The collaborative report between East Ventures and Katadata Insight Center notes a collective rise in national digital competitiveness, but on the other hand, the quality of digital Human Resources (HR) in the country was reported to have declined.
Based on data released on Wednesday (7/15/2026), regional digitalization trends actually show promising equalization. A total of 37 out of 38 provinces in Indonesia managed to increase their digital competitiveness scores this year. This positive leap is also reflected in the rise of the national median EV-DCI score from 38.8 in 2025 to 42.2 in 2026, driven by improvements in 47 out of a total of 50 index indicators.
However, behind the optimism of infrastructure development, the HR pillar was the only indicator to experience a decline in performance, shrinking by 2.5 points. This setback was triggered by negative fluctuations in several key variables, such as the number of university students, teaching staff, availability of digital-specific study programs, to the level of public technological literacy. This highlights a gap between the massive physical development of technology and the readiness of local talent to operate it.
Indonesia's digital transformation challenges are becoming increasingly complex due to the widening regional disparity. The EV-DCI index identifies a striking score gap of nearly 60 points between the provinces with the highest and lowest levels of digitalization. This phenomenon indicates that digitally established regions are advancing much faster, while remote areas are still struggling to catch up.
