Advocacy network to harness the full potential of Asia’s growing innovation ecosystem — focusing on the startups community in Indonesia — by advocating for digital policy solutions that enable growth for entrepreneurs

Surabaya, 16 November 2018 —  Allied for Startups, a worldwide network creating consensus on policies that positively impact startups, announced their #Allied4Apps APAC campaign will bring them to Indonesia. After the successful launch of #Allied4App in September this year, Allied for Startups continues its efforts to bring together entrepreneurs to ensure their voice is heard by APAC policymakers and to create digital policy solutions that help startups grow and thrive in today’s global economy.

“Startups and developers are the driving force of growth and agility of the innovation ecosystem in Asia, yet there are digital policies, such as data localisation measures, that will restrict their growth and global success”said Lenard Koschwitz, Director for Global Public Policy. “More often than not, the policy needs of startups are unknown in government. This is why we want to bring entrepreneurs and policy makers closer together.”

“With the GDPR in force since May and an own personal data protection law in the making, Indonesia is in the midst of the discussion.   Designing data protection rules that are permissive for innovators and allow for global interoperability can only succeed with entrepreneurs at the table from day one.”said Koschwitz. “The Free Flow of Data is an essential part of startups’ success. Founders from Indonesia and the wider region need to reach  users globally to be sucessful. Any barriers or data localisation measures, such as in the proposed cyber law in Vietnam for example, would limit startups form the region.”

This week, the group will extend advocacy efforts at the Startups Nation Summit in Surabaya. At the conference, Allied for Startups will speak to policy experts and government officials about proposed privacy regulation and forced data localisation and its impacts on startups.

“Startups are the first to suffer from forced data localisation as it increases their costs for storage and limits their competitiveness, foreign investment and subsequently their customers,”said Koschwitz. “Just as setting up trade barriers will cause economic harm, so too will splintering of the Internet.”

While it may be too early to see the full impact the General Data Protection Regulation has on startups in the European Union, technical measures outlined in the data privacy law have significantly impacted the way startups do business. Allied for Startups has seen this shift first hand and is eager to work with policymakers in Indonesia to ensure future data privacy regulations address APAC’s specific needs and culture of data privacy, while also protecting the developers and entrepreneurs that are growing the global economy.

About Allied for Startups

Allied for Startups is a worldwide network of over 40 advocacy organisations focused on improving the policy environment for startups. The organisation works together to create a consensus on policies that can positively impact startups and grow digital entrepreneurship and digital economy at large. Allied for Startups mission is to ensure that the voices of startups are heard in government. For more information on Allied for Startups including a full list of our network, visit the website at www.alliedforstartups.org