The School of Business and Management, Institut Teknologi Bandung (SBM ITB), and the University of Glasgow held the SBM ITB Industrial Summit 2026 in Jakarta (August 19-20). Themed “Wealth of Nations: An International Forum Commemorating the Intellectual Legacy of Adam Smith,” the summit brought together regulators, industry leaders, academics, policymakers, professionals, and the younger generation to discuss the future direction of the Indonesian economy and industry.
Elevating Adam Smith’s intellectual legacy amid contemporary economic challenges, the Industrial Summit 2026 provided a forum to explore how policy, innovation, business strategy, technology, and cross-sector collaboration can shape future industrial competitiveness. One of the parallel discussions addressed Indonesia’s industrial transformation agenda: how Indonesia can transform its natural resource wealth into an economic and industrial powerhouse that adds value while supporting national energy security.
Andang Bachtiar from the Association of Oil and Gas Producing Regions and Renewables highlighted Indonesia’s vast natural gas potential. He stated that, geologically, Indonesia has greater petroleum potential in gas than in oil. However, this wealth has not been fully utilized to meet energy needs and support national industrial activities.
“We have a lot of gas here,” Andang emphasized in his presentation.
According to him, Indonesia’s problem is not only the availability of resources, but also how this gas can be monetized and distributed to users. Infrastructure, particularly gas pipelines, is crucial for connecting gas-producing regions to consumption centres.
Without adequate infrastructure, underground gas potential cannot automatically become an economically beneficial energy source. Therefore, infrastructure development needs to go hand in hand with energy policies and the formation of a domestic gas market.
Andang also places gas as a crucial part of the energy transition strategy. Gas can serve as a transition energy and help Indonesia reduce its dependence on oil. However, the concept of gas as transition energy needs to be translated into concrete policies, investments, and infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, Muharam Zamzam, President Director of Carsurin UAV Solutions, stated that minerals such as nickel, copper, tin, bauxite, gold, and rare earth potential are no longer simply viewed as commodities, but are increasingly becoming strategic assets. These minerals are essential raw materials for electric vehicles, batteries, renewable energy, electronics, and even defense technology. This situation makes the control of critical minerals increasingly linked to a country’s energy security, industrial competitiveness, and geopolitical position.
“Strategic minerals are no longer commodities. They are the foundation of energy, advanced technology, and geopolitical power,” said Muharam.
In this context, Indonesia has a significant opportunity to strengthen its position in the global industrial supply chain. However, this opportunity also requires Indonesia not to stop at the initial stages of extraction and processing.
Muharam explained that the downstreaming policy has encouraged a shift from exporting raw materials to processed products, including nickel pig iron and ferronickel. However, the downstreaming process still faces several challenges, such as dependence on foreign technology and investment, the risk of oversupply, price volatility, and carbon emissions.
Therefore, the success of downstreaming cannot be measured solely by production volume or export value. Indonesia also needs to consider per-ton margins, reserve life, technological mastery, productivity, and carbon intensity. With this approach, downstreaming is expected to not only increase the economic value of natural resources but also strengthen the technological capacity and competitiveness of the national industry.
Sustainability challenges are another key issue in the development of critical minerals. Nickel is needed to support electric vehicles and various clean energy technologies, but the extraction and processing processes themselves can generate significant emissions. This situation gives rise to the paradox of “dirty nickel for a clean transition.” Therefore, Indonesia’s ability to produce minerals with lower carbon intensity and meet environmental compliance standards will also determine the position of Indonesian products in the global market.
