In an effort to support the existence and development of current open finance standards, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) Tbk has positioned BRIAPI as one of the pioneers in implementing open API services in Indonesia. In addition to its focus on initiating the development of open API products in the banking sector, BRIAPI also actively participates in driving economic digitalization within the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector. This endeavor is intended to bring contribution for the expansion of the implementation of economic inclusion services across all areas of financial services in Indonesia. One of the efforts undertaken by BRI is to hold the BRIxGoogle Hackathon competition simultaneously in three different cities: Jakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya. This competition was held in collaboration with Google to promote digitalization among technology enthusiasts in Indonesia and BRI, with the aim to jointly build a technology platform for the development of MSMEs in Indonesia.

 

Competition Theme

The collaboration between BRI and Google in this competition revolved around the theme "Supporting Indonesia's Digital Economy based on Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for a BRilian Indonesia". The competition aimed to drive the digitalization of SMEs using integrated technology from BRIAPI and Google Cloud. The results of this competition were expected to provide innovative ideas in developing an application or platform as a solution to address the existing issues in the SME sector.

In this competition, the initial participant selection phase involved screening the initial idea proposals from each registered participant. Subsequently, the top 20 finalists were chosen in each eligible city, based on the most relevant and compelling ideas. Then, these 20 finalists were invited to the core Hackathon event to refine their initial ideas into a platform or application implementation.

 

Application Pitching to Users

BRIxGoogle provided an opportunity for the 20 finalists who had passed the previous selection stages to participate in the core Hackathon event for two days. On the first day, the event began with an opening speech by Mr. Indra Utoyo, the Director of Information Technology Directorate (DTI) at BRI. Specifically in Jakarta, this opening event was conducted offline, while the opening events in Surabaya and Bandung were conducted online. Subsequently, the 20 finalists from each city engage in the application or platform development process integrated with BRIAPI and Google Cloud. The development of these applications took place continuously for 24 hours, following the typical Hackathon concept. In addition to focus on the application development process, participants had the opportunity to attend coaching clinics with teams from BRI and Google Indonesia.

pitching-user-1pitching-user-2pithcing-user-3

 

On the second day, each participant had the chance to pitch the results of the platform or application they had developed. This presentation was evaluated by four judges: two representatives from BRI, one from Google, and one from BRI Venture. Each judge highly appreciated and provided positive feedback on every application that had been developed by the participants because all applications were considered to have innovative, interesting, and sufficiently applicable ideas in addressing the raised issues. Additionally, the applications from each participant were also evaluated to have reliable capabilities in order to give benefits to the community and address existing problems, especially in the MSME sector.

 

Champions of BRIxGoogle Hackathon

Based on the evaluation from the judges, the winners of the BRIxGoogle Hackathon in the Jakarta region were Warung Babe, who took first-place, Team Chicken Little in the second-place, and Team Avicena came third. Meanwhile, for the competition in Bandung City, Team Sobil was selected as the first-place champion, Team Diendorse as the second-place champion, and Team Ketringan as the third-place winner. For the competition in Surabaya City, first place was achieved by Team Adroit, second place by Team Bismillah 25, and third place by Team W House Indonesia.

winner-picture-1winner-picture-2

 

In this competition, the first-place winner received a cash of Rp 35 million per team, the second-place winner received a cash of Rp 25 million per team, and the third-place winner received a cash of Rp 15 million per team. Additionally, each winner also received BRIZZI balance that were worth Rp 500 thousand per person.

 

Conclusion

BRI realized that in supporting the expansion of open API implementation in Indonesia, it was not only achieved by optimizing technological developments in the banking environment but also by encouraging the digitalization of the economy in the MSME sector. This endeavor was done to strengthen the role of BRIAPI in assisting businesses towards going digital, which was currently being approached in two perspectives: On the one hand, BRIAPI could bring BRI to become a financial institution that participates in developing the digital ecosystem by contributing to open finance. On the other hand, BRIAPI could also be used by various other business levels as support services, especially those related to transactions. This condition may contribute in supporting the expansion of SNAP services at various business levels in Indonesia. 

conclusion-picture-1conclusion-picture-2

 

Through this Hackathon competition, BRI aimed to invite technology enthusiasts in Indonesia to contribute in line by driving the digitalization of the economy alongside MSMEs. This competition was also in line with the theme of this competition, which was Supporting Indonesia's Digital Economy based on Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for Brilliant Indonesia. BRI wished that this activity could bring forth applications that address the issues of MSMEs and could benefit the general public in Indonesia.