About

Bambang Brodjonegoro

ACADEMIC, BUREAUCRAT, INDEPENDENT ADVISOR

Academia

Born in 3rd of October in 1996 as the son of a former Minister of Education and former Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro deep love for education and energy has stemmed from a young age. After completing his academic studies in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Master in Urban Planning continued by PhD in Urban and regional Planning), he started his career as an academia in his alma mater, University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics and Business, the biggest faculty in the university. First as a lecturer in both for bachelor and master program, then move forward to led as the Dean.

During his tenure, he initiated a double degree program for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, in cooperation with prestigious universities abroad, such as Melbourne University in Australia, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Grenoble University in France, International University of Japan, and several others. As a Dean, he also managed to fundraise IDR 15Bn (USD 1.15Mn) to add a new academic building for graduate studies, along with other facilities. Until now, he is still active as an alumni member of the University of Indonesia and occasionally gives guest lectures in his field of expertise.

Bureaucrat

Minister of Finance (2014-2016)

 

Because of his expertise in both economics and urban planning, he was trusted to hold several positions in public roles. First as the Member of the Assistance Team for Ministry in Fiscal Decentralization (2005 – 2006), until he rose to become Vice Minister of Finance (2013 – 2014) and then became the Minister of Finance from 2014 to 2016. During his role, he managed to implement several notable and important programs that align with his passion in SDGs, among which:

  1. Initiated the world’s most ambitious tax amnesty program in 2016, which earned the government tax revenue worth of IDR 137Tn (USD 10.5Bn) in only the first 3 months.
  2. Reallocated IDR 200Tn (USD 15Bn)/year from inefficient gasoline / fuel subsidies into infrastructure, education, and healthcare spending.
  3. Implemented the the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Indonesia to accelerate the construction of power plants, national fiber optics systems, and water supplies.
  4. Allocated 5% of state-budget for health care programs to accelerate the improvement of public healthcare.
  5. Increased grants allocation to local government to support local poverty alleviation programs, enhance agriculture productivity, basic health (including sanitation and access clean water), and infrastructure to connect the archipelago.
  6. Introduced and implemented islamic bonds worth of USD 29.25Bn for project financing.

Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia / Head of Bappenas (2016-2019)

Following his role as Minister of Finance, Prof. Bambang was appointed as Minister of National Development Planning in 2016 until 2019. He was mainly responsible to design the short-medium and long term masterplan of national development and coordinate with other ministries to implement the program. At the end of his tenure, he also planned and designed the concept of a new capital city for Indonesia. Among his notable accomplishments are:

  1. Initiated equity financing for infrastructure and energy projects from Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, estimated to be worth IDR 350Tn (USD 27Bn).
  2. Implement SDGs in national development planning, as well as communicating SDGs to the public. Starting from central and local government to business communities, philanthropist, organizations, media, and the academic community.
  3. First high-ranked official to implement e-government policy by orchestrating the One-Data and One-Map policies to increase efficiency, accuracy, and reliability of national data management in 2017
  4. Designed and formulated the smart card national system so support the basic necessities of 40% lowest income households.

Minister of Research and Technology / Head of BRIN (2019-2021)

Throughout the years, Prof. Bambang has developed an interest in technology and innovation. He coined the concept of Innovation-driven Economy, where Indonesia’s economy must be driven by research, development, and constant innovation. He aimed to release Indonesia from middle-income trap economy, and increase it to become a major economy country through innovation. He initiated the coordination between governmental bodies, private companies, and the academic community to come up with innovation-based solutions together and increase coordination of research and development between the triple helix. During the times of COVID-19 pandemic, he was among the first in the country to respond by escalating the research program to tackle the pandemic. Other achievements that he accomplished including:

  1. Initiated and spearheaded the Consortium of COVID-19 Research and Innovation policies, consisting of various researchers, governmental bodies, and public companies from different fields of expertise to tackle the pandemic.
  2. Led the COVID-19 National Vaccine Development and accelerate the progress (Vaksin Merah Putih, the name is based on the color of Indonesian national flag).
  3. Managed and supervised the development of various innovation, including nuclear power plant, international space port, R-80 airplane, and green fuel which will impact national economic growth.
  4. Implemented science and technology development masterplan as the basis for the country’s development, focusing on three strategic areas: downstream, metropolitan, and environment.

Independent Advisor

Prof. Bambang held many positions as an independent advisor throughout the years. Organizations, banks, as well as public and private companies relies on his expertise to give them counsel. He’s been in the Board of Commissioner since 2004, starting from PLN (2004 – 2006, 2007 - 2009), Asia Bond Fund (2007 – 2009), Adira Insurance (2006 – 2011), ANTAM (2011 – 2013), Pertamina (2013 – 2014), and most recently one of Indonesia’s unicorn startups, PT Bukalapak.com (2021 – present).

He’s also active in numerious organizations such as the Asia Development Bank Institute, Indonesian Economist Association (ISEI), and currently serving as the Chairman of Indonesian Forum Foundation (2018 – 2023). As an advisor, he’s mostly being involved in the audit committee, good governance, and SGDs-related role, including energy.