Tokopedia CTO Wins Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award
Jakarta. Herman Widjaja, the chief technology officer of Indonesian tech giant Tokopedia, recently took home an award for innovation and entrepreneurship at the 2021 Australian Alumni Awards.
The award recognizes Australian alumni who have made outstanding contributions in their career. To Herman, the award motivates him to keep learning and grow in the future.
“So that I can continue to contribute to [my] profession, society, and country through integrity and hard work,” Herman said in a recorded remark, as seen on the Australian Awards in Indonesia official website.
Herman first earned his bachelor degree in computer science and engineering at Australia’s Monash University in 2002.
Before embarking on Tokopedia's ship, Herman has had experience at world’s tech behemoths such as Microsoft and Google.
To date, Herman has secured 14 patents in the tech field. In 2019 and 2020, Herman also made it to CIO50’s list of Southeast Asia’s top 50 senior technology executives driving innovation in the region. Herman said he drew inspiration from people who use technology to transform nations, including Tokopedia founder William Tanuwijaya.
“Our founder William Tanuwijaya had a big dream 12 years ago that the price of goods would be the same all over Indonesia. [...] People who dream with their eyes wide open can change the nation. People who have agility and grit, who dream ten years ahead, are cool,” Herman said.
Tokopedia always tries to put technology at the core of its every innovation, according to Herman.
“With the spirit of collaboration, adaptation, and innovation, the entire and I pledge to provide the solution that can help the lives of our more than 100 million active users and over 11 million small and medium enterprises [SMEs],” Hendra said.
As part of Indonesia’s unicorn, Herman also hopes to nurture the country’s tech talents. To this end, he initiated the Tokopedia Academy which seeks to generate 9 million digital talents by 2035. “I believe that an astounding regeneration is the key in [creating] a sustainable industry,” Herman said.
In nurturing digital talents, Tokopedia has partnered with prominent universities. Among others is Monash University in which they work on a collaborative study on ‘Data Science and Machine Learning for E-commerce Fraud and Anomalous Activity Classification’.
They also hold a Monash-Tokopedia Data Science Forum which serves as a platform for research dissemination, information-sharing, and discussion on data science to better the two nations, according to Australian Awards in Indonesia official website.
Tokopedia is also teaming up with University of Indonesia in launching the country’s first artificial intelligence (AI) development center to use Nvidia’s supercomputer deep-learning technology. The Tokopedia-UI AI Center of Excellence aims to promote the use of technology —particularly AI— among academicians and researchers in coming up with solutions for the industry and society.
Tags: Keywords: