In celebration of 156 Indonesian Diamond Brains: iWareBatik International Hackathon Event 2021

In cooperation with 33 Indonesian universities nationwide involving 156 Indonesian bachelor students, International iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon Event 2021 was held on 15 and 29 October 2021. At this event, the students presented an interactive 5-minute English pitch presentation of their ideas on technology for culture aiming at valorising the exceptional cultural values of Indonesian traditional textiles (Batik, woven textiles, embroideries, Papuan Noken, etc.), as well as how to better understand its valorisation in a way that supports the sustainable development of local communities through tourism and related creative industry such as fashion. The jury members comprised of PhD candidates, professors and collaborators at USI UNESCO Chair from Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, and the founder of Bandung Fe Institute, Indonesia.

This event has gone through a series of national workshop activities (iWareBatik User Experience Workshop) which was attended by 926 undergraduate students from Sabang to Merauke in 17 batches from August to October 2021. A total of 628 participants participated in and submitted innovation essays on technology and culture which were strictly evaluated to select the best essays for the iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon event. A total of 156 best essays participants representing 33 universities presented Ideas on innovative digital technologies for cultural textile heritage in the first round of the iWareBatik Idea Hackathon 2021 virtual competition, held on October 15, 2021. This event was attended and opened by the Directorate General of Economic Development and Village Investment of the Ministry Village, and Transmigration and representative officials from the Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia. The live streaming of the first round can be accessed in bit.ly/iwbhe15oct21, while the final round live streaming can be accessed in bit.ly/finaliwbhe290ct21.

All the participated delegates receive ranks and titles based on their presentation skill namely Grand Challengers (the 15 group finalists) and Prime Defenders (the 18 non-finalist groups). The final competition took place on 29 October 2021 where 4 groups/universities comprised of 18 delegates received Supreme Diamonds as the title of Champion.

• The 1st Supreme Diamond: State University of Malang, East Java
• Runner Up Supreme Diamond: Islamic State University of Surabaya  (UIN Surabaya) of East Java
• The 3rd Supreme Diamond: two groups from Surakarta Mandala Bhakti Tourism Academy, Central Java and Polytechnic of Sambas of West Kalimantan.

This iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon event has served its purpose as a learning experience for Indonesian young scholars from 15 provinces across western to eastern parts of Indonesia. The Hackathon virtual competition of the USI UNESCO Chair offers the possibility for the selected students from all participating universities to virtually present their ideas on 15 (first round) and 29th October 2021 (final round). On the final round of iWareBatik Ideas Hackathon event 2021 receives opening remarks from the international juries, and the respected invitees as follows:

Fitri Ningrum, the co-founder of Caventer Indonesia asserts that this event has gone through a long process from August 12th until October 29th, 2021. The blind review method of the essay assessment to the election of delegates made a great surprise for the chosen students. In the beginning, they were challenged by not only confidence level, knowledge about Batik and digital technologies for culture, and English language proficiency.  Thanks to the mentoring sessions conducted by the iWareBatik mentors and the university lecturers, the students were able to follow the design thinking, be more independent, and finally showed their best performance for Indonesia and for the world.

Puspita Ayu Permatasari, PhD(c) the research coordinator of iWareBatik at USI UNESCO Chair, Switzerland stated that the presence of 156 diamond brains of Indonesia at this event has the power of healing the generation. The delegates conferred with the title Grand Challengers (finalist) and Prime Defenders (non-finalist) have equal responsibility to work on their visions to protect and preserve intangible cultural heritage. They have to work in realizing their vision in order to protect and overcome the challenge of heritage preservation. This shared common goal forms a new generation that cares about cultural preservation through innovation and technologies.

Prof. Dr. Muliaman D. Hadad, the ambassador of Indonesia for Switzerland and Liechtenstein affirmed that this event sets a new milestone and combines technology as part of the future with batik as the cultural heritage from Indonesian ancestors. It is a step forward in preserving the nation’s values to the next generation.  He added when iWareBatik was officially launched in 17 August 2020 last year, the embassy personnel promoted them as part of the cultural promotion in Switzerland, encouraging the people to download and use it properly. This promotion has yielded much positive feedback.  He congratulated the 73 participants from 15 finalists universities who have successfully presented their ideas. He concluded with the hope that this competition may be treasured and be added value to the future.

Faruq Ibnul Haqi, PhD(c), the coordinator of Overseas Indonesian Student Association Alliances (OISAA/PPI Dunia), conveyed congratulation an extraordinary success of 156 delegates of the 33 Indonesian universities selected from more than 900  participants nationwide, who participated in the international competition. Originating from the island of java within the Indonesian region, Batik is a patterned textile that is crafted into many other equally fascinating types of apparel. UNESCO has made the official Declaration of Indonesian Batik Day on the 2nd of October. It’s a sign of preserving the national heritage and a masterpiece of the oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity. He expressed gratitude to the embassy of Indonesia in Bern, Switzerland and the Indonesian Attaché of Education and Culture in Canberra, Australia for supporting the great efforts of the iWareBatik hackathon team.

Prof. Dr. Mukhamad Najib, the attaché of Education and Culture from the Embassy of Indonesia in Canberra, Australia asserts that the iWareBatik initiative is proof that Indonesian students overseas are able to foresee and answer the needs of the country. He added that iWareBatik is an effective promotional tool for Batik as well as a promotion of Indonesian culture to the world. Thus Indonesia will be able to continue to become an inspiration for the global culture and civilization. He congratulated all the finalists as many as 73 delegates and expressed an affirmation that the chosen delegates are the best Indonesian creative talents, who deserve to be trusted to carry out the mission of Indonesian civilization, as well as to contribute more, especially to promote Batik in the world. He hoped that this event serves as an effort can create a noble effect for the progress of Indonesia.

Dr. Silvia De Ascaniis of the USI UNESCO Chair, states that the importance of this event lies not only in the mission of raising awareness about Batik and designing solutions to do that but more on something that has to do with the beauty of the world itself. She explained about the Italian Carabiners task force, as one of the examples of law enforcement agencies recognized by UNESCO, called the Blue helmets of culture.  So the UNESCO blue helmets of culture is a task force that works to secure cultural heritage to counter illegal traffic. She quoted a statement of Carabiners commander introduction from a famous writer of Russia, “will Beauty save the world?”. The participating delegates at this hackathon event is to answer this question and to join together with the force, as affirmed by the Carabiner Commander, that the world has to save beauty.

Dr. Shyju from Banaras University, India, as the invited guest expresses his appreciation to the 73 delegates at the final round of the iWareBatik Idea Hackathon event. He added that this event serves as an opportunity for students to come out with the best level of their creativity and to showcase their talent in front of the honourable juries and other respected professors.

Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni, PhD, the chair holder of USI UNESCO Chair in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage site, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland, acted as the first jury of the event. He stated two important aspects. The first one is about the cultural legacy, which shall be received with love and attention. It is something that needs to be enriched, not just to be kept, understood, and eventually to pass on to future generations. Therefore the integration of new ways and methodologies shall be adjusted in order to communicate it to others. Moreover, the second aspect, as he added, this mission has to be carried out with passionate individuals who invest their time and energies and their passion and talents into it. However, it is not yet enough. This is also exactly the story of this hackathon, as the students met talented individuals, who are brave enough to get together with other colleagues to decide to do something in order to protect, to enrich, and communicate the heritage. He affirmed that by the end of the hackathon, the winner will be announced, but in fact, by the beginning all of the participants have won as the students have decided to partner with others, to invest their talents, in order to communicate using new modalities on the cultural heritage.

Prof. Dr. Arch. Adine Gavazzi, the UNESCO Chair of Anthropology of healing, Italy, is the 2nd jury of the competition. She opened with a remark stating the interrelation between tangible and intangible Heritage.  She elaborated on textiles have the ability to tell a story, which is seen as living landscapes through a visual to the environment. This has achieved the wondrous level to the point that it tells the story of the passing of the presents. By wearing it, people become part of a greater narrative. She added that the action of wearing a textile heritage builds a generation where the heritage are kept alive in the mind, heart, and dreams. The participation of UNESCO Chair of Genoa within is not just a jury, but as a group devoted to the defence and the Safeguard and the promotion of those Universal Values of the living culture. As this event gathers universities that show a diversity of a nation where 5 religions are present, all are united in textile language. She closed by emphasizing the power of textile, which indicates a cultural landscape that is not just physical but is the landscape of your imagination. It is the landscape of dreams, carried by our young generation. The more they become skilled in the ability to wear and disseminate this culture, the more imagination of Indonesia as a country will be brought to the world.

Giulio del Giudice, a scientific collaborator at USI UNESCO Chair, as the 3rd jury of the final competition, asserts that the event is seen as a place to learn to grow and most importantly make a Network. As he overviewed all the one-minute video made by the 15 group finalists, he expressed his admiration to the hard work and anticipated the performance of the final presentation.

Hokky Situngkir, the founder of Bandung Fe Institute and the advisory board of Sobat Budaya, as the 4th jury opens the competition by the memory on the development of digital library on traditional culture for textile, culinary and other Indonesian tangible and intangible cultural heritage, initiated 10 years ago. He asserted the importance of a digital transformation in the new Era of information is a necessity and an urge to preserve our culture.

This program is conducted thanks to the support of the USI UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland and all media partners, such as CAVENTER Indonesia, the Overseas Indonesian Student Association Alliances (OISAA/PPI Dunia), Pesona Desa, Milangkori, Titik Kumpul community, Ethnic Journey, Indonesian Defense Heritage and Kanca Nusantara, two Indonesian embassies in Switzerland and Australia, as well as the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, and Ministry of Villages development and Transmigration.