On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, KUMPUL, in partnership with Google Cloud and Bespin Global SEA, brought together 31 tech founders and innovators for an exclusive Brunch Huddle focused on AI, Innovation & Intellectual Property. In a world where generative AI is rapidly reshaping business models, legal norms, and ethical boundaries, this forum served as a crucial waypoint, particularly for Indonesia’s startup ecosystem. As AI functionality accelerates globally, issues around ownership, ethics, regulation, and innovation become more than academic, they are strategic imperatives.
Global and Bilateral Context: Big Waves, Uncertain Shores
Generative AI is no longer a fringe technology, it’s transforming industries, markets, and legal frameworks at a rapid pace. Globally, private investment in AI rose sharply: in 2024 alone, generative AI attracted US$33.9 billion in private investment, up roughly 19% from 2023. At the same time, the broader AI software market, valued at about US$122 billion in 2024, is projected to grow with a CAGR of 25%, reaching around US$467 billion by 2030. The urgency to adapt to this transformative power of AI is more pressing than ever.
For Indonesia, momentum is strong. The country is expected to see US$542.9 million invested in AI startups by 2024, representing a growth of approximately 141.5% over the next five years. These figures highlight both opportunity and urgency: startups and corporates must adapt quickly to capture value while navigating the unknowns of regulation, IP, ethics, and business model shifts.
Ecosystem Insight: Startup & AI Innovation Up Close
Within Indonesia’s startup landscape, AI innovation is increasingly central. More organizations, both startups and traditional companies, are adopting AI across multiple functions. Globally, about 78% of organizations reported using some form of AI in 2024, up from 55% a year earlier. Generative AI has seen a similar uptick: from early 2024 to late 2024, usage in business functions jumped from around 65% to over 70%.
However, there’s a gap between hype and reality: many projects are still experimental, and few have yet achieved full integration with business strategy or operational maturity. The Brunch Huddle made space for this distinction, speakers from Google Cloud emphasized realistic adoption paths: starting with pilot functions, measuring impact, scaling carefully.
Intellectual Property in the Age of Machines
One of the sharpest edges for founders is IP in the age of AI. Indonesia’s legal framework, like many others, was established before the current capabilities of generative AI emerged. Experts at the event (including Piece Future) stressed that existing laws, patents, copyright, and trade secrets often do not clearly cover AI-generated content or machine contributions.
For example, a study comparing Indonesia and Japan found that Indonesia’s legal system has not yet accommodated AI protection through patent in the same way: copyright protections are available, but they treat AI-generated works much like ordinary software, which has limitations. Indonesia also currently relies on guidelines rather than binding regulations for AI ethics and IP protection, such as MOCI Circular Letter 9/2023, which includes principles like transparency, accountability, and IP protection, but is non-binding.
Regulation uncertainty carries risk: without clarity, startups may struggle to get investor confidence, defend their innovations, or scale across borders. At Brunch Huddle, many founders voiced this urgency to see regulation evolve toward clarity, enforceability, and global compatibility.
Startup-Corp Speed Dating: Turning Insights into Action
Insights are valuable, but connections are transformational. The event’s Speed Dating Session offered action: seven selected startups met in three rounds (a total of 21 meetings) with six large corporates. The aim: to validate market fit, explore collaboration, and potentially secure investment.
This format, which combines concentrated feedback, business intelligence, and potential partnerships, offers startups a fast track to test ideas against real industry needs. It also gives corporates exposure to cutting-edge innovation, new use cases, agility, and fresh IP or AI models. For founders, this is not just networking; it’s aligning concept with execution.
Sustaining Innovation Through AI + IP Strategy
The Brunch Huddle confirmed that AI and intellectual property are not just technological topics; they are strategic pillars for Indonesia’s innovation ecosystem. To thrive, founders, legal experts, corporates, and policy makers must stay in ongoing conversation.
The long-term challenges ahead are clear. Indonesia must establish enforceable regulations that address AI-generated content, patent eligibility, and ownership issues to ensure transparency and accountability. At the same time, founders and corporates need to distinguish between realistic and speculative AI projects, ensuring resources are directed toward solutions with real impact rather than chasing hype. Just as importantly, the legal framework must strike a balance, strong enough to protect rights and intellectual property, yet flexible enough to incentivize innovation rather than suppress it.
If Indonesia can address these issues, the country has the potential to transition from being primarily a consumer of AI technologies to a creator and exporter of innovation. As much as numbers matter, investment, rate of adoption, growth, so does strategy: integrating AI responsibly, protecting IP smartly, and building inclusive ecosystems that reward both risk and integrity. This potential for Indonesia to lead in AI innovation is not just a possibility, but a promising future that we can all work towards.
A Call to Cross-Sector Engagement
The Brunch Huddle was more than a gathering; it was proof that forums where entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, and legal experts come together are essential. AI and IP are deeply intertwined with business growth, competitiveness, and international relevance. The importance of cross-sector engagement cannot be overstated, as it is the key to unlocking the full potential of AI and IP in our innovation ecosystem.
As Indonesia accelerates in global AI adoption, with startup investment surging and generative AI projections skyrocketing, it must also invest in regulatory clarity, legal capacity, and ethical guardrails. For the innovation ecosystem to flourish sustainably, every actor needs to engage: from policymakers drafting binding IP regulation, to founders securing their inventions, to corporates collaborating and investing
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