Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly accessible across Indonesia’s business ecosystem. But wider adoption does not automatically translate into better decisions or sustainable business growth.
That gap matters in a market where MSMEs remain central to the economy. Indonesia had around 56.14 million MSMEs in 2024, representing 99.90% of the country’s business population and contributing 59.64% of GDP. The question is whether AI can solve relevant problems in ways that are affordable, measurable, and scalable.
This was the focus of the Executive Lab Forum at KUMPUL Connect for Change Summit 2026. Held on 20 October 2026 under Reimagine Impact, the session From AI Adoption to Investable Innovation: Building the Pipeline from Real Needs to Scalable Opportunities brought together perspectives from research, enterprise implementation, investment, and ecosystem development.
What the Forum Revealed
Across the discussion, one point was consistent: AI innovation should start with the problem, not the technology.
Participants explored three industry areas:
- Financial Services & FinTech: AI could support budgeting, cash-flow management, financial simulations, and clearer understanding of borrowing decisions. The discussion also challenged the assumption that access to credit is always the main problem for MSMEs, highlighting financial literacy and management as equally important.
- Logistics & Supply Chain: Potential applications included inventory monitoring, demand forecasting, restocking alerts, shipping-provider comparison, and shared-shipping coordination. These solutions depend on reliable data, workable infrastructure, and clear operating processes.
- Retail, Tourism & E-Commerce: AI could support customer segmentation, campaign optimisation, personalised recommendations, and customer service. The key is whether these tools improve sales, conversion, customer retention, or efficiency, rather than simply making tasks faster.
The forum also showed what measurable value can look like. Michelle Fno of Katalis AI shared examples where AI agents helped reduce dashboard analysis time from 30 minutes to five minutes and cut execution time by up to 80% in the described workflow. The point was the business outcome it enabled.
From Useful Technology to Investable Innovation
As Strategic Partner of the Executive Lab Forum, BNI Ventures brought an investment perspective into the conversation.
Through Lugas Prancafitri, Chief Financial Officer of BNI Ventures, the forum examined the difference between a technically promising solution and one that is commercially viable.
An investable AI solution needs to answer several questions:
- Is the problem real, recurring, and important enough to solve?
- Does the solution create measurable value?
- Who benefits, who adopts it, and who is willing to pay?
- Can the value created justify implementation and operating costs?
- Can the model be repeated and scaled?
AI implementation costs also go beyond the technology itself. Businesses need to account for data preparation, infrastructure, integration, training, recurring usage costs, security, and human oversight.
The investment lens shifts the conversation from “Can AI do this?” to “Can this solution create enough value to be sustained and scaled?”
What Needs to Happen Next
The forum pointed to a pathway from adoption to investable innovation:
- Validate the problem. Understand who experiences it, how it is addressed today, and whether AI is the right intervention.
- Test solutions in real workflows. Pilots should be built around actual business processes, not isolated demonstrations.
- Measure outcomes. Track indicators such as time saved, lower costs, stronger revenue, better conversion, or improved financial decisions.
- Strengthen implementation capability. AI adoption still requires human judgement, local knowledge, reliable data, and integration into everyday work.
- Connect validated solutions with buyers and capital. Once demand and value are proven, solutions can move toward partnerships, financing, and scale.
Reimagining AI Impact
The Executive Lab Forum reflects a broader message behind Reimagine Impact: meaningful innovation requires more than adoption.
For businesses, the goal is not simply to use more AI tools, but to solve problems better. For investors, the opportunity lies in solutions with clear demand, measurable value, and credible business models. For ecosystem builders, the role is to connect businesses, technology providers, investors, researchers, institutions, and communities so promising ideas can move from experimentation into implementation.
With BNI Ventures contributing an investment perspective, the forum helped move the conversation one step further: from AI adoption toward investable innovation.
For collaboration opportunities, contact us at event@kumpul.id.
