Google Cloud Sees Open Network as Key to Inclusive Digital Economy

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Google Cloud said open network ecosystems are becoming a strategic solution to drive more inclusive and sustainable digital commerce on Thursday, Feb 5, 2026 in Jakarta, positioning the Indonesia Open Network as a potential catalyst to broaden MSME participation and strengthen the country’s digital economy foundation.

Head of Product Strategy for Emerging Markets at Google Cloud Siddharth Prakash said the next phase of digital ecosystem development should not focus solely on transaction volume, but on expanding livelihoods and economic access.

“How do we increase trade activity, bring people closer to what they care about, and open up jobs and livelihoods is the core question that digital ecosystems need to answer,” Siddharth said at the Indonesia Open Network event.

He said India’s experience showed that a fundamental shift toward open networks offered a viable path for developing countries to unlock large scale economic benefits.

According to Siddharth, open network approaches created more inclusive impact by allowing broader participation from businesses of all sizes.

Indonesia’s more than 60 million MSMEs, which contribute significantly to gross domestic product, provide a strong base for the development of the Indonesia Open Network.

ION operates as a digital public infrastructure rather than a single marketplace or application. It establishes common protocols that enable various buyer apps and seller apps to work together seamlessly.

By separating the different stages of a transaction such as discovery and payment, ION allows a customer on one platform to buy from a merchant on another. This model functions much like the QRIS system for payments by reducing the reliance on closed ecosystems and making it easier for smaller businesses to participate in the digital economy.

Siddharth said the initiative could accelerate the transformation of MSMEs from merely having an online presence into active participants in the digital transaction economy.

“Through ION, more people can participate in the economy, contribute more, and ultimately make Indonesia’s economy far more inclusive,” he said.

He added that the potential of open networks extended beyond commerce and applied horizontally across sectors such as livelihoods, employment, agriculture, and mobility.

Siddharth said the main strength of open networks lay in the concept of decoupling, where roles within the ecosystem were separated and no single entity controlled the entire end to end value chain.

“Because everything is open and decoupled, no single player dominates the process. This is what enables a fair and inclusive digital ecosystem,” he said.

He cited India’s Open Network for Digital Commerce as an example, noting that the platform recorded around 200 billion transactions over a 12 month period in 2025.

The most recent 100 billion transactions occurred in less than six months, demonstrating the speed of adoption once open and fair digital infrastructure was in place.

Siddharth said the figures showed that when technology and ecosystems were built to allow equal participation, adoption could scale rapidly.

As a global technology provider, Google Cloud reaffirmed its commitment to supporting open, fair, and sovereign Digital Public Infrastructure in Indonesia.

Siddharth praised the Indonesian government’s initiative in developing ION and said Google Cloud was ready to collaborate with all stakeholders.

“Indonesia is one of the first countries to take on this vision. We stand with the government and the broader ecosystem to ensure ION delivers real impact,” he said.

Looking ahead, Siddharth said open network ecosystems could enable Indonesian MSMEs to expand beyond domestic markets and access regional ASEAN opportunities and beyond.

He said this would position ION as a critical foundation for integrating Indonesia’s digital economy into global markets.