The digital economy landscape continues to evolve along with its role in the global business sector. In an era where technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the digital economy is emerging as a transformative force that is changing the industrial, social, and economic order around the world. This message was delivered by the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Prof. Djoko Suhardjanto, in the opening remark of the 2024 Sebelas Maret International Conference on Digital Economics (SMICDE), held on Wednesday 22 May 2024.

Presenting two keynote speakers, Prof. John W. Goodell from the College of Business University of Akron, USA, and Prof. M. Kabir Hasan from the University of New Orleans, the 2024 SMICDE was conducted in a hybrid manner, where participants can join the agenda directly on the venue and through Zoom Cloud Meeting.

“In this conference, there will be 100 articles from 30 universities both from across Indonesia and abroad, which will be presented at 18 parallel sessions. FEB UNS collaborates with reputable international journals indexed by Scopus, which will open up publication opportunities for participants,” explained Prof. Djoko in his welcome speech.

In addition to the two keynote speakers, the 2024 SMICDE also presented three guest speakers; coming from University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Prof. Evan Lau Poh Hock; Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Prof. Hooy Chee Wooi, and Dr. Tastaftiyan Risfandy from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS).

In line with the statement from the Dean of FEB UNS, Prof. Irwan Trinugroho, Vice-Rector for Planning, Cooperation, Business and Information Affairs, UNS hopes that this conference will not only serve as a medium for dissemination of scientific research results, but also as a medium in building international research networks.

“The purpose of this conference is not only as a medium to disseminate research results but also to present publication opportunities, and also to build networks. Thank you to the speakers, Prof. Goodell, Prof. Hasan, Prof. Hooy, and Prof. Evan Lau who always support UNS to keep advancing,” said Prof. Irwan.

In this conference organized by the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UNS in collaboration with PUI Fintech and Banking, each invited speaker presented material related to the topic of digitalization.

For this occasion, Prof. Goodell presented a material entitled ‘Is ESG non-pecuniary? Important consequences for FinTech and other financial aspects including Islamic finance,’ which was delivered virtually, while Prof. Kabir Hassan delivered a material entitled ‘Digitalization of Finance.’

From the educational point of view, Prof. Evan Lau delivered the material ‘Empowering Sustainable Digital Transformation Through Education.’ Prof. Hooy presented the material entitled ‘Digital Transformation and Firm Performance’ followed by material from Dr. Tastaftiyan Risfandy, ‘Adapting Digital Shifts: Insights from Macro and Micro Contexts.’

In addition to presenting various publication and dissemination opportunities, the 2024 SMICDE event also awarded participants with the best articles award. This Best Paper award, which is sponsored by Bank Jateng, was given to three presenters who had submitted abstracts, which were then selected by the scientific committee.

The three presenters who received the Best Paper award were Antonius Grivaldi Sondakh from Gadjah Mada University, with an article entitled Competitive Information Systems and Knowledge Sabotage: The Moderating Effect of Group Identity, Hadi Ismanto from Doctoral Program in Economics (PDIE) FEB UNS with an article entitled the Role of Sales and Investment on Environmental Performance of Publicly Listed Companies in Indonesia, and Mohamad Egi Destiartono from Universitas Sebelas Maret with an article entitled Does Digitalization Foster Economic Development: Evidence from Emerging Economies.