The Nusantara Capital Authority (IKN) officially signed a technical assistance contract with the United States Government for Smart City solutions on Wednesday (25/02/2026) at the Nusantara Capital Authority Office. This collaboration marks a strategic step to strengthen the development of an integrated, investment-ready, and implementation-oriented Smart City Blueprint, accelerating Nusantara’s transformation into a smart, sustainable, and globally attractive city.

The project, valued at US$2.49 million, is supported through a grant from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), an independent agency of the U.S. Government that promotes economic development in emerging economies while strengthening trade and investment partnerships. The grant reflects international confidence in Nusantara’s vision as a future capital built on technology and sustainability principles.

The technical assistance will produce strategic and technical documents, including a Smart City Enterprise Architecture, Procurement-Ready RFP Packages, a Financial and Investment Model, an ESG-Compliant Framework (PESIA), a Capacity Building Roadmap, and an Implementation Phasing Plan. These components are designed to ensure that the implementation of Nusantara’s Smart City initiative proceeds in a structured, transparent manner and aligns with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles.

The project involves a consortium led by Eficens Systems Inc as the technical implementer, in collaboration with Frost & Sullivan (USA & Indonesia), ASECH Indonesia (Center of Excellence on Smart City), Mirekel, and PT Searce Technologies Indonesia (Google Cloud Platform Partner).

Head of the Nusantara Capital Authority, Basuki Hadimuljono, emphasized that digital transformation is a fundamental pillar in the development of Nusantara.

“Our vision is clear: Nusantara must become a green, sustainable, and fundamentally smart city,” said Basuki.

Meanwhile, Member of the Board of Frost & Sullivan America and Project Director of this initiative, Subhranshu Sekhar Das, shared his long-term vision for the development of a cognitive city.

“Nusantara has the opportunity to become more than just a smart city — it can evolve into a Cognitive City. As the global knowledge industry undergoes transformation, cities must transition from static digital infrastructure to adaptive intelligence systems. Agentic AI and federated knowledge platforms will play a defining role in shaping how cities learn, simulate, and continuously optimize governance, infrastructure, and citizen services. Nusantara has the potential to become a global reference model for this intelligence-driven urban paradigm,” said Subhranshu.

On the same day, the inaugural project meeting was held and attended by the USTDA Senior Representative for Indonesia, Yolanda Hanna, together with members of the Eficens consortium.

Through the USTDA grant support and cross-sector collaboration, the Nusantara Capital Authority reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that Nusantara is not only physically built, but also designed with a mature, secure, and future-oriented digital system. The resulting blueprint is expected to serve as a concrete foundation for Smart City implementation and as a reference model for smart city development in Indonesia and globally.

(Thursday, February 26th 2026)

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Source: Public Relations of Nusantara Capital Authority