International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science 7(2), 2018: 47-56 Page47 Research in Business and Social Science IJRBS Vol 7 No 2, ISSN: 2147-4478 Contents available at www.ssbfnet.com/ojs https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v7i2.888 Prospects and Competitiveness in Creative Economy: Evidence from Indonesia Sigit Setiawan Senior Researcher at Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance Indonesia Abstract A growing number of unimaginable cross-border start-up businesses have emerged in the ASEAN and global trade map, along with the development of communication and information technology that negates national borders. The new sector-referred to as creative economy - requires and utilizes high specific knowledge, skills and creativity. With literature review and descriptive analysis method, this study aims to: firstly, analyze the prospects for Indonesian creative economic sector in the ASEAN market; secondly, analyze the competitiveness of Indonesia's creative economic sector in ASEAN and the world levels. By making comparison of the data in two periods (2002-2006 and 2014-2015 periods), it can be concluded that the average contribution of creative economy to Indonesian economy continues to increase. The increase goes to the added value, the sectoral contribution to GDP, the provision of employment, and the sectoral absorption of national labor. The prospect of Indonesian creative economy in the ASEAN market lies in the growth of potential customers from the middle class. The number of Indonesian middle class will continue to increase. By adopting and analyzing the output of the Global Creativity Index model, it can be concluded that the competitiveness of Indonesian creative economy in ASEAN and the world is still weak. The weak competitiveness is due to low technology index and talent index. However, based on the findings from previous studies in several regions in Indonesia, it appears that Indonesian people have great potential creativity to develop. Key words: Creative Economy, Competitiveness, Creativity, ASEAN JEL classification: 023, M21, 035 Submitted: 14.08.2018 - Accepted: 15.10.2018 Introduction Prospects and challenges always emerge and exist in the today's international business context. A growing number of unimaginable cross-border start-up businesses have emerged in the ASEAN and global trade map, along with the development of communication and information technology that negates national borders. The existence of Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, Amazon.com, JD.com, AliBaba, E-Bay, Gojek, Uber, and Grab are some illustrations of an originally start-up business which is subsequently growing to be a big rival for conventional business. Other fast growing business is entertainment related businesses. This kind of business is also growing in more various ways, which is combined with the latest technology, has created much contribution to entrepreneurship and employment. Even now, the existence of a variety of expert consulting services in