Digitalization And The Role Of Youth As Actors In The Pentahelix Collaboration Of The Beta Mandiri Program For Strengthening Local Potential-Based Community Economic Development In Southwest Maluku Regency

Abstract

Digitalization has created new opportunities for strengthening local economies, particularly in archipelagic and peripheral regions that have long faced geographical barriers, limited market access, and infrastructure disparities. This study aims to analyze digitalization and the role of youth as strategic actors in pentahelix collaboration through the Beta Mandiri Program in Southwest Maluku Regency. Specifically, the study examines how youth contribute to connecting government, communities, the business sector, academia, and the media in developing local economic potential. This research employs a qualitative approach using a case study method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and document analysis involving actors associated with the implementation of the Beta Mandiri Program. The findings reveal that youth perform multiple roles as local innovators, digital intermediaries, economic facilitators, network builders, and promoters of products based on local potential. Digital platforms expand these roles by facilitating product promotion, communication, market network development, knowledge exchange, and coordination among pentahelix actors. Nevertheless, the digital divide, limited infrastructure, disparities in digital literacy, geographical fragmentation, and weak institutional sustainability continue to constrain effective collaboration. This study emphasizes that digitalization in peripheral archipelagic regions is not merely a process of technological adoption, but rather a socio-economic process mediated by youth actors, local knowledge, institutional networks, and collaborative governance. The novelty of this study lies in positioning youth as digital bridging actors within the pentahelix, transforming institutional collaboration into digital economic practices rooted in local potential.