The city of Yogyakarta plans to build a Knowledge Park, or “Taman Pintar”, to spur on childrens’ interest in information technology.

Yogyakarta, in central Java, is known mostly for being a city of education and culture, not industry, and the backers of the knowledge park project, among whom can be counted IBM Indonesia, Cisco Indonesia, and PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk, evidently see the city as an ideal place to develop the knowledge industries in Indonesia.

The companies participating in the venture have already signed on to the project, in cooperation with the regional government of Yogyakarta. The Park is expected to provide opportunities for people, especially children from pre-school to junior high school age, to learn more about the knowledge based industries in a hands-on, expressive manner.

Internet facilities, childrens’ radio broadcasts, knowledge booths, exhibition rooms, and meeting rooms are expected to be the main attractions.

Joy Wahjudi of Excelcomindo Pratama (XL) said her company will provide a 64 kilobyte per second internet connection and will make available content of an information technology nature.