The government sees the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution as more than a challenge for the working population. Therefore, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her ICT advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy have made preparations for Bangladesh to enter the fourth industrial revolution in 2017. According to the plan, the government is focusing on building infrastructure and skilled human resources. According to the research done in the continuation of this, even if 55 lakh jobs are eliminated in the next 10 years due to the shock of the fourth industrial revolution, one crore new jobs will be created.
Sami Ahmed, Leveraging in ICT Policy Adviser under the Information and Communication Technology Department, expressed these hopes in a two-part presentation on the prospects and challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the context of Bangladesh on Tuesday (December 28th).
Organized by Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team, the hour-long online seminar was conducted by Tareq M Barkatullah, Director, Leveraging ICT for Employment and Growth of the IT-IT ES Industry Project.
In the keynote address presented at the seminar with participants at the ICT Department’s own virtual platform ‘Boithak’, Sami Ahmed informed that Bangladesh is one of the world’s leading garment industries due to cheap workers. But in recent times the use of robots has started in a few factories. There, in just 7 seconds, ‘SuBots’ made a whole T-shirt. This is made possible by the combination of artificial intelligence and high-speed internet with robots. And this is the main challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
For this reason, the young technology researcher emphasized on the foresight of the garment factory owners and the hope of the workers to acquire relevant technology skills from robot management.
However, there is no reason to be disappointed, he said, adding that in the meantime, Facebook’s 4G LTE balloon with 60 mega to 20 GB speed internet, Space X, One Web, Amazon and O3B’s satellite internet has brought new possibilities for connectivity to the world. As a result, there is great potential in virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D painting. Blockchain technology is bringing transparency in the work. Nanotech, Biotech, Quantum Computing, Blue Revolution are all blessings for us. Because we have young manpower. If we can prepare them, we will be ahead in the world.
Arguing in the presentation, Sami said that increasing automation does not mean growth. Consumer demand is also important here. After all, there is no alternative to automation. We have already begun to reap the benefits. The country now has only export earnings from software, mobile apps and graphics design. Bangladesh is working in at least 19 categories of technology. Already, the IT companies of Bangladesh have started working on the issue of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a global context.
In response to a question, Sami Ahmed further said that 50 4IR pilot projects have been taken up to meet the challenges of the future. At the same time, the ICT department is working to make the curriculum suitable for developing 50 more new professions. Emphasis is being placed on soft skills development.
In response to a question, Sami said, “We are already setting up a Center for 4IR.” At the same time, an initiative has been taken to support 100 technology entrepreneurs next year to take forward their own innovations. Various initiatives will be taken on a large scale to raise awareness at all levels. Above all, utilizing the benefits of high-speed broadband internet will be given utmost importance. All in all, Bangladesh will reach its goal by building a bridge between academia and industry in the implementation of ‘Made in Bangladesh Strategy Paper’.
In response to another question, he said, not all matters; We are also looking into what we can do to leapfrog if we work on something.