Experts and stakeholders at a function said long-term policy, modernisation of education and curriculum system, infrastructure development, industry-academia collaboration and skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling are priority for adopting the advantages of the 4th industrial revolution.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) arranged the webinar on “4th Industrial Revolution in the wake of COVID-19” on Thursday.
Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Mustafa Jabbar joined the webinar as the chief guest. Ms. Parag, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries joined as guest of honour. DCCI President Shams Mahmud moderated the webinar.
DCCI President Shams Mahmud in his welcome address said that the fourth Industrial Revolution is evolving fast and reshaping and global industrial, trade and economic landscape. Bangladesh still lags behind in adopting 4IR technologies in the industrial ecosystem and this adoption will accelerate our growth momentum.
He also urged for sector-wise re-skilling, up-skilling and development of human resources in line with the 4IR demand.
Creating and enabling regulatory ecosystem including enforcement of Intellectual property rights will facilitate the pathway of 4IR. He also recommended to initiate 5G technology to underpin low-cost Big Data and diverse IoT services, the DCCI president insists.
Mr Mustafa Jabbar said that the telecommunication sector is the ocean for 4IR. In our country 65 per cent people are under the age limit of 35 years which is an added advantage for us.
We should not fear from 4IR as our adaptability is too high. In 2008, internet users were only 0.8 million used only 8 GBPS bandwidth whereas now we are using about 2100 GBPS bandwidth, he pointed out.
Ms Parag, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries said the SMEs of Bangladesh are using technology now and they are producing various diversified products. 4IR will open up new avenues especially in the recycling industries.
Sajid Amit, Associate Professor, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh presented the keynote paper. He highlighted that manufacturing industries are transforming almost the entire system of production, management and governance. He said that according to The World Economic Forum about 800 million people worldwide may lose jobs by 2030.
Fahim Ahmed, President & CFO, Pathao Ltd. said over 6 million users in Bangladesh using the internet toke the services of Pathao. In the last 5 years over USD250 million invested in the technology sector of Bangladesh.
Md. Sirajul Haider, ndc, General Manager, SME Foundation said SME Foundation is working to increase the skills and capacity of SME entrepreneurs during Covid time.
Md. Rashedur Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Organization Strategy Leadership, University of Dhaka said 4IR is not a matter of fear but an opportunity.
Moreover he urged for a long-term policy to streamline with the revolution. We need to create awareness, mentorship and training along with new curriculum design in collaboration with industries.
Dr. Anowarul Fattah, Professor of EEE, BUET urged to motivate entrepreneurs about how to adopt 4IR. He also urged to create Inter-university linkage, inter-ministry and industry collaboration for capacity building as well.
Mohammad Abdul Momen, Director, BGMEA said 4IR is not the future but it is happening now. Automation and technology transformation in the manufacturing industry indeed reduces manpower.
Zaki Uz Zaman, Country Representative, UNIDO said we need to upgrade our young generation with an up-skilling and re-skilling process.
Kh. Atique-e-Rabbani, FCA, former Vice President, DCCI said the technological advancement should be focused considering the interest of Bangladesh and its people.
Asif Ibrahim, Chairman, Chittagong Stock Exchange and DCCI Senior Vice President N K A Mobin, FCA, FCS also spoke on the occasion.
sajibur@gmail.com
