The fourth industrial revolution is rolling out silently in Bangladesh and yet bringing massive impacts than that of the earlier technological or political revolutions, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said.
“Last night, I learnt of the fascinating story of a Bangladeshi couple - Rini Ishan and Rakib Reza. They have been quietly manufacturing robots in Bangladesh, commercially,” he said at the first ever workshop on fourth industrial revolution at a city hotel on Tuesday (Nov 13).
Foreign ministry has organised the workshop in support of World Economic Forum (WEF).
This year, their company, ‘Planetary Limited’, has already exported 11 robots to South Korea, the minister added.
Business leader Syed Nasim Manzur said Bangladesh needs to invest more in school education to prepare itself for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), said speakers.
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are essential to cope with the new revolution that has already rolled out in Bangladesh, he said at the workshop.
Manzur pointed out that cyber security, privacy and job displacement are the challenges of the Industrial Revolution and we need to tackle it.
Citing example, he said 12 designers in Italy prepare design for his factory and the shoes are produced in Bangladesh.
The industrialist said traceability is another component which is essential but cannot be managed manually.
For US or EU market, we cannot produce shoes with cow heed that comes from Amazon Clear Forest or metal that is procure from Congo and under traceability, we must clearly disclose all the product information to the ultimate consumers.
Sonia Bashir Kabir of Microsoft Bangladesh said the fourth industrial revolution has already been creeping into Bangladesh society.
We don’t need to be rocket scientists to use the 4IR, she said.
She gave examples of four start-up companies which are providing unique services to the people with latest technology and innovation.
Agri Censor is a company which provides support to Bangladeshi farmers through smart phone of two censors about using of fertilizer and pesticides.
That smart phone and two censors cost only Tk 6,000, she said.
About the public service, she said for 160 million Bangladeshis, we have 800,000 government officials or 0.5 percent of the population.
The government has no other way but to embrace technology to provide better and quick service to the people, she added.
Head of WEF India 4IR Centre Shailesh Shardha said education system has a role to play to aware people about the industrial revolution.
It is very important to teach the kids to think, he said.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque said, when I joined the foreign office in the early 80s life was very comfortable.
But, now we have to engage in real-time diplomacy as we have to give decision on almost real-time basis, he said.
The foreign secretary said, we have taken the initiative to discuss about the fourth industrial revolution to prepare ourself and equip with technology and analytical capabilities.
In present days, everybody has information but people analyse it from different mindsets, he said.