“We need to think out of the box. We have to look for new innovations,” Md Shahidul Haque, senior secretary of Foreign Ministry, told a discussion, organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and BD4IR in the city.
“We have demographic dividend of young population and they are more capable of adapting technology. They are bright and brilliant,” he said.
Presenting the keynote paper, Syed Tamjid ur Rahman, vice president of Bangladesh Center for Fourth Industrial Revolution (BD4IR), said, “We need to enhance our need-based skills development and overhaul the education system to cope up with this transformation.”
“The 4IR is based on sophisticated technology and artificial intelligence. It will impact businesses, change customers’ expectations and manufacturing pattern. Technology will control everything in future,” he said.
Tamjid said the 4IR would raise the global income, improve quality of life, create new products and services, increase efficiency and productivity, reduce transportation and communication costs, make global supply chain effective, open up new market and drive economic growth.
“We must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural and human environment,” he said.
DCCI President Abul Kasem Khan said the 4thIR was evolving fast and changing economies, businesses, industries and transforming the entire system of production, management and governance.
“It will not only open up new opportunities but also create some challenges. The world is moving faster, and we need to keep up the pace to be competitive. First of all, we need to create awareness and have the ability of technology adaptability,” he added.
Anir Chowdhury, policy adviser of Access to Information project, said the biggest challenge of 4thIR would be the loss of jobs.
“We need to re-skill about 75 million people within the next 20 years and during this time, 20 million people need to come under new skill development project,” he said.