Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar on Thursday said the government is working to create an ICT-friendly environment to establish knowledge-based economy by promoting technological advancement and innovations.
Bangladesh will export digital devices within the next one or two years as the country is producing cost-effective technological products, he told a thematic discussion on “Technology, Innovation and Policy: How to Proceed?” at the conference room of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) here.
MCCI organized the discussion to highlight prospects and challenges of technology and innovation-based economy.
Professor Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury, MCCI Committee Member Habibullah N Karim, ACI Limited Managing Director Dr Arif Dowla, Policy Advisor of Access to Information (a2i) Programme of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Anir Chowdhury, Managing Director of Microsoft Bangladesh Limited Sonia Bashir Kabir and former MCCI Managing Director Syed Nasim Manzur, among others, addressed the discussion with MCCI President Nihad Kabir in the chair.
Prof Rokonuzzaman of North South University made a presentation on “Technology, Innovation and Policy: How to Proceed?” at the discussion while teachers, researchers and business leaders, among others, joined the open discussion.
Referring to the fast changing ICT sector across the world, Jabbar said, “The world is now entering the fifth generation (5G) internet service… We have to take preparations to go 5-G internet service to keep up the rapidly changing ICT sector.”
The world is going to witness the fourth industrial revolution which will be based on digital devices and innovations, he said, adding Bangladesh has to face these challenges, if the country wants to transform into an economically advanced country.
“Right at this moment, we are now focusing on expansion of connectivity to take the advantage of digital economy. The government is working to bring remote 772 union parishads, heard to reach areas including haor, char and enclaves under IT networks.”
Citing economic values of innovations, the minister said many big companies around the world are facing extreme challenges for survival as these companies have failed to develop new innovations.
Prof Jamilur laid emphasis on collaboration between universities and industries to intensify research works to develop innovations.
Both private and public sectors should keep confidence on the local experts to foster economic progress, he said, adding, “We need to change mindset of hiring and importing foreign experts and products, which would eventually encourage our experts to develop better innovation and productions.”
Nihad Kabir said Bangladesh is ranked 114th among 127 countries as per the Global Innovation Index 2017.
“This shows that we have some work to do to catch up economies built on high value added and high tech industries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany and the United States,” she added.
