smart bangladesh vision 2041 essay

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From Digital To Smart : Bangladesh's Vision For Sustainable Economic Development

When the term Digital Bangladesh was first spoken around the counry most people jested and laughed about it and said it would never come true. But it indeed did. And now, the government aims to elevate the economy to the next level by introducing the ’Smart Bangladesh' concept. The objective is to move beyond digitalization and use technology to improve the standard of living and foster sustainable development.

To better understand the Smart Bangladesh initiative, it’s worth distinguishing between Digital and Smart Bangla- desh. The former involves digitizing processes to facilitate access to information and communication among people. By moving from manual to digital processes, we have created a foundation to transform data into valuable information, and from there into knowledge that can fuel effective solutions. This is the essence of the Digital to Smart Bangladesh vision.

Despite our nation’s considerable progress, some of us remain in denial of our achievements. We fail to see what our neighbors see: that we are pioneers of development. Instead, we often look to the West and make misguided comparisons, preventing us from truly internalizing our success. Smart Bangladesh is not about emulating cities like Singapore, London, or New York, but rather about finding solutions that unlock our full potential and enable us to lead South Asia towards a better future.

Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 is an all-encompassing ambition centred on inclusivity, prioritizing the people and citizens of Bangladesh. The four pillars are Smart Citizens, Smart Government, Smart Economy, and Smart Society, and they serve as the foundation of the vision. The ultimate goal is to close the digital gap by implementing sustain- able digital solutions accessible to all citizens and businesses, regardless of socio-economic status or size. Building upon the Digital Bangladesh initiative, Smart Bangladesh is the next critical step in realizing the dream of building a Golden Bangladesh

Decentralization: Making the divisional  centres become hubs

The concentration of major economic activities in Dhaka has made it one of the world’s most densely populated cities, leading to a prioritization of its development over other cities, ultimately harming the nation as a whole.

Decentralization is therefore essential to achieve Smart Bangladesh and ensure an equitable quality of life across the country. By 2041, it is projected that 80% of Bangladesh’s population will live in cities, and the government has already begun planning to expand urban facilities to rural areas under the "My Village My Town" policy. 1 This shift in focus away from Dhaka toward a more balanced development of other urban centers will require the construction of smart transportation systems and improved access to technology, reducing the population’s dependence on Dhaka.

https://www.observerbd.com/news.php?id=402153

Reconnecting the Diaspora in the Western World

Around 13 million Bangladeshis are living abroad in 162 countries. 2 Reconnecting the diaspora in the Western world will help the nation to transfer skills conveniently. Therefore, we need solutions to unleash the potential and reconnecting with the diaspora could help Bangladesh financially and enhance the capability of transferring skillsets.

Diaspora can also act as a catalyst for development by facilitating the transfer of funds, resources, technology, knowledge, skills, and ideas, thereby contributing to economic and social development. According to research by IOM UN Migration, 70,000 to 80,000 diaspora members are potential investors for productive sectors in Bangla- desh, whereas 21,000 to 30,000 diaspora members can contribute to the nation through technological knowledge, skills, and interests. 

Diaspora from the Western world already has a positive impact on our nation. In the fiscal year 2019-2020, approxi- mately 13 percent of Bangladeshis living in the USA and UK send 20.7 percent of the total remittances. Not only will reconnecting with the Western world allow the diaspora to contribute to economic development, but it will also allow them to upgrade the skills of the people in the country, which will ultimately help the nation to prosper and progress with Smart Bangladesh’s vision.

Innovation and tech : For sustainable agriculture

Bangladesh’s success relies heavily on the country's increased agricultural productivity. The agriculture sector is one of the centres of the Bangladeshi economy and accounts for around 14 percent of the country’s GDP. In addition, the industry helps to decrease poverty levels, ensures food availability, and has been the primary source of livelihood employment for 41 percent of the labour force. 

To achieve Vision 2041 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Bangladesh must harness cutting-edge technol- ogies, market intelligence, and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) tools. Blockchain technology, for instance, can create a digital and verified identity for farmers, containing their credit and transactional history in a distributed network accessible to banks and insurance companies. Meanwhile, Al-based predictive modeling can assist with pricing, market arrivals, local consumption, and exports. By leveraging these advanced technologies, Bangladesh can unlock new opportunities for growth and development.

There are a lot of gaps and untapped opportunities in the agriculture sector; thus, proper initiatives need to be taken to develop and create Smart Agriculture for Smart Economy.

Empowering Entrepreneurs: The Key to Smart Economy in Bangladesh

Entrepreneurs are the catalyst of the economy, both in terms of capital generation and perspective of sustainable development. In the era of the smart economy, modern technologies will lower the barrier to entrepreneurship. Bangladesh's young population has already shown excellent entrepreneurial skills during the pandemic year. For example, a collaboration between UNDP, Bangladesh Government, and a2i, has brought the project called ekshop, which helps a rural eCommerce model that unifies the nationwide physical network of nearly 7,000 Digital Centres.

Moreover, startups have created massive wealth for the economy and themselves globally and are also seen as a critical driver of growth and social equity.

Besides entrepreneurship playing a critical role, the availability of human resources is also necessary for jobs, especially those created during the era of the Smart Economy. There is no shortage of human resources nation- wide; however, skilled workers are lacking, especially in the technology sector. Most jobs in 4IR will be tech-based; hence, Bangladesh needs to upskill its human resources and create appropriate economic employment to succeed in this ever-changing time. The country cannot waste its opportunity anymore to the once-in-a-lifetime window of the demographic dividend and needs to tap into the favourable demographic profile to create an economic power- house.

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/how-diaspora-can-support-bangIadeshs-development-2170991

https://a2i.gov.bd/smart-agriculture-for-smart-bangladesh

Potential  to become the next economic hub in South Asia

Bangladesh has the potential to become the next economic hub of South Asia, building on its existing role as a regional logistics and transit hub connecting South and Southeast Asia. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a well-planned infrastructure can position Bangladesh as the gateway for other countries, linking the East and the West. The country’s ambition to become a transport hub is already taking shape, as evidenced by the Biman flight from Dhaka to Canada. Although the initial plan did not include passengers from neighboring countries like Kolkata, their travel to Dhaka for the Canada flight has opened up a new era and presents an opportunity for Bangladesh to leverage this model and become an economic hub for other countries.

Moreover, the western region of Bangladesh shares over 2,000 km with India and is home to major seas and land ports like Mongla, Payra, Benapole, and Bhomra. Our government is already working with the World Bank to refurbish the highways. It will link businesses and consumers, boost trade and consumption, and generate higher income and new jobs. Better connectivity will immensely benefit Bangladesh, enable trade in transport services, and help the nation become South Asia’s regional logistics and transit hub.

According to Global Location Service Index, Bangladesh’s IT sourcing ranks at 21, and the world’s second-largest producer of IT freelancers. 5 Our government is already doing quite a commendable work in this space and has future plans to train 650,000+ registered freelancers to unleash the full potential of the sector. According to the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the IT industry can generate the highest export earnings. Bangladeshi software and IT-enabled services firms already serve clients in over 50 countries globally.^ Bangladesh’s primary export destinations and clients are the USA, Europe, and Japan.

Bangladesh also has the opportunity of becoming Asia’s manufacturing hub. The garment sector already has 4.4 million workers, and the numbers will likely increase with the rise in the future.’ Moreover, the nation’s global-manu- facturing industry is already growing with the increase in intra-regional trade.

Fulfilling the Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 will help us achieve the nation’s ambitions to become the next hub of South Asia.

Emlsracing the Wind of CAange  Smart Bangladesh for A Better Tomorrow

Over the next two decades, experts predict that the world will experience unprecedented change. Some even forecast that humanity will transform more in the next two decades than in history. This transformative wave will undoubtedly impact Bangladesh, and the Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 will guide the country toward a new era.

Imagine a world where poverty is non-existent, and robots coexist with humans in every service sector, quantum computing is a reality, self-driving cars are ubiquitous, some are even capable of flight, robots handle most manu- facturing, drones are employed in agriculture, and numerous other advancements. The question that begs to be asked is whether Bangladesh is prepared to face this rapidly approaching reality, set to take place globally by 2041.

As a nation of resilient and determined individuals, Bangladesh has overcome countless challenges and has always risen to the occasion when necessary. Nevertheless, we must all work together to achieve the Smart Bangladesh vision and prepare for this advanced world. There is still much to be done, but with proper initiatives and policies, we can help make the concept of Smart Bangladesh a reality.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/04/08/bangladesh-becoming-it-hub-of-south-asia

https://www.thedailystar.net/business/bangladesh-holds-potential-be-asias-manufacturing-hub-130489

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Ratan Kumar Roy

March 20th, 2023, ‘smart bangladesh’: what about ‘smart politics’ and ‘smart thinking’.

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As the ruling Awami League pushes forth with its vision of a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041, focusing on increasing digitalisation and reliant on widespread subscription, Ratan Kumar Roy asks a crucial question: can a ‘smart’ policy alone bring about societal change, or does it require something more?   

A short video-clip of the dramatic collapse of a dais — where the General Secretary Obaidul Quader of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) was talking about visions of a ‘Smart Bangladesh’ on 6 January 2023 — went viral. Hundreds of GIFs were created and circulated, and social media users made hilarious Reels and TikTok videos mimicking the moment of embarrassment. The GIFs served the purpose of the political opposition because of a coincidence of the crumbling of the stage and the utterance of ‘Smart Bangladesh’, thus gaining a symbolic significance, if inadvertently.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina introduced the idea of ‘Smart Bangladesh’ on 12 December 2022, during her speech at Digital Bangladesh Day, unveiling her vision of making Bangladesh a developed nation by 2041. The project — ‘ Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 ’ — is built on four pillars: smart citizen, smart economy, smart government, and smart society. No wonder the narratives on and around ‘Smart Bangladesh’ are essentially techno-centric. But it appears that a critical element that has gone missing in this, one that would facilitate holding these pillars together, is Smart Politics.

In December 2022, Sheikh Hasina instructed the Bangladesh Chhattra League ( BSL ), the student wing of the Awami League, to build Smart Bangladesh . A month on, in January 2023, the stage collapsed at the University of Dhaka whilst urging BCL leaders and activists to work for Smart Bangladesh. In the following months, complaints were filed against BCL leaders for torturing students at various university hostels. This series of incidents made it pertinent to seek a smart political culture, even if not in practice but at least in thinking. Can ‘smart thinking’ be the bottom line of this mega vision? Here, I review what is outlined in ‘Smart Bangladesh’, and its genealogy.

The Awami League came to power in 2009 with a ‘ Vision 2021 ’ centring around Digital Bangladesh which aspired to provide better services and governance through improved Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). To achieve a Digital Bangladesh by 2021, the government has since put tremendous effort into developing infrastructure and capacity in ICT. The vision was to connect citizens and accelerate service delivery, jobs, efficient governance, and an economy based on digitalisation. Expanding internet connectivity, increasing digital services and using ICT for economic sectors help conjure an image of a thriving development. Establishing around 40 HighTech parks, thousands of Digital Centres across the country providing hundreds of services and facilities, making a sizable export value for ICT, creating freelancers and 2 million ICT-based jobs, and installing Bangabandhu Satellite 1 are some of the visible successes of the Digital Bangladesh vision.

However, other aspects of the digital regime like  the Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018 evoke apprehension and frustration among citizens. Controls, contestations and conflicts at various levels reveal the pitfalls of digitalisation, and the DSA has been implicated in muzzling ‘ troubling ’ voices of the people by the state. Between the development discourse on one hand, and digital control on the other, the government has adopted ‘ Vision 2041 ’ as a continuation of ‘Vision 2021’ to provide impetus to the development dream of the nation, a strategy towards Smart Bangladesh while maximising the possibilities of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). The claim is to be inclusive, and imagine ‘Smart Bangladesh’ beyond mobile and internet technology. Therefore, the four pillars are crucial for this vision.

The ‘Smart Bangladesh’ project aims to make citizens capable of using technology to improve their quality of life. In an App-based life, they buy-sell or fill out forms, and have an enhanced civic participation online. Smart Government is a data-driven public administration system that will rely on technology at both ends: policy-making and policy implementation. Transparency, efficacy and effectiveness for service delivery to citizens will be ensured with the availability and dependence on Apps, data analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Smart Economy will be built on the bedrock of 4IR, emphasising smart supply and production chain management, and the use of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Finally, the Smart Society will be a data-driven, inclusive society where access will be easier, participation will be more, and costs will be reduced. Such a ‘smart society’ will be sustainable and futuristic in that it will address socio-environmental challenges.

But in this moment of excitement about the inception of a digitally enabled ‘Smart Bangladesh’, less is being discussed about the cost of digital dependence. Moreover, it hardly creates a new imagination beyond the digital-centric production and institution. For example, it outlines a gradual implementation of digital skills development, e-commerce and market, e-agriculture, digital job platforms, smart and paperless administration, digital education and pedagogy, e-health, and medical services; what is missing is smart thinking for transforming the political culture often found responsible for making the system dysfunctional from within.

The questions ahead for the people and policy-makers are: will there be any mechanism to reduce corruption and bureaucratic red-tapism in the system? Can ordinary citizens be assured that a handful of people will not find a smart way to launder money from the country to various foreign destinations? Will the country have a peaceful atmosphere ahead of its elections, where confronting political groups will not spread violence on the street?

Current evidence in the everyday socio-political landscape of Bangladesh does not provide a positive view on these questions. Opposition parties are stuck with old versions of political activism and practices. BCL leaders are often involved in rape, highjack, torture, ragging students and extortion from businesses and others. The media’s narrowcasting lens focus on creating hype about political clashes and conflicts ahead of elections. The political party in power is getting tired of controlling the numbers of aspiring leaders; the General Secretary of the AL had to urge that they need more smart workers but not leaders for achieving ‘Smart Bangladesh’.

Uncertainty and volatility in the political climate cannot be convenient for the realisation of a ‘Smart Bangladesh’. It requires making politics smarter with smart thinking at various levels. Beyond the political culture, achieving a Smart Bangladesh would be possible if citizens themselves also become smart: for instance, even after  20 years of setting up automated traffic lights in Dhaka city, people in the city have hardly gotten used to following traffic signals . Air pollution level in Dhaka is 14+ times higher than WHO-recommended Air Quality Index value; people often litter and throw rubbish randomly with no effort to keep public places clean. All these are real-life scenarios of a capital city where use of smartphones and internet penetration is relatively high. Therefore, it is not far-fetched to argue that without penetrating ‘smart thinking’ amongst the people, and ‘smart imagination’ in the thinking of the new generation, a digital-centric vision of smart Bangladesh may not succeed.

In a country where the idea of digital connectivity is borrowed from the West and improvised for a nation dependent on technology produced in China, a digitally-oriented, techno-centric, data-driven ‘Smart Bangladesh’ must foster originality of ideas and imagination for meaningful innovation for a better future. At heart is the need for ‘smart politics’ to be inserted in this scheme, with smart thinking disseminated into the social psyche.

Effective ‘smart politics’ can be achieved by curbing partisan nepotism at various levels of bureaucracy and politics, and ending political control over rule of law. Political parties in power should not have undue control over the administrative and executive organs of the state to crack down the political oppositions . At the other end, those not in power should not rely on to violence, unrest and unconstitutional ways to oust governments. ‘Smart politics’ should enable party leaders and activists to move beyond the violent politics that has till now undermined the establishment of a stable, steady and robust democracy. Such a ‘smart politics’ would enable smart governance where there is transparent correspondence between the legislation, judiciary and executive, citizens are served by a corruption-free administration and judiciary, enhancing accountability. It will also lead to a truer decentralisation of power where better healthcare and education facilities are not urban-centric considering more than 60 per cent people live in rural areas in Bangladesh.

The genuine pursuit of ‘smart thinking’ for citizens is essential for making sure that technology is not outsmarting the people. ‘Smartness’ should not be imposed from above on people — it should align with varying levels of tech-savviness, digital literacy and access to technology. It is how smartly the government address the challenges of everyday life, defying digital divides and new kinds of inequalities. With a smart mindset that makes people responsible about self-conduct, passionate towards national development and motivated towards national values and human well-being, a vision of ‘Smart Bangladesh’ may thrive.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent the views of the ‘South Asia @ LSE’ blog, the LSE South Asia Centre or the London School of Economics and Political Science.

This blogpost may not be reposted by anyone without prior written consent of LSE South Asia Centre; please e-mail [email protected] for permission.

Banner image © Anne Nygård, 2022, Unsplash .

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About the author

Dr Ratan Kumar Roy is Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust Visiting Fellow (2022–23) at the LSE South Asia Centre, and Assistant Professor at the School of General Education, BRAC University, Dhaka. He is author of ‘Television in Bangladesh: News and Audiences’ (2020).

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Seminar on “Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041: The Relevance of Bangabandhu's Dream”

On March 15, 2023, AIUB hosted a seminar titled "Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041: The Relevance of Bangabandhu's Dream" with the keynote paper titled " Vision Smart Bangladesh: The Relevance of Bangabandhu's Dream." It was held in honor of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's birthday on March 17 and considering the transformation of Bangladesh's vision to "Smart Bangladesh" based on the success of the vision "Digital Bangladesh."

The keynote speaker, Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, Professor of the Faculty of Business Administration, AIUB, mentioned that the bold slogan of Vision 2041, "Smart Bangladesh”, emerged from the accomplishment of Bangladesh's Vision 2021 and the mantra of digitalization along with advanced technology-inclusive development. It is also catalyzed by the global paradigm shift in the convergence of governance and development focused on impact leadership, sustainable development, a knowledge-based society, and the evolving concepts of "smart cities" and the "smart world." He further emphasized that the drive towards Vision 2041 aspires to realize the striving approach to accomplish the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and make Bangladesh a high-income country and a prosperous nation by 2041. The Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041 is more comprehensive, goal-driven, inclusive, and effective than the Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021. The key player in achieving the vision of "Smart Bangladesh" is the young generation of Bangladesh. The ultimate objective of smart Bangladesh is to achieve Bangabandhu’s dream of a Golden Bengal in a smart way in a smart world. It is founded on the four pillars of a smart state: "smart citizens," "smart government," "smart economy," and "smart society." It aims to foster the inclusivity of all people in Bangladesh in this smart endeavor to ensure a decent standard of living for everyone while striving to ensure a prosperous country with a lower Gini coefficient.

Pointing to the relevance of Bangabandhu's Dream, the keynote speaker refers to the essay of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, "Striving to Realize the Ideals of My Father." "It is the indomitable spirit of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that drives us forward, and we dare not rest till we achieve all his dreams," Sheikh Hasina writes in the conclusion of her scholarly writeup, published by MIT Press Direct in its ranked journal "Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization" in 2021. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu, highlights in her 2021 article the specifics of transforming Bangladesh into a sustainable and developed country. She emphasizes how digitalization liberates people from the chains of illiteracy, poverty, corruption, dictatorship, terrorism, and extremism; how it helps realize Bangabandhu's ideals by meeting the people's seven basic needs; and how the nation could develop to a smart level that can guarantee a decent standard of living for everyone.

The lead discussant, Professor Dr. Jebunnessa , Department of Public Administration, Jahangir Nagar University, appreciates the paper and emphasizes the need for conducting more quality research on Bangabandhu like this one. She felt that Bangabandhu’s dream is highly relevant to the vision of "Smart Bangladesh" in a smart world. Thus, she thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for keeping such an ambitious vision moving forward in a timely manner. The chief guest, O. N. Siddiqua Khanam, Member, the Bangladesh Public Service Commission and Former Secretary of the Bangladesh Government, however, regretted not attending the seminar due to chairing an enviable viva board.

With a vote of thanks, the chair of the seminar, Prof. Dr. Md. Abdur Rahman, Pro-Vice Chancellor of AIUB, expressed gratitude to the keynote speaker, discussants, and houseful audience, including faculty members and young students, at the AIUB auditorium. With reference to the keynote speaker’s discussion question, he explicitly draws attention to the young generation and mentions, "Our generation built digital Bangladesh. And now it's your (the young generation's) turn to transform it into a smart Bangladesh using the digital Bangladesh platform.”

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Digital Bangladesh to Innovative Bangladesh: The road to 2041

December 25, 2021.

By Anir Chowdhury,Policy Advisor of a2i in ICT Division and Cabinet Division supported by UNDP.

The Blog was first published in The Dhaka Tribune Click here to read the original publication.

What will Bangladesh look like in 2041? This is the first part of a two-part special that concludes on December 19

Will “digital” be a novelty in 2041, our target year to become a high-income nation? Will the “digital” focus be enough to galvanize collective action to take us past the middle-income trap and be equitably prosperous, leaving no one behind?

On the Digital Bangladesh Day of the Digital Bangladesh Year, we must ask ourselves as we imagine our country in 2041.

Digital Bangladesh held the imagination of the entire country for the last 13 years since our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s clarion call on December 12, 2008 as part of the Awami League’s election manifesto. Starting with utter disbelief and steady ridicule by naysayers, and yet undaunting conviction by a few, Bangladesh, a technologically-backward country, has clearly made a remarkable journey towards mass digitization.

The direct implementation guidance of Digital Bangladesh comes from its architect Sajeeb Wazed, the ICT Advisor to the PM, while the Minister of State for ICT, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, maintains relentless monitoring and sleepless delegation.

There is no doubting the fact that the astounding quadrupling of the country’s GDP per capita and improvement in service delivery (demonstrated by a savings of $11.22 billion and 9.26 billion workdays by citizens) during this time have been greatly facilitated by digital adoption in all departments of the government and almost every sphere of the society.

During Covid-19 lockdowns, Digital Bangladesh played a key role in ensuring service continuity in healthcare and education, commerce and trade, social safety net payments for the new poor, grievance redress and whatever else you can imagine.

Last year, on Digital Bangladesh Day, in a Dhaka Tribune op-ed, I attempted to dispel the myths surrounding the term. I tried to explain what it was, who it was for, and what it would become. I ended by briefly touching upon 2041, the ultimate goal, when Bangladesh intends to become the prosperous, developed, poverty-free, and equitable nation of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s dreams.

Today, much of the promise of Digital Bangladesh is bringing tangible benefits to citizens, especially the underserved, rural poor. This leapfrogging was possible because of the sheer audacity and inspirational leadership demonstrated by our government which invigorated people’s hopes, aspirations, and self-belief, and effectively raised the frontiers of the country’s growth.

Inspired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s bold vision, implemented by all agencies of the government, and participated by the citizens, this leapfrogging phenomenon is not merely a blip on the development path, but rather a sustainable occurrence blazing a new development trajectory for Bangladesh and setting examples for the developing world.

The world in 2041

The world will change in more fundamental ways and more rapidly in the 20 years between 2021 and 2041 than it would in the 13 years between 2009 and 2021 -- the totality of the Digital Bangladesh years. In fact, futurists predict that humanity will change more in the next 20 years than in all of human history. 

Consider that to reach 50 million users, the wired phone took 75 years, radio 38 years, TV 13 years, Facebook 3.5 years, and games like Angry Birds 35 days. In fact, the Indian Covid-19 app Arogya Setu reached 50 million users in 13 days.

The Human Genome Project took 10 years and $2.7 billion to complete whereas today, a human gene can be sequenced in a few hours for a thousand dollars. By 2041, this may come down to a few seconds and a few cents.

The road to 2041 will be largely dominated by machines that learn beyond the logic of the software that program them, popularly known as Artificial Intelligence or AI. More progress in AI took place in the last five years than in the previous 50. Siri on iPhones, Google Assistant on Android phones, and Amazon Alexa are all AI assistants helping human beings with daily tasks. 

AI will be one of the major drivers in the journey to 2041. Other major drivers include advanced robotics that master the electromechanical space, nanotechnology with materials stronger than steel and thinner than human hair, trillions of sensors attached to practically everything around us (known as Internet of Things or IoT), advanced ways to edit, sequence, and clone genes, organs, and whole animals (notwithstanding the ethical argument around this), among others.

However, the change in the next 20 years will be much more dramatic. Some of it may be seen as science fiction but they will indeed happen. Some phenomena that could not even be imagined are close to reality. Even though most of these occurrences will start in wealthier countries, they will be quickly adopted in Bangladesh, which itself will be a developed country by 2041. 

Imagine the globe in 2041 (written in present tense):

No poverty: Extreme poverty by and large does not exist, and poverty exists in the low single digits. However, there is greater inequality because wealth is concentrated in the hands of people owning intellectual and physical capital and not the workers

Robots co-exist with human beings in all service sectors: This is true in restaurants, hotels, stores, pharmacies, etc

Computers with a human brain: Artificial intelligence is quite mature already and a computer is almost as smart as a human being, being able to learn more quickly, process more information, and make decisions more quickly than a human being. The only exception is the realm of human values, judgment, and wisdom which has not been overtaken by machines yet. However, futurists predict that technological “singularity,” a point in time where a machine becomes more intelligent than a human being, happens somewhere around 2045 

Quantum computing is a reality: This is key in predicting weather and climate change with high accuracy, financial risks management with more accurate forecasts, establishing strong network security, and accelerating machine learning to produce human-like robots

Cars are self-driven: 25% of the cars fly because they are safer, faster, and affordable. However, most people do not own cars and use ride-sharing which is more economical, manageable, and environmentally-friendly

Most manufacturing is done by robots: 3D printers allow individual manufacturing, fundamentally restructuring the large manufacturing industries

Farming decisions are driven by data: Satellites in the sky and sensors in the field detecting nutrients and water in the soil, and sensors in the body of farm animals detecting their health conditions and nutrition will be in use

Drones in agriculture: Increased use of drones for agricultural fields for delivering fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation because of their cost-effectiveness and precision

Wearable computing: All clothes and eyeglasses are connected to the internet, monitoring the wearer’s vital signs, reporting on them, and getting real-time recommendations from robot doctors

Robot surgeons: Most simple and many critical surgeries will be done by robot surgeons

Printed organs: Human cells and organs are printed by 3D printers

Printed food: A large amount of food is printed at home and restaurants by 3D printers, reducing dependence on agricultural land, livestock, and fisheries

Global access for local producers: Many small producers have unprecedented access to global markets

Anytime, anywhere education: Most physical institutions of education are replaced by anytime, anywhere education using devices, supplemented by the physical education which ensures the social and collaborative aspects of education 

Personalized education: Education delivery is personalized based on the exact needs of the learner and based on “multiple intelligences” such as logical-mathematical, linguistic, kinesthetic, visual-spatial, musical, etc

New occupations: 70% of the occupations of 2018 no longer exist, forcing policy makers and employers to rethink the skills mix that is required in the society and the education/training providers to re-equip themselves to cater to the rapidly evolving demand

Personalized service delivery: All government services are personalized and delivered to devices in the palm of the hands or implanted in human bodies. A few physical one-stop service centres run in PPP (private-public partnership) model 

Citizens’ networks: Loosely formed citizens’ networks have become part of the governance structure and collaborate seamlessly with the government, strengthening the emotional foundations of AI in governance

New social contract: Participatory democracy, where citizens can vote on any policy issue and the vote is directly seen in real-time by policy makers, top-level bureaucrats, businesses, NGOs. The alternative, dystopian reality is that governments and a few large businesses form the Orwellian “Big Brother” which monitors and controls everything and everybody

Interstellar colonization: Small human colonies exist outside of our planet and different countries are trying to determine the political and governance boundaries

Bangladesh in 2041 compared to Bangladesh in 2021

In the last 13 years, internet penetration in Bangladesh has gone up 100 times. This means that about 100 times more Bangladeshis are able to take advantage of the internet for information, education, recreation, business, and trade. 

It was not possible to think that anybody below the middle class could have mobile phones two decades back. Almost everybody has access to mobile phones today, even if they don’t own one. Nobody could have predicted it in 2008/09, but the Digital Bangladesh vision, and the government, private sector, and citizens believing in Digital Bangladesh, transformed this vision into reality today.

The Digital Bangladesh 2021 vision focused on improving service delivery using ICTs, capacity development of the whole society towards a knowledge economy, and the diversification of exports towards knowledge products. 

In light of the picture of the globe in 2041, the following table provides an indicative contrast for Bangladesh between the years 2021 and 2041 across a number of areas which are listed in the first column:

Thus, the Bangladesh 2041 vision must be very different in terms of both the structure and the concept compared to the 2021 version because of the following big trends that will inevitably take place and our work will accelerate that transformation.

Full digitization and developed economy 

Digital Bangladesh 2021 created the foundation for a digital economy. The government services are digitized, but full institutionalization, and a total change in bureaucratic behaviour in delivering these services using new methods replacing the old anarchic and analog ones, will take a few more years. 

Adoption by society will also need some time and there are risks such as cybersecurity threats, privacy issues on citizens’ information, etc. Private sector has been slower than the government in adopting digital technologies to change their business processes.

 However, Bangladesh long before 2041 will reap full benefits of digitization because by 2030, non-digital services will be non-existent both for government and private sector service providers.

Bureaucracy going non-colonial

Where the Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021 focuses more on the whole-of-government integration and coordination, the 2041 vision must take that to the whole-of-society level by forming creative partnerships across the government, private sectors, NGOs, academia, media, and individuals where they lead and co-design new services.  

Collaboration through crowd-sourcing in designing, implementing, and evaluation of policies with citizens and concerned actors, will make the government less Orwellian and more friendly and open.  

Fourth Industrial Revolution influencing everything

Bangladesh Vision 2041 will go way beyond the technological aspects and will have to embrace the massive changes triggered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is already catalyzing the merger of the physical world with the digital world with the biological world. 

This means that the virtual world will feel more like the physical world because they will provide experiences of the five senses. Implants in human bodies will allow greater integration with the digital world, further blurring the lines across the physical, digital, and biological. 

Human capital as our biggest asset 

Bangladesh was mostly a consumer of technologies and only showed signs of leadership in terms of technology production towards the tail end of realizing its 2021 vision. In terms of reforming its public and private institutions, it is creating a global name for itself. We are already donating digital knowhow and experience to many LDCs such as Cambodia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen, and to even developing countries such as the Philippines, Maldives and Fiji with per capita income many times that of ours.

For the 2041 journey, Bangladesh will already be a recognized leader among middle-income countries in creating technologies, processing, and institutions to effectively sustain its leapfrogging developing trajectory. We will shift from only a knowledge donor to a financial donor. However, our talent will be our biggest asset.

As such, it needs to make the right investments in human capital. In this regard, it needs to engage its talented diaspora.

This concluding part to this piece continues next week on December 19 with ideas about how to get to the Bangladesh of 2041.

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Paving the path from a digital to Smart Bangladesh

Retracing the steps of Bangladesh’s exemplary ICT boom and its impact

Bangladesh is in the midst of a profound transition, making it even more crucial to look at the chronology of the country’s ICT boom and the manner in which it is paving the path towards a more advanced and smarter future.

Bangladesh’s digital voyage began with the 2008 election manifesto of the Awami League government, which envisioned the utilization of technological advances to improve the country’s economy and the lives of its citizens. The country’s narrative of success has been mounted in a variety of fields by the actions taken thus far, ranging from economic transformation and job creation, to innovation and entrepreneurship, to e-governance and international recognition.

Since 2009, the government has effectively carried out its plans of establishing an entirely “Digital Bangladesh.” This road towards becoming a digital nation has seen an extraordinary spread of ICT in these past years. 

In 2022, the government of Bangladesh explicitly stated its vision of becoming a "Smart Bangladesh" and becoming a developed country by the year 2041. Smart citizens, smart economy, smart government, and a smart society are envisioned as the foundational pillars of the Smart Bangladesh initiative. The primary principles behind the “ Smart Bangladesh: CT Masterplan 2041 ” are the future applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, blockchain, nanotechnology, and 3D printing and their implementation in Bangladesh. 

Sectors will be more effectively managed by taking advantage of cutting-edge technological advancements in areas like energy, health, communication, agriculture, education, healthcare, trade, transport, environment, infrastructure, economy, trade, governance, financial transactions, supply chain, security, entrepreneurship, etc. 

This ICT master plan envisions a total of 40 megaprojects with the aim of increasing the ICT industry's share of the national economy to at least 20% by 2041.

After taking power in 2009, the AL government’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has emerged as a key government agency, working to bring about tangible results from Bangladesh's attempts to create a digital Bangladesh. 

As part of the campaign towards building a digital Bangladesh, 4,547 Union Information Service Centres have been installed around the country. Information cell, district, and information cell, national, are atop the hierarchy. The establishment of these information centres and cells has benefited the country's marginalized population.

Technology for all

Previously inaccessible information and services have been brought right to people's doorsteps thanks to technological advancements. This unprecedented technological upheaval is being heralded by experts as the “digital renaissance.” In a very short time, the government has provided technological services at the grassroots level, to the betterment of the people living in rural areas. The government has stepped up and begun constructing hi-tech parks in an attempt to train the next generation of IT professionals, who will ultimately be instrumental in making smart Bangladesh a reality. 

They took many different initiatives ranging from using national data, registering for a job abroad, registering for Hajj, collecting different official or government documents, submitting tax or income tax returns, digitizing property records, using e-governance and e-services, participating in e-tenders etc. Approximately, 8500 post offices have been transformed into e-centers throughout the country. Another watershed episode was the introduction of postal cash cards and mobile money orders.

Again, the government took the plunge towards paperless communication by issuing electronic papers. Since the initiative was first implemented, more than 2.4 million paper documents have been converted into digital files. The e-Namzari system has received over 52 lakh applications, of which over 45.68 lakh have been paid online. 

Furthermore, the government is trying to offer a range of agricultural services, including free access to agricultural call centers and the integration of information related to agriculture into data transmission. With today's online resources, farmers may access specialist agricultural advice without leaving their residences. Mobile financial services maintain a role in assisting farmers through the use of mobile banking in agricultural markets.

The government's implementation of a variety of services based on information technology has resulted in a marked decrease in the level of physical aggression shown by intermediaries. Money and time are being saved for users. 

A global footing

It’s astonishing that Bangladesh is not lagging behind the rest of the globe in terms of technology; on the contrary, the country has quickly established itself as a trustworthy contender in the ICT industry. 

In 2010, Bangladesh marked the beginning of its road towards fostering a vibrant startup ecosystem. There are now about 2500 startup companies operating in Bangladesh. The ICT industry is contributing significantly in terms of both employment and net-worth notching up $1.4 billion in 2022 . It's a source of national pride that a number of recent startup ventures have attracted substantial financial backing for their operations here. The startup industry has created and sustained over 1.5 million jobs. According to a recent study by Oxford Internet Institute, Bangladesh ranked as the second-largest supplier of online labourer s behind India in 2022. 

Encouraging the next generation

As the ICT ministry has targeted an ICT export of $5bn by 2025, the Bangladesh government is encouraging youths to be entrepreneurs and ICT experts. Because Bangladesh has a sizable young workforce and low cost of labour, foreign investors are keen to invest in this country. Since 2012, teaching ICT has been mandated across all grade levels in accordance with the National Education Policy of 2010.

The youth of Bangladesh, living in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, need to equip themselves with skills like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and big data to compete globally. If individuals from Bangladesh are able to learn the skills required for a career in information technology, the country will make significant advancements. When this happens, the country's standing in the industry will improve. 

However, several obstacles exist in this area. freelancers have been asking for PayPal to be used for international money transfers for a while now. Unfortunately, there has been zero development in this area. Additionally, there is a need for accessible, low-cost, high-speed internet in rural regions. 

To become a developed and prosperous Bangladesh by 2041, focus on moral education as well as modern education (computer, information, and communication technology-based education) for our children is required if our nation is to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this digital revolution. Research is crucial for a firm basis of education; without it, it would be impossible to maximize education's potential and produce the educated and talented workforce that can grow the nation's economy.

The dedication and commitment shown by Bangladesh on its journey from the digital age to Smart Bangladesh is admirable. The success of places like Pathao, Nagad, and Chaldal exemplifies the transformational potential of the current ICT boom. The modification, however, is not lacking bumps in the road. As the country moves towards its goal of becoming a smart nation, it must deal with issues including data protection, improving skills, sustainable infrastructure, and cooperative leadership.

In conclusion, the government, the corporate sector, and civil society, together can make sure that the advantages of technology reach every person in Bangladesh as part of the effort to create a smart Bangladesh. Bangladesh has the potential to become a model for how technology can help develop a country and make its people optimistic for the future, if it can rise above present challenges and grasp emerging opportunities. 

The transition from digital to Smart Bangladesh is about more than simply technology -- it's also about a shared dedication to improvement.

Sauid Ahmed Khan is a freelance contributor.

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PM unveils vision to build Smart Bangladesh by 2041

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday unveiled her vision to build a "Smart Bangladesh" by 2041 along with making it a developed country.

"We will make Bangladesh a developed one by 2041, and that will be a Smart Bangladesh," she declared at the inaugural programme of Digital Bangladesh Day 2022 and distribution of prizes among the winners of an online quiz competition.

The ICT Division organised the programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center with the theme "Advanced Technology Inclusive Development".

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She said the country will be transformed from Digital Bangladesh into Smart Bangladesh.

She also said the government has fixed four bases to make Smart Bangladesh. These are – Smart Citizen, Smart Economy, Smart Government, and Smart Society.

"Every citizen will be skilled in using technology, economic activities will be done through technology, the government will be [technologically] smart and we have already partially done that. And the whole society will be smart," she said.

Hasina said the government also formulated the Delta Plan 2100 to outline the development path of the country apart from Vision 2041 for the people.

"We have done this so that future generations could live in this delta facing climate change, develop the country and live in the developed country independently and smartly," she said.

She said now everything depends on the young generations of the country.

The PM hoped that the young generations will advance the country in the coming days and they will build up themselves as the smart citizens to become the soldiers of the 2041.

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecommunication and ICT Ministry chairman AKM RahmatUllah and ICT Division Senior Secretary NM Zeaul Alam also spoke at the programme.

Earlier, the prime minister distributed prizes among the winners. Each winner got a laptop, mobile phone and certificates.

A documentary on Digital Bangladesh was also screened at the programme.

The prime minister through digital authentication by placing her hand on a tab inaugurated Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park in Rajshahi and Sheikh Kalam IT Training and Incubation Center in Barishal.

She also unveiled a graphic novel based on the life sketch of Shaheed Sheikh Kamal titled "Kamal", and a publication on Digital Bangladesh.

She also distributed the Digital Bangladesh Award among the winners.

Bangladesh / Smart Bangladesh / Digital Bangladesh / PM Hasina

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Road to Smart Bangladesh

When Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared the vision of "Digital Bangladesh", there were very few people who believed it would eventually come true. But after one decade, it is no longer a dream, it's now a reality. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced another master plan on December 12, 2022 to take Bangladesh towards the next step, which is "Smart Bangladesh".

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"Smart" refers to the use of advanced technologies, such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data, robotics, drone technology, 3D printing and other cutting-edge technologies to improve various aspects of society.

The "Smart Bangladesh" ecosystem will stand on four key pillars – "Smart Citizen", "Smart Government", "Smart Society" and "Smart Economy".

The "Smart Citizen" goal will be to empower citizens of Bangladesh with a "digital first" mindset driving campaigns and implementing widespread digital literacy programmes. These citizens will use digital technologies, such as mobile and internet, to access information.

The "Smart Government" should implement 100 per cent paperless offices and hyper personalised service platforms across priority areas like healthcare, education, agriculture, revenue management and public security. Although Bangladesh made a good start of digitalising government services by automating over 2,000 government service, a serious jump is still needed in order to achieve the target of 2041.

"Smart Society" refers to a civilisation that uses technology and innovation to raise the standards of living for its people. Citizens will adopt digital tolerance, ethics and values. A cashless payment ecosystem, "Smart City" and "Smart Grid" will be integral components.

"Smart Economy" is significant considering that Bangladesh plans to make ICT one of its revenue-generating pillars by 2041. It is estimated that by 2041, the overall ICT economy's will be of $50 billion and at least 50 unicorn startups will be dominant in Bangladesh's market.

Although the government's goal of creating a "Smart Bangladesh" by 2041 is a bold decision, its implementation will be a major challenge. The government needs to prepare a concrete masterplan through extensive discussions with relevant stakeholders. It will be best if a taskforce can be established whose primary goal will be to coordinate with relevant stakeholders. To support emerging technology, regulatory frameworks must be promptly modified. There should be policies in place to support and protect technology IP valuation.

Last but not the least, utmost importance and care should be given on development of human resource. Till now, universities have not been able to embed emerging tech in their curriculum. There is still a huge gap between the academia and industry which should be minimised as soon as possible.

In a nutshell it can be said the dream of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was to have a country free of poverty, characterised by social and economic fairness and by shared wealth. Continuing from Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021, the Bangladesh government has adopted Vision 2041 with the express goal of eradicating extreme poverty and achieving high-income country status by 2041. It's the action and work of today that will decide how soon we will be able to reach the goal. The government and private industry should work hand in hand to materialise the dream of "Smart Bangladesh".

The author is the managing director of Dream71 Bangladesh and a director of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services.

এলএনজি সেক্টরেও বাড়তি সক্ষমতা, বাড়বে ক্যাপাসিটি চার্জ

বাংলাদেশের এই দশকের শেষ নাগাদ এলএনজিকে গ্যাসে রূপান্তর করার সক্ষমতা চাহিদার তুলনায় বেড়ে যাবে। বিদ্যুৎকেন্দ্রের বাড়তি সক্ষমতার মতোই উদ্বৃত্ত এই সক্ষমতা গলার ফাঁস হয়ে উঠতে পারে বলে জানিয়েছে...

তৃতীয়-চতুর্থ শ্রেণির কর্মচারী নিয়োগ যাচ্ছে পিএসসির অধীনে

Six elements accelerating education for a Smart Bangladesh and a Smart World

Date: 15 May, 2023

Reading Time: 11 Minutes

• COVID-19 rattled our age-old mindset and pushed us towards unprecedented opportunities to achieve quality education.
• A six-element blended education framework is integral to realize these opportunities.
• Multiple actors need to meaningfully and continuously collaborate, guided by an empowered convening entity, informed by global best practices.

When schools in Bangladesh closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ismat, a secondary school teacher from rural Ashuganj, knew that with each passing day, her students were falling behind more and more.

Instead of waiting for solutions to be handed down by her administration, she decided to “be the solution”. She experimented with ways of teaching using social media live, video conferencing and even visiting students’ homes on occasion—driven by a deep understanding of the digital context of their lives.

This story of Ismat was not unique in Bangladesh; many self-driven teachers innovated solutions to continue education virtually during the pandemic.

Schools were closed but thousands of teachers ensured that education was not.

How did teachers find the courage to pioneer such innovation? Partially through their decade-long experience of constructing and sharing digital content through a teacher-for-teacher social media platform.

During this time, various other educational innovations were also being launched by government and non-government actors through television, radio, phone and the internet.

From the ashes of the pandemic seemed to emerge the foundation for an education ecosystem with future-ready features. This led to the World Economic Forum piece 5 questions to ask now to shape blended learning of the future. This piece, in turn, inspired the formation of an interministerial National Blended Education Taskforce in Bangladesh, led by the Minister of Education, with ten other ministries spanning across education, health, skills development, ICT, telecommunications and even planning and finance and various non-state educational actors.

This comprehensive formation was a first in the country’s history to solve the problems of education: make it market-ready, future-ready, and aspiration-ready. It was to leverage cutting edge technologies and methods and do it together, involving whole-of-government and whole-of-society.

This empowered committee generated plans for an inclusive blended education ecosystem, which combined high-, low-, and no-tech resources to enable all learners to have greater control over where they learn, when they learn, and how they learn.

Six elements of education for a Smart Bangladesh

How could education be comprehensively planned with such diverse entities?

A simple sense-making framework had to be used: its result is the ten-year  Blended Education Master Plan , costing around $20 billion.

The plan is guided by the following six elements:

1. Teaching learning practices: learning how to learn

Internet search engines mean that the days of memorizing facts are long gone.

If our learners are to thrive in an increasingly complex and ambiguous tomorrow, they must learn how to learn, ask questions and solve problems. There are six-figure jobs being offered now simply to give ChatGPT better prompts.

Problem-solving cannot be taught through mere lectures.

The ongoing national curriculum reform in Bangladesh focuses on experiential learning and problem-based learning (PBL) approaches in classrooms. Early signs show promise, demonstrating that suburban students are doing better than their urban counterparts because the latter are methodically trained by schools and private tutors to memorise and regurgitate.

However, the acceptability of these new approaches by teachers and families varies, given the radical departure from the conventional teaching-learning methods.

2. Educational content and resources: ensuring inclusion and personalisation

Ismat’s story would not be possible had digital content and resources not been developed to continue education virtually during the pandemic.

This took unprecedented collaboration between government entities, teachers, digital content creators, startups, EdTech companies and development partners.

As teaching-learning practices are to change, so must all content and resources — teacher guides, workbooks, school-based resources and learning content. Various public and private institutions are already putting up massive budgets to produce digital content: for instance, the approved budget of various digital content development initiatives of the ICT Ministry is around $800 million until 2027.

What is needed is careful coordination across all the public and private stakeholders producing digital content so that both duplication and gaps may be avoided.

3. Assessment: measuring the real-time of and for learning

To help Ismat’s students learn, traditional assessments of learning — mostly of a summative nature — are not sufficient.

More formative and continuous assessment for learning must be the way, which goes hand-in-hand with experiential learning and the emphasis on learning to learn.

Continuous assessment tools are being piloted in Bangladesh, empowering teachers to use a smartphone app to track student assessment and learning. AI plays a major role in this transformation.

This has enabled teachers to generate personalised reports for learners, reduce learner ‘wait’ time for feedback, lower teacher time spent on grading and strengthen data-driven decision-making systems for administrators.

It must be understood that formative assessment is a major paradigm shift for teachers, administrators and even parents. It must be nurtured carefully for adoption.

4. Teacher professional development: transforming ‘sages on the stage’ to ‘guides on the side’

Ismat knew how to execute during the pandemic. Imagine how much bigger her impact could have been had she been trained the right way — to be a facilitator and not a mere lecturer?

Dependence on face-to-face teacher professional development (TPD) is costly and resource-intensive, leading to a wastage in time and money and causing disruption in already teacher-starved schools. Bangladesh’s move towards blended TPD for its 1 million teacher workforce is showing great promise, enabling teachers to have more time in the classroom and supportive materials.

This transition to blended TPD is heavily facilitated by nearly 2,500 tech-savvy teacher ambassadors. These are ‘super-teachers’ acting as change agents within teacher communities.

Ismat, for example, was encouraged by teacher ambassadors over the years and she is becoming a teacher ambassador herself.

This very promising transformation of the teachers’ role from sages to guides requires mental rewiring and cultural disruption, which must go through consistent behavioural nudges by the teacher educators and educational administration.

5. Employment: learning to earn

The mismatch between supply and demand is an iconic issue for graduates from education systems in developing countries.

It is often facetiously said that education creates more unemployment than it creates employment, at least in the tertiary sector. This is because the archaic content and style of education fails to supply graduates with the appropriate knowledge and skills demanded by the market, domestic and foreign alike.

To address this, the government of Bangladesh developed a one-stop collective intelligence platform. This enables matchmaking among employers, job seekers and skills training providers. The platform also empowers policymakers to orchestrate the right coordination in a timely manner to ensure evidence-informed decisions.

The collective intelligence platform requires continuous and trusted collaboration among the 20+ ministries, 40+ industry associations and thousands of training providers for meaningful data analysis and informed decision-making.

6. Inclusive infrastructure: leaving no one behind

Without thinking about devices, digital platforms, electricity, data hosting and connectivity, access to blended education cannot be realised.

To raise the bar for what we mean by access, infrastructure has to be inclusive and meaningful, ensuring an appropriate device and high-speed broadband connectivity at affordable cost.

Curiously, with all the public and private expenditures on digital infrastructure, we are still very far from affordable universal broadband access for educational institutions, teachers and students. In Bangladesh, the cost of infrastructure is estimated to be about $8 billion. Global public-private partnerships are necessary to make this happen. Without it, the richness of the digital content, the maturity of TPD and the market-readiness of assessments do not reach the learners.

Working together as public and private sectors, local and global partners, we need to innovate disruptive business models to create public infrastructure for blended education for all.

Smart Bangladesh for a Smart World

At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos, we announced Bangladesh’s participation in the Forum’s Accelerators Network, fostering public-private-people partnerships to continuously mature the country’s blended education ecosystem along the six elements.

In line with Vision 2041 for Smart Bangladesh recently unveiled by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the resulting Smart Education Accelerator intends to:

Connect with local and global best practices

This will be done by establishing a community of purpose, consisting of a diverse range of actors (public, private and individuals). Physical and virtual spaces will be curated to facilitate connection and trust among the relevant actors. In the spirit of connection, the accelerator will play a part in clarifying purposes, convening the right people, cultivating trust, coordinating trust and collaborating generously.

Innovate to solve the country’s educational challenges

This will involve providing resources and support for rapid prototyping, research and development of inclusive blended education solutions. The types of innovation will be technological, pedagogical and financial.

Scale  up the most impactful innovations, based on the evidence, to transform the comprehensive education ecosystem

The appropriate scaling strategy will need to be explored, whether it is through seeking government adoption, distributing through existing platforms, spreading the idea through open-source, etc.

We are confident that the model will inform similar transformative processes in other countries, both developing and developed, resulting in a smarter world where all its learners are equipped to ‘be the solutions’ for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

This is our commitment from ‘Bangladesh to the world.’

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