“We are looking into frontier technologies such as blockchain, IoT, AI, Big Data, to make our approaches more efficient and citizen centric to ensure that we can nurture innovation from within the government” said speakers at a seminar.
The said the government is partnering with the private sectors to commercialize innovations and support markets to solve large problems of the society
The seminar on ‘Government as the Vanguard for Inclusive, Breakthrough Innovation: Experiences from the Global South’ took place on Wednesday during the Dubai Expo-2020.
State Minister for Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh Md. Shahriar Alam attended the seminar as the chief guest while Mohammed Abu Zafar, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the UAE chaired the event.
Organized by a2i Innovation Lab, in collaboration with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and Bangladesh Embassy in Dubai, the seminar was moderated by Dr. Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, Project Director of a2i.
While addressing, Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, said, “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we now have a proper infrastructure to nourish the minds that will lead us in the future”.
He said, “The South-South Network for Public Service Innovation (SSN4PSI) platform is one of the biggest achievements of the Global South for highlighting the development in this region to the Global North and Bangladesh is proud to have given birth to this concept. However, development still falls behind many aspects in comparison to the North and hence, the North-South Cooperation is key to the success of the Global South. Therefore, we need every country, both from the South and the North, to share information to ensure development among the developing nations”.
Speaker Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor of a2i, said “The Government is at the forefront of nurturing the innovative mindset in the country. We have already launched different programmes with local and international private partners. To ensure that we can nurture innovation from within the government, we are looking into frontier technologies such as blockchain, IoT, AI, Big Data, to make our approaches more efficient and citizen centric.”
He added “ilab is one of the entities that looks into creating new innovations. We are partnering up with the private sectors to commercialize our innovations and enter and support markets to solve large problems of the society. He concluded by inviting other LDCs, developing, as well as, developed nations to participate and come forth to share knowledge through the SSN4PSI platform to ensure the world can develop as a whole.
Mohammed Abu Zafar, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the UAE delivered closing speech.
He said “Not only the South-South cooperation, we are also focused on partnerships with local and international private sector organizations. Businesses integrates the new ideas to implement in our daily life and to transform the ideas into action we need support from not the government but also from the private sector.”
The seminar aspires to serve as a platform for countries from the Global South, leaders from the private sector, academia, civil society as well as multilateral development agencies, and other stakeholders to share best practices, exchange tools and expertise.
The primary aim of the event was to identify the means to develop inclusive innovation policies and strategies that harness 4IR and the power of social innovation for nations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The seminar featured an Audio-Visual presentation on Innovations in Bangladesh and presentations from key speakers on how the Bangladesh government and others from the developing world are bringing academia, industry and grassroots innovators together and leveraging technology to solve some of the most pressing societal and environmental problems of the present world.
The event began with BM Jamal Hossain, Consul General, Bangladesh Consulate General, Dubai giving the opening remark followed by Faruk Ahmed Jewel, Head of Technology for iLab at a2i, giving a presentation on ‘The Innovation Ecosystem by Bangladesh Government’. Additionally, representatives of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh Embassy in Dubai, a2i and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) also attended the seminar.
