Bangladesh has experienced tremendous growth in the last decade under the leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Honourable ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed. As the pandemic continues to threaten the economies of the World, Bangladesh is relying on digital technologies, strong infrastructure and facilities, and its digital human resources to steer its way through the new normal – from working from home to maintaining the agriculture supply chain. Home-grown technologies have been an integrated part of our crisis response, and are being used efficiently by the government to monitor, track and contain the spread of the virus, map hotspots, keep people informed, and also deliver welfare measures and citizen services. Digital services like telemedicine, live update, self-testing tool, helplines, AI-powered chat-bot, contract tracers, mobile apps, digital content, and videos have been making the lives of the citizens easier during the pandemic. The country was able to achieve positive growth in 2020 amidst the pandemic as one of only two ASEAN and South Asian economies. Before the pandemic hit, Bangladesh experienced nearly 8 percent GDP growth, as one of the fastest-growing economies in the World. The key ingredient behind this growth has been smartly utilizing ICT to spur growth in all sectors. This journey started 11 years ago, with the declaration of the Digital Bangladesh Vision by the Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She has envisioned 3 major milestones for Bangladesh – Vision 2021 to achieve Digital Bangladesh by reaching middle-income status, Vision 2030 to take our GDP from 348 billion US Dollars today, to 700 billion US dollars, making Bangladesh the 26th largest economy, and Vision 2041, to achieve knowledge economy and high-income country with per capita income of over 12,000 US dollars. The Government is implementing several mega projects to establish an integrated and uninterrupted communication network in the country. To capture manufacturing investors from home and abroad, the Government has taken initiative to establish 100 special economic zones and 39 IT parks in various parts of the country, many of these are already operational or under construction. These economic zones and IT parks will play an effective role in improving the employment and quality of life of people in every region of the country. Various programs and projects are being implemented all around the country, focusing on helping people and businesses take advantage of the marvels of the fourth industrial revolution. 39 hi-tech parks and incubation centers, Sheikh Rasel Digital Labs in colleges and madrasas, Schools of future, Sheikh Hasina Institute of Frontier Technologies (SHIFT), Center of Excellence (CoE), “Future of Work” Lab facilities, 4IR-based 50 pilot projects, curriculums prepared for 50 4IR professions, etc. are among the notable 4IR initiatives. Five national strategies have been formulated for Bangladesh to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution, i.e. National Strategy for Robotics, National Blockchain Strategy, National Internet of Things Strategy, National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, and Strategy for Microprocessor Design Capacity in Bangladesh.
