Policymakers urged to get ready for ‘fourth industrial revolution’

ISLAMABAD: Policymakers discussed the implications of the fourth industrial revolution, and debated if the country was ready to face the socio-political and policy implication challenges due to artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

They were speaking at a session ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Implications for Pakistan’ organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on Thursday. The session was chaired by Mirza Hamid Hasan, former secretary, Ministry of Water and Power.

Zaheeruddin Dar, CBI expert and executive consultant/trainer, Centre for International Entrepreneurship and Trade, presented glimpses of the future with ‘Industry 4.0’ in his keynote.

Dar said by 2030 majority of present-day jobs would be taken over by intelligent machines, leaving humans to do tasks which will require an entirely different set of skills and mindset.

The fourth industrial revolution is characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, impacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.

“Pakistanis were still living in the second industrial era and not responding adequately to the future challenges unfolding with the wake of the fourth industrial revolution,” he said.

Not adhering to the needs of the new age would only make us irrelevant, he warned, and added that the biggest challenges governments, legislators and policy-makers faced were to build capacity to cope with the requirements of the fast approaching intelligence age. He gave the example of the sports industry in Sialkot, which was famous across the world for its wooden equipment and football manufacturing.

“The industry however failed to upgrade with time and as a result a big chunk of sports manufacturing was moved to other countries using advanced technologies and improved techniques,” he added.

He urged the government to revamp the country’s education system and look at countries such as Finland, Netherlands and Germany, which were experimenting with no-classroom, no-curriculum education systems, whereas Pakistan was still stuck in the race of grabbing grades.

Stressing on the need to equip the upcoming generations with modern requirements, he spoke about cryptocurrency, which if successful could change the face of banking in future.

Zaheeruddin Dar said new business models, materials, medicines and improved procedures for medical treatments were being tried, whereas new means of energy storage were also being explored.

All this, he added would eventually also reflect on the role of government, geopolitical dynamics and even conventional and cyber means of warfare. Dar said it was up to us to either become part of this inevitability as passive recipients or embrace these advancements as active participants.

Mirza Hamid Hasan echoed Dar’s views, and urged to develop a progressive mindset and collectively adhere to the requirements of modern times and technologies as a nation.

“We can already see the shape of future and the requirements of megatrends ahead which will eventually impact businesses, governments, universities and communities. We need to prepare our workforce and systems accordingly. Whether we prepare for this eventuality or not now depends very much on us,” he said.