The country’s industries don’t want to invest in research and development (R&D) as most of them, including textiles, plastics, apparel (readymade garment) and computer, electronic as well as leather product sectors, spend less than Tk 500 per worker a year.
In order to increase export earnings, high technology must be used in production. Also, the work of increasing the diversity of export products should be carried forward quickly. Only then it will be possible to take advantage of fourth industrial revolution.
Failure to take advantage of this will result in loss of export markets, which will have an adverse effect on the overall economy, said the country’s think-tank Centre for Policy Dialogue at an event on "Technology Use in the Manufacturing Industries of Bangladesh" held at BRAC Centre Inn in Dhaka on Sunday.
“We can also observe that most industries spend less than Tk 500 on R&D per worker per year, which is an alarmingly low amount,” said CPD’s research fellow Syed Yusuf Saadat in his keynote presentation.
“Pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical product industries have the highest R&D expenditure per worker among all industries,” he said.
The manufacturing firms in Bangladesh show a complete lack of innovations for new products and services. The local institutions are not interested in making investments in this regard, and most establishments don’t care enough to provide formal training to enhance workers’ skills, according to the World Bank.
A report titled “World Bank Enterprise Surveys,” conducted from March to September last year showed that only 2.6 per cent of Bangladeshi firms are investing in research and development. But in the case of South Asian countries, it is 16.6 per cent. The figure is 20.3 per cent globally.
Saadat said that the majority of manufacturing firms, spanning all the regions of the country, do not have a digital presence in the form of websites. Firms engaged in international trade are more likely to embrace digital tools, reflecting the necessity of a robust online presence.
He also recommended improving the ease of doing business and creating a conducive environment for foreign direct investments (FDIs), joint ventures and partnerships that can facilitate technology transfer, and removing barriers to doing business and adopting technology, such as legal regulations, bureaucratic red-tape, bribery and corruption.
While speaking as the chief guest, industries minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun said, “Investing in the right place is import. As now, if we don't invest in technology and good quality research, we will lag behind. Still in many cases, proper investment is not being made and FDI is not coming in such expected way.”
“The country’s public and private universities must take responsibility. There are questions about what many private universities are teaching. But in case of developing skilled human resources, education cannot be compromised.”
“Skilled manpower is required to develop a technology-based industrial infrastructure. Bangladeshis can adopt anything very fast and we have many possibilities. But only problem is intolerance. We always want more and more,” the minister said.
CPD’s executive director Fahmida Khatun said, “There is no alternative but to use high technology in the industrial sector for economic prosperity. If we cannot keep pace with the way technology is revolutionising around the world, we will be lagging behind.”
“Even though there are a lot of discussions regarding the issues, there is no improvement as expected. There is no sector in terms of exports except the RMG sector which is exemplary. We are not even able to use advanced technology in the clothing sector too,” she added.
Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Almas Kabir said, “If the country's companies would get technology products that have been used or are still being used in mega projects, then the companies here would have stood as expected.”
“Not saying that technology cannot be brought from abroad. But when these projects started, the contract should have stipulated a minimum 60 per cent of local value addition. Fourth industrial revolution requires national policies on issues like Blockchain, IoT. Data privacy laws need to be enacted quickly,” he stressed.
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) country representative Zaki Uz Zaman also stressed on technological advancement and exports as the country is witnessing lower per capita exports.
