Promise of a Digital Bangladesh: The Digital World IT 2015 and the ‘Future is here’reality


26 February, 2015
Ahnaf Ahsan Suny

With three editions of Digital World IT rapped up for three consecutive years, Digital World IT has been able to take the attention of people from all ages and tastes; those who understand what technology is and those who don’t.

The bitter truth is, to a typical Bangladeshi, buying software for a lot of money or ordering a product
online doesn’t really make sense. He feels more comfortable with his age old ledger where he puts in all the sales information throughout the year and finds it more interesting to visit a shop live and know the product himself.

To change that, the Banga Bandhu International Conference Center (BICC) took the heavy burden of an extra group of visitors who were meant to visit the Dhaka International Trade Fair but curiously peeped into the doors of the four daylong event.

The Digital World IT was classified into five different expos namely Softexpo, Mobile Innovation/Gaming Expo, E/U Governance Expo, E/M Commerce Expo and BPU (Business Processing Outsourcing).

The event was comprised of 42 sessions, 300+ various stalls where 89 leaders and experts from 29
countries on ICT from both the government and private sector participated and expressed their hopes
and concerns.

Inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina and Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Honourable Adviser to the Prime Minister on ICT Affairs has been the brain behind initiatives like Digital Bangladesh and the events that follow the goal to the year 2021. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Honorable State Minster, Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology devised the whole event with such a degree of innovation and variety.

Now, let’s face the reality. Even though the government has put forth a deadline of changing Bangladesh digitally, there are a number of issues that still needs to be addressed. IT exports from Bangldesh counts at only $250 million where the potential can go up to $1.0 billion by 2018. These are mere calculations but the integration of technology is yet to come.

Most of the booming companies in the private sector lack online presence and they are not willing to
invest. Even though the number of students studying computer science rose, they are not proving their worth in their respective fields due to lack of opportunities and interest by the government and private sector.The latest trend to the ‘being Digital’ is opening up a Facebook page and begin an e-commerce business where Facebook ‘likes’ are a preference over service and product quality. If the tech scenario is closely inspected, the number of Bangladeshi professionals relying on foreign experts is too high.

Take the example of putting up a television studio. It has been years private TV channels have been in Bangladesh and yet, there are absolutely no one who has that technical expertise to restart studio devices without the help of India.

The government has aimed at an ambitious project. The secondary school curriculum has been
introduced with subjects like ICT studies. Yes, the government deserves the credit but the reality is that there are not enough professionals in this sector. People are more comfortable being non-techy and tech is seen as a subject of fear where mathematics and rocket science is necessary.
But Digital World IT too some extent brought us to light as to where the focus should be. Firstly, the ICT industry has that enough man power aged between 20-35 whose brains are yet to be exploited with care.

The delivery system integrated with the e-commerce industry is to be developed to better standards to
make sure that te service is rendered flawless. Thirdly, the young developers of the country has to capture the multi-million dollar mobile app market

The government officials at the event promised of training institutes for the development of this mobile app and game making sector.The government officials at the event also promised of absolutely free internet for those who cannot afford. They also spoke of women empowerment where women will lead

Fifthly, various investors from the local and foreign scenario expressed their interests of the future of
the ICT industry in Bangladesh.

Finally, the President of Basis Shamim Ahsan expressed his positive views on cutting various taxes on ICT imports and the growing e-commerce industry in Bangladesh.

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