Technology for Change Week Asia highlights the need to close the gaps in digital inclusivity across the region

A virtual week exploring the issues affecting over 5 billion citizens in Asia – the built environment, access to education and reskilling, and food security.

HONG
KONG SAR – Media
OutReach – 24 March 2021 – The Economist Events hosted its
inaugural Technology for Change Week Asia virtually on March 8th-12th 2021. The
event brought together more than 70 cross-industry expert speakers and 1,800
delegates from both private and public sectors to discuss how technology and
data-driven solutions can ensure that no adult or child is left behind in an
increasingly digital world.

 

The virtual
week kicked off with a live ministerial keynote to discuss how territories in
Asia can strive to be regional and global leaders in driving connectivity and
digital inclusivity. S. Iswaran, Minister of communications and information,
Minister-in-charge of trade relations, Republic of Singapore shared:

“Digitalisation
is a means to an end, and therefore, by digital inclusion, what we [Singapore]
mean is every citizen and member of society must feel that they have a place in
this digital economy and they stand to benefit. If you are an SME owner, this
is not just a play for the big boys, you too can benefit and in fact
digitalisation is a great democratiser of the economy, creating fantastic new
opportunities to access the market.”

 

Echoing
Minister Iswaran later in the day, Dan Neary, Vice-president, Asia-Pacific,
Facebook commented: “In early stages, while many think SMEs will be
disproportionately impacted by the pandemic in a negative sense due to lack of
resources, what we are seeing is while catastrophic impact has been serious,
the pivot to digital transformation is more pronounced among the SMEs than
their global counterpart, which is inspirational.”

 

The second
day of the event welcomed Audrey Tang, digital minister, Taiwan. Expressing her
excitement for the future of Taiwan in co-creating social innovation with
citizens, she shared:

“My hope is
that more people will see democracy as a type of technology, a social
technology that improves beyond just each person contributing through this
every 4 year [the election], and can contribute at a much higher bit-rate of
democracy using the day-to-day democratic participation as we have been
deploying.”

 

The week
also touched on digital education. On day three, Nadiem Makarim, Minister of
education and culture, Republic of Indonesia highlighted that the limits of
technology in education has never been so strongly proven than through the
pandemic:

 “The science and research disprove the wish
that AI could solve the issues we are facing in education. The emotional and
physical presence of adult as mentor within a face-to-face interaction in the
classroom is mission critical, and therefore the most important impact of
technology has got to be enhancing and empowering the capability every teacher,
principal and parent to be able to learn what it means to be a facilitator in
the learning of a child.”

 

The full
week of discussions came to an exciting conclusion with a live Q&A
featuring questions from the audience to speakers from WWF, social sentiment
analyst BrandsEye, decentralized AI network SingularityNET,  and the National University of Singapore. The
day was then concluded by Jason Wincuinas, senior editor, thought leadership
Asia, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s remark: “The major headwinds of gaps in
connectivity, digital inclusivity and digital fluency have been highlighted and
need to be closed through proactive collaboration between public and private
sectors”.

 

Key topics
addressed at this year’s event were:

• Is technology a force for good?
• The gaps in digital inclusivity,
  digital fluency and connectivity
• How best to foster the ethical
  adoption of digital platforms
• How to implement shared values and
  authentic sustainability initiatives in organisations
• Where impact and ESG investment is most
  needed

 

Chaired by The Economist Group’s editors, the event featured
industry expert speakers including:

• S. Iswaran, Minister of communications and
  information, Minister-in-charge of trade relations, Republic of Singapore
• Audrey Tang,
  Digital minister, Taiwan
• Nadiem Makarim, Minister of education and culture, Republic of Indonesia
• Taesik Yoon, Deputy Minister, International
  Affairs, Ministry of Economy and
  Finance, Republic of Korea
• Lew Chuen Hong, Chief executive, Infocomm Media Development Authority
  Singapore
• Krittee Manoleehagul, Managing director, Tencent Thailand and General manager, Tencent International Business Group
• Tim Minahan, Executive vice president, business
  strategy and chief marketing officer, Citrix
• Dan Neary, Vice-president, Asia-Pacific, Facebook
• Oliver Tonby, Chairman, Asia, McKinsey & Company
• Mario Knoepfel, Head, Sustainable Investing
  Advisory, Asia-Pacific, UBS Global
  Wealth Management
• Michele Lemmens, Head of business sustainability and
  Chief technology officer, Asia-Pacific, Tata
  Consultancy Services

and many more

 

View the final agenda.

 

Technology for Change Week Asia is supported by McKinsey & Company, Asian Development Bank, Citrix,
Kearey, NEC, Tata Consultancy
Services, Tencent and Infocomm Media Development Authority.

 

On-demand
access to Technology for Change Week Asia is available. For online
registration and event details, please visit the website: techforchange.economist.com

 

To
engage with Technology for Change Week Asia on social media, use #EconTechForChange in your
conversations and follow @EconomistEvents.