\n A virtual week exploring the issues affecting over 5 billion citizens in Asia – the built environment, access to education and reskilling, and food security. <\/p>\n
HONG
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The virtual
“Digitalisation
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Echoing
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The second
“My hope is
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The week
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The full
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Key topics
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Chaired by The Economist Group’s editors, the event featured
and many more<\/b><\/a>
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View the final agenda.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n
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Technology for Change Week Asia<\/b><\/a> is supported by McKinsey & Company<\/a>, Asian Development Bank<\/a>, Citrix<\/a>,
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On-demand
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To
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\nKONG SAR –\u00a0Media
\nOutReach<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a024 March 2021 –\u00a0The Economist Events<\/a> hosted its
\ninaugural Technology for Change Week Asia virtually on March 8th-12th 2021. The
\nevent brought together more than 70 cross-industry expert speakers and 1,800
\ndelegates from both private and public sectors to discuss how technology and
\ndata-driven solutions can ensure that no adult or child is left behind in an
\nincreasingly digital world.<\/p>\n
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\nweek kicked off with a live ministerial keynote to discuss how territories in
\nAsia can strive to be regional and global leaders in driving connectivity and
\ndigital inclusivity. S. Iswaran, Minister of communications and information,
\nMinister-in-charge of trade relations, Republic of Singapore shared:<\/p>\n
\n
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\nis a means to an end, and therefore, by digital inclusion, what we [Singapore]
\nmean is every citizen and member of society must feel that they have a place in
\nthis digital economy and they stand to benefit. If you are an SME owner, this
\nis not just a play for the big boys, you too can benefit and in fact
\ndigitalisation is a great democratiser of the economy, creating fantastic new
\nopportunities to access the market.”<\/p>\n
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\nMinister Iswaran later in the day, Dan Neary, Vice-president, Asia-Pacific,
\nFacebook commented: “In early stages, while many think SMEs will be
\ndisproportionately impacted by the pandemic in a negative sense due to lack of
\nresources, what we are seeing is while catastrophic impact has been serious,
\nthe pivot to digital transformation is more pronounced among the SMEs than
\ntheir global counterpart, which is inspirational.”<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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\nday of the event welcomed Audrey Tang, digital minister, Taiwan. Expressing her
\nexcitement for the future of Taiwan in co-creating social innovation with
\ncitizens, she shared: <\/p>\n
\n
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\nthat more people will see democracy as a type of technology, a social
\ntechnology that improves beyond just each person contributing through this
\nevery 4 year [the election], and can contribute at a much higher bit-rate of
\ndemocracy using the day-to-day democratic participation as we have been
\ndeploying.”<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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\nalso touched on digital education. On day three, Nadiem Makarim, Minister of
\neducation and culture, Republic of Indonesia highlighted that the limits of
\ntechnology in education has never been so strongly proven than through the
\npandemic:<\/p>\n
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\nthat AI could solve the issues we are facing in education. The emotional and
\nphysical presence of adult as mentor within a face-to-face interaction in the
\nclassroom is mission critical, and therefore the most important impact of
\ntechnology has got to be enhancing and empowering the capability every teacher,
\nprincipal and parent to be able to learn what it means to be a facilitator in
\nthe learning of a child.”
\n
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\n
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\nweek of discussions came to an exciting conclusion with a live Q&A
\nfeaturing questions from the audience to speakers from WWF, social sentiment
\nanalyst BrandsEye, decentralized AI network SingularityNET,\u00a0 and the National University of Singapore. The
\nday was then concluded by Jason Wincuinas, senior editor, thought leadership
\nAsia, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s remark: “The major headwinds of gaps in
\nconnectivity, digital inclusivity and digital fluency have been highlighted and
\nneed to be closed through proactive collaboration between public and private
\nsectors”.<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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\naddressed at this year’s event were:<\/p>\n
\n
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\ndigital fluency and connectivity<\/li>\n
\nadoption of digital platforms<\/li>\n
\nauthentic sustainability initiatives in organisations<\/li>\n
\nneeded<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
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\nindustry expert speakers including:<\/p>\n
\n
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\ninformation, Minister-in-charge of trade relations, Republic of Singapore<\/b><\/li>\n
\n<\/b>Digital minister, Taiwan<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
\nAffairs, Ministry of Economy and
\nFinance, Republic of Korea<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
\nSingapore<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
\nstrategy and chief marketing officer, Citrix<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
\nAdvisory, Asia-Pacific, UBS Global
\nWealth Management<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n
\nChief technology officer, Asia-Pacific, Tata
\nConsultancy Services<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n
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\n
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\n
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\nKearey<\/a>, NEC<\/a>, Tata Consultancy
\nServices<\/a>, Tencent<\/a> and Infocomm Media Development Authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n
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\n
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\naccess to Technology for Change Week Asia<\/b><\/a> is available. For online
\nregistration and event details, please visit the website: techforchange.economist.com<\/a> <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nengage with Technology for Change Week Asia<\/b><\/a> on social media, use #EconTechForChange in your
\nconversations and follow![](\"https:\/\/www.media-outreach.com\/Release\/templates\/images\/socialMedia\/iconmonstr-twitter-1-24.png\"\/)
<\/a>@EconomistEvents<\/b><\/a>.
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