Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Having adopted the Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) at the 38th ASEAN Summit in October last year, ASEAN organised a socialisation webinar for the Strategy, themed “Embracing the 4IR: Outlook, Strategies and Plans for ASEAN”. The Strategy, as revealed at the webinar, was built upon existing 73 4IR-related initiatives undertaken by ASEAN so far, which is likely to increase in number in the coming years.

Seeing that efforts to realise Industry 4.0 require collaboration between and amongst stakeholders, advanced technology provider Huawei again expressed its commitment to support ASEAN 4IR agenda.

In addition to opening remarks delivered by Satvinder Singh, the Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN Economic Community and H.E. Will Nankervis, Australian Ambassador to ASEAN,  the webinar also heard perspectives from diverse ASEAN stakeholders, such as Dicky Edwin Hindarto, Advisor for Indonesia Joint Crediting Mechanism; Sharlini Eriza Putri, Co-Founder of & CEO at Nusantics; Amarti Charoephan, ASEAN Director at Techstars Thailand/Impact Collective; Dr. Le Hoang Dung, Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network and David Lu, President, Strategy Marketing Dept, Huawei Asia Pacific Region.

“Although ASEAN in general has recorded a fantastic growth rate, there are still many aspects that need to be improved”, said Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN Economic Community. “One of them is Artificial Intelligence (AI) investment, which is still far below compared to AI investments made in countries such as the U.S. and China (i.e., USD $2 per capita in ASEAN as opposed to USD $155 and USD $21 per capita between 2015 and 2019 for the U.S. and China, respectively).

Moving forward, ASEAN plans to develop an Implementation Plan of its 4IR Strategy, which is expected to be rolled-out at the end of this year. “The Implementation Plan will identify, in consultation with all parties concerned, specific initiatives and programmes that would allow ASEAN to harness the potential benefits of the 4IR”, Singh added.

He also emphasised that a holistic approach allows 4IR to not only be used as an engine for the region’s economic growth and competitiveness, but also to promote inclusivity and sustainability.

David Lu, President of Strategy Marketing at Huawei Asia Pacific Region, agreed that ASEAN has some important work to do to achieve its 4IR potential. The sub-optimal penetration rate of cloud (less than 25%), 4G (54%) and fixed broadband (35%) is something that must be considered by stakeholders in the region. Entering the era of 5G connectivity, ASEAN must show greater enthusiasm for the adoption of the latest digital technologies.

Lu gave Thailand as an example of an ASEAN member state that has enjoyed concrete benefits from the accelerated adoption of 5G as a result of the collaboration between local operators and Huawei. “Bangkok is now ranked as one of the top ten cities in the world for 5G performance, with speeds up to five times that of 4G. In the healthcare sector, Huawei is also working with Siriraj Hospital, Thailand’s largest hospital, to build a smart hospital that provides remote healthcare, imaging and analytics capabilities and unmanned vehicles”, said Lu.

To date, Huawei has contributed to half of all 5G projects across industries in the world, including in the port, mining and education industries.

“Huawei wants to add to our collaboration footprint in the region to create an interconnected ASEAN and bridge the digital divide. We will work closely with the ASEAN Economic Community to provide the technology, infrastructure and digital talent it needs. Together, we will bring benefits such as reliability, lower latency, more effective and efficient production and digital transformation to every industry. Moreover, we will also make a transition to a green, carbon neutral and sustainable economy”, he continued.

Focusing on sustainability and emission reduction, Dicky Edwin Hindarto, Advisor at Indonesia Joint Crediting Mechanism, encouraged industries, in particular, to switch to environmentally friendly technologies. “In the long term, every industry player must adhere to the principles of sustainability. To achieve this, they must also understand which technologies should be applied and how it should be applied”, Dicky advised. “Collaboration between ASEAN member countries and stakeholders is paramount. We should increase the capacity of every individual in this region in order to welcome Industry 4.0, leading towards a growing and sustainable economy”.

Meanwhile, Nusantics’ Putri encouraged youths to become future startup founders with a bold and transformative vision. Nusantics itself is engaged in biotechnology, particularly research and utilisation of the microbiome. “Startup companies have a much faster pace, as well as the ability to disrupt conventional methods. ASEAN youth must take part in narrating Industry 4.0, especially around critical issues such as health and environment. Therefore, homegrown startups in ASEAN must be fully supported”, said Sharlini.

Huawei has a major program specifically for startups called “Huawei Cloud Spark”, which was launched in August 2020. Through this program, Huawei collaborates with the government, leading incubators, venture capitalists, and universities to build a supporting platform for the emergence of new startups in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. Recently, together with the BISA AI educational institution, Oudpro Indonesia and the UPN Veteran Indonesia Computer Science Study Center, Huawei held an AI Creation program that challenges young people to design a startup with AI technology solutions as its main focus.

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