News & Views

• 04/05/18

  Governor’s Seminar Technological Change, Globalization and Jobs In Asia

  
  OPENING REMARKS

  Carlos G. Dominguez
  Secretary of Finance

  Governor’s Seminar
  Technological Change, Globalization and Jobs
  In Asia
  

  
  First of all, let me greet Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso, who was the chairman of last year’s annual meeting, which was held in Yokohama, and everybody had a lot of fun there; Ibu Sri Mulyani, Finance Minister of Indonesia; Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao; my fellow finance ministers; ADB Governors, distinguished guests: good afternoon.

  We are in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution. It is driven at a breathtaking speed and rapid changes in technology. While we may not fully understand where all the disruptive technological changes will take us, we must innovate our institutions to improve our ability to deal with the transforming environment.

  Technological innovation sweeps the entire horizon from manufacturing to biotechnology to information sharing. Ten years ago, we could not have imagined the advances in genomics, personalized medicine and 3D printing that we see all around us now. New business models such as Grab, Uber, Amazon and Air Bnb were unimaginable only recently.

  Underpinning the 4th Industrial Revolution is the explosion of data, the rise of data analytics and breathtaking advances in cloud computing. Because of cloud computing, anyone can harness unlimited computing power.

  With big data analytics and cloud computing, machine intelligence becomes more powerful by the day. Some are enthralled by the possibilities. Others are fearful of its consequences.

  But we cannot bury our heads in the sand. The change sweeping the landscape is unavoidable and irreversible.

  Recall, a century ago, how new manufacturing methods seemed to cause such disruption. In 1910, General Motors (GM) sold 39,000 cars. By 1924, after the Great War, the same company sold 600,000 vehicles.

  By today’s standards, that was a small leap. Today, technological obsolescence could happen in a matter of weeks or months.

  Technological change destroys as well as creates. That could make institutions tentative and social orders very fluid.

  In the midst of constant technological disruption, how do we lead effectively?

  How do we cope with the changing requirements for education and skills? How do we ensure we have the infrastructure to support a rapidly reconfiguring economy? How do we ensure affordable access to goods? How do we provide enough safety nets for the people? How do we adopt ethical standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI) that will be accepted by all?

  These are questions that our conversation today I hope will yield answers to.

  -@@@-

  
  
  
  

Archives:

Tags:

• Popular

• Recent