Countries told of impact on economy, production
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region need to gear up and prepare themselves for transition to the Industry 4.0 era that will have a major impact on their economies and productivity.
"With dramatic advances in technology shaping the economy of the future, we need to rethink how we can also shape the national productivity agendas of member countries," said Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) Secretary-General Santhi Kanoktanaporn at the opening plenary session of the 58th Workshop Meeting (WSM) of Heads of National Productivity Organizations (NPOs) in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK) on Monday. The WSM is the annual strategic planning meeting where APO member countries deliberate on the biennial programme plan and review initiatives to ensure that they respond effectively to the needs of their economies. A current key APO focus area is building the capacity of member countries for strategic foresight planning, enabling them to anticipate changes in the dynamic global environment.
Highlighting the need for APO members to acquire foresight capabilities, Dr Santhi pointed out that the disappearance of old jobs and the creation of new ones had been a constant since the birth of the modern economy, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution would be no exception.
"While it may be inconceivable that the technological revolution will leave no role for humans, we need to understand the key drivers of change well before the trends develop. Only then can we develop strategies to build flexibility into our policies to ensure that our economies are prepared for the transition to the digital economy," he stressed.
