Bhavana Akella | 17 Jan, 2018
With automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and disruptive
technologies increasingly replacing human beings, industry experts on Tuesday
called for re-skilling techies for their retention and creating more jobs for
future.
"The skills that were required for jobs 20 years ago and the present day
are not the same just as the skills that will be required are. So, we have to
keep retraining our people," said International Finance Corporation's
Director, East Asia and Pacific region, Vivek Pathak at a panel discussion
during the 11th Asian Financial Forum here.
Addressing a session on "Jobs of the Future - Supporting the Next
Generation of Entrepreneurs" at the two-day financial summit that
concluded on Tuesday, he said that countries need to create ecosystems to
encourage and support start-ups.
"If jobs are being lost in the IT sector due to automation technologies,
they are being created in other areas. Governments and public at large should
focus on whether techies and people in other professions are skilled enough for
the new jobs," Pathak said.
Countries should also work on making reasonably-priced internet accessible so
start-ups and new technologies can grow, said panelist Nicolas Aguzin, the
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Asia Pacific region at American
banking and financial service firm J.P. Morgan Chase.
"Technology has played a critical role in the creation of newer jobs in
the past few years," he said.
Another panellist, Melissa Guzy, the founder and managing partner of Arbor
Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm, predicted that the future
start-ups would be spread across the world, and not centralised in Silicon
Valley in the US, which is home to several global technology companies.
"With the restrictions in doing business in the US during President Donald
Trump's regime, the Silicon Valley will continue to dwindle over time, which
great as there will be successful startups and entrepreneurs in the rest of the
world," she said.
According to the International Labour Organisation's projections, at least
about 200 million people in the world would be unemployed in 2018.
While jobs in production lines and coal mines etc., would soon be replaced
entirely by machines, several new jobs which didn't exist earlier like data
scientists and cybersecurity specialists will also grow, the experts believed.
Organised by the Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong Trade Development
Council, the Forum witnessed the participation of around 100 speakers and
nearly 3,000 delegates from around 50 countries including China, the US and
others.
Some of the key speakers at the Forum included the International Monetary
Fund's (IMF) First Deputy Managing Director of David Lipton, Asian Development
Bank President Takehiko Nakao, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President
and Chairman Jin Liquin among others.
Global economy, emerging financial technology sector in Asia and how it can
transform the future of banking, AI and big data opportunities were some of the
topics discussed.