CAPTAIN SPEAK

A few days ago, I was invited to be part of an event where a few dozen industry leaders had gathered to hear a champion of the industry talk about enlightened disruption. The august gathering represented a cross section of industry – from information technology, telecom, artificial intelligence, insurance. logistics to several others.

It was a unique opportunity for me to listen to what the captains had to say about a wide range of issues that engaged them. There was a lot of high-energy buzz around India and the UAE-India relationship. In this issue, I wish to give a glimpse of some key thoughts and takeaways.

The overall view is that the Tech industry is booming, and barring some cyclical corrections which happen to any business, things continue to look good. Yet, there are critical issues.

One key area is that we should not be complacent about cyber-security which is turning out to be the new frontier for intelligent criminal-minds and could well be the next big battle ground for cyber warfare. While, the human race is being driven to get online, there does not appear to be much being visibly done to protect the common person from fraud happening online.

As the most intelligent of species the human race definitely needs to be engaged in multi-lateral dialogue to facilitate free movement of goods, services and people. Quite the contrary happening of late.

We need to invest a lot more in education, infrastructure and healthcare. In another ten years, artificial intelligence would have moved so rapidly that the quality of our educational institutions, training schools as well as quality of faculty will require a serious re-look. The competitive future of most countries would depend on these.

When we will look back in time, the achievements made so far would look like the easy part. The future will be far more challenging. The future challenge will be in moving from being countries of knowledge-workers to nations of creative thinkers.

So, it is about education, infrastructure, health care, rural development, data protection and regulatory transparency. Above all, it is about the will to discard a mindset of satisfactory under-performance and nurturing of a global vision.

The keynote speaker also emphasized that innovation is heavily disruptive, and it has cycles. And disruption is a catalyst for humanity’s progress. It creates opportunities. Since the beginning of time, humanity's greatest challenges have triggered extreme, disruptive innovation. The challenges from the World Wars to conflicts to famine, to the latest Covid experience, have all been solved by this disruptive innovation. Everything is reset. Consequently, a new order is formed each time, new alliances are forged between countries, and new trading routes are created.

According to the keynote speaker, there are four prerequisites for the Imagination Age. These are the Ubiquity of artificial intelligence, Freedom from conflict zones, Universal access to broadband and Achievements of the grand challenges, such as environment and climate action, energy, poverty, gender equality, and education.

Another key takeaway was that we should not be investing in what we need now. Invest in what we will need in the next decade. And that requires some truly strategic planning. Technology is moving at a pace that is so fast that we will quickly find that any short-term investments we have will soon not be of any value. That means thinking about platforms differently. It means thinking about innovation as part of how we operate and grow our business and bringing that culture of innovation into our DNA.

There are very few places today in the world where all countries can still trade with each other, and not just the Middle East, but particularly Dubai, is very much that hub. Dubai has always been at the crossroads for business and trade, and it will continue to be, particularly as the world continues to divide.

From the greatest challenges faced by humanity, extreme innovations have emerged, and inevitably labor corrections follow. By understanding these cycles, we can manage their negative impacts and harness the opportunities to progress our businesses.

With 3D printing technology and Generative AI, we are quickly entering an age?of innovation where it operates at the speed of our minds.

To continue winning this race, our strategy and technology solutions have to be more than just brilliant — they have to give the people using that technology the ability to feel much more safe and secure while becoming a better version of themselves.