4th Industrial Revolution and Reality of Industrialisation in Bangladesh

Md. Joynal Abdin

Currently 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is one of the most discussed issues in Bangladesh.
Seminars, conferences and round table discussions are being organised by different stakeholders
on 4IR and its problems and prospects. Scholars are trying to make stakeholders aware about 4IR
concept and inspiring entrepreneurs to adopt newer technologies to get advantages out of it. They
are reminding that businesses are to adopt 4th and 5th generation technologies to remain them
up-to-date with concurrent market demands. Let’s try to have a look at the history of industrial
revolution from its very beginning.

Before 17th century world economy was mainly agriculture dependent. Agriculture production
was the prime mover of world GDP. Till then people used to made products in their homes by
using handmade tools or by bear hand. 1st Industrial Revolution (1st IR) took place in Europe
and North America in 17th Century with invention of steam engine. 1st industrial sector i.e.
textiles and iron industry begin journey in Europe. Handmade textile industry started to be
mechanized. Starting in 1765 first industrial revolution lasted till the beginning of 19th century.
Initiation of mechanisation, introduction of industrial base based on agriculture crops,
advancement of mining industry especially iron and coal extraction and invention of steam
engine were the success stories of the 1st IR.

2nd Industrial revolution was driven by invention of new sources of power like electricity, oil
and gas in the beginning of 19th century. After one century of 1st IR, 2nd one took place in
1870. Textile industry progressed into synthetic age, fertilizers were invented to increase
agricultural production, oil and gas mining sectors were added with iron and coal mining,
communication technologies like telegraph, telephone were invented during this period. A
remarkable invention of 2nd industrial revolution was invention of assembly line by ford motors.
Large scale production concept and concept of mass factory were invented by the 2nd IR and
lasted till middle of the 20th century. Main players of the 2nd IR were the European countries
like UK, French, Italy and Germany etc. US economy started to lead the world at the same
period.

3rd industrial revolution begins in 1969 with invention of newer sources of energy like nuclear
power, innovation of computer technology, massive progress of semi-conductor and microchips,
electronic and electrical sector started its miracle from the beginning of 3rd IR.
Telecommunication sector especially mobile communication technology, invention of internet,
email communication, massive progress of medical technologies, biotechnologies,
pharmaceutical industry, etc. took place during 3rd IR. Massive progress in ICT sector changed
people’s life style and rural civilisations transformed into urbanised communities. Open flow of
goods, globalization, e-commerce, e-business use of ICT and computer technology in
production, communication, consumption etc. everywhere we see a significant spot of human
civilisation. Newer economies like Japan, China, Brazil, India, Russia etc. became part and
parcel of world economy during this period. Intellectual property became more valuable than the


Mr. Md. Joynal Abdin is a Development Researcher, Columnist and Author. He is serving at Dhaka Chamber of
Commerce & Industry (DCCI) as Acting Secretary. Could be reached through mdjoynal@gmail.com

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tangible products and properties during this era. Industrialization, globalization, free market
economy etc. concept got maturity in this period. The world became into fingertip of global
citizen. 3rd IR projected matured forms of each and every innovations of the previous two IRs.
Therefore production, processing, transportation, storage, distribution, consumption, post
consumption feedback, post-sale service, everywhere positive changes became visible. At the
same time massive progress of war technologies put human civilization into a bigger threat at
this period. Though nuclear warheads were used during the 2nd IR but world observed a long list
of wars and measurable human sufferings in the Middle East and other parts of the world during
3rd IR era.

4th Industrial Revolution is much discussing now a days, scholars are describing concurrent
innovations like artificial intelligence, robotics technology, 3D printing, block chain and big data
etc. as beginning of 4th IR. 3D printing technology will create a new era of production concept.
From construction to healthcare, from production to post consumption behaviour of consumers,
everywhere a new quick and perfect age has started. It is very essential for the entrepreneurs to
adopt newer technologies, use newer machineries and produce products or provide services
according to change in demand of consumers. Many successful companies like Kodak, Fuji,
Blockbuster etc. went bust due to their inability to innovate or adopt with newer technological
advancement.

Now come to the context of Bangladeshi industries and our readiness to adopt 4IR technologies.
Major Bangladeshi business sectors are readymade garment, leather and leather goods, plastics,
light engineering, agro processing, electrical and electronics, fashion designing and personal
effects, IT and ITES, ship building, tourism, textiles, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure
development, healthcare and diagnostics etc. Bangladeshi export is mainly dependent upon a
single sector i.e. readymade garment. It is yet to get a mentionable second export earning sector.
Few other sectors like leather goods, pharmaceuticals, outsourcing, human resource export, and
agro-processing have potentials to become major export earners. But none of these are becoming
so bold like readymade garment. Local scholars are advising government and private sector to
look into the matter of diversifying export basket but yet to select the right products for export
diversification.

If we look at the history of industrialisation in Bangladesh we get trace of 177 naturally grown
SME clusters throughout the country. All of the SME clusters are established by following
success stories of one or few individual initiatives. All of the clusters are using mainly similar
and technologies of the 2nd or 1st IR era with minor modification or as it is. Therefore products
quality, design and productivity of the industries located in the SME clusters are very old
fashioned. As a result products of these clusters are fighting to retain existing local market
against imported products of the same sector. Some of these clusters are in the verge of
abolishment due to their inability to cope with the modern technologies. For example Bagerhat
Coconut oil cluster was a concentration of more than one hundred enterprises even one decade
ago. But with passage of time, improved quality imported coconut oil entered into the market
and they became uncompetitive. Because local entrepreneurs don’t know where appropriate
refining technology is available to make locally produced coconut oil clear and transparent like
the imported one. Thus a pure but backdated technology used local production hub is going to be
abolished.

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My second example goes to the Kumarkhali Textiles Cluster at Kustia. It is a concentration of
more than ten thousand hand and power looms producing various types of old fashioned textiles
products including bed sheet, bed cover, Lungi etc. Only 3-5 factories became medium sized
here in this cluster. But all of the factories and households are producing same designed products
during last half of the century. Due to their inability to diversify their product design they are
losing local market to the imported products. But these factories and households of the
Kumarkhali Textiles Cluster can be competitive around the world if they can be trained on how
to create a new design in textiles. Some of the entrepreneurs in Kumarkhali dreams to export
their products to European markets but they do not know which machineries are appropriate to
produce export oriented product. They do not know where these machineries are available and
how to procure these.

Not only the above mentioned clusters but also the potential/new/young entrepreneurs of the
country are also suffering from lack of information regarding what should be the appropriate
product to produce, and what are the relevant machineries to produce their selected products?
Where these machineries are available to purchase? How to collect relevant raw materials? How
to procure an appropriate machine and install it in their factory premises? There are many online
portals like Indiamart, Alibaba, Amazon etc. helps to bridge potential entrepreneurs and machine
suppliers in India, China and many other countries. But these types of platforms are still absent
in Bangladesh. Therefore rate of new entrepreneurship development is too low in Bangladesh
than the expected number. Government and scholars who are talking about 4IR and organising
seminars, conferences with big shots on these issues can emphasis on such practical barriers we
do have to make our micro and cottage scaled potential entrepreneurs functional on the ground.
Those could be graduated into small, medium as well as large corporations in coming future.
Therefore, we must procure and install appropriate technologies in respective fields. Thus we can
support graduation of our 1st IR technologies into 2nd or 3rd IR era. That is even more important
than that of making people knowledgeable on the 4IR issues.

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