Inclusive and Sustainable Growth JESSEVIM R. GALEON, MIT Dean, College of Information Technology BUCAS GRANDE FOUNDATION COLLEGE • Artificial intelligence, intelligent robots, e- commerce, big data:
• These are some of the technological
advancements in the ongoing new industrial revolution that are profoundly changing our lives. • Farmers in China's remote mountainous areas can now see their specialty products reach urban consumers in just one or two days, and at prices several times higher than if they were sold locally-all thanks to the booming online trading platforms and express delivery networks that have emerged in recent years. • this as an example to highlight how technology and innovation can accelerate more inclusive economic growth, featuring meaningful job creation and sustainable development. • By helping foster a rapid development of new industries and business models, such as e- commerce, mobile payments and the building of a sharing economy, technology and innovation are playing a key role in China's bid to upgrade and transition its economy to more sustainable growth. • Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2017- 06/28/content_29911597.htm Technology and innovation help achieve inclusive growth • But this is not yet happening in our country. • Our farmers are still depending on the rain for them to start planting, save for those irrigated rice fields. • This is a challenge for the Philippines, and that is only one sector. • UNDP believes that sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth is essential for achieving the 2030 Agenda. • Growth can be inclusive and can eliminate poverty only if all segments of society, including the marginalized, share the benefits of development and participate in decision- making. • Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable- development/development-planning-and-inclusive- sustainable-growth/inclusive-growth--addressing-inequality- and-social-exclusion.html • United Nations Development Program THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR A FAIR AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT • The world’s population peaked to 7.6 billion by mid- 2017, approximately adding a billion inhabitants since 2005. • The Population Division at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) United Nations (UN), predicts that global population will increase by 1.1% each year reaching 11.2 billion by 2100 [1]. • Sixty per cent of the world’s people live in Asia and 17% in Africa, while the remaining 23% live across Europe, America and Oceania. • China and India are the two most populous countries of the world comprising 19% and 18% of global total, respectively. • Based on UN/DESA projected growth of global population until 2100, it is estimated that Asia and Africa will still remain the two most populous regions of the world, comprising about 83% of global population. • Therefore, the majority population growth is expected to take place in developing and least developed countries (LDCs) [2]. • Population is at the center of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [1]. • Two of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim at ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition for all, and promoting sustainable industrialization (SDG 2 and 9). • Agriculture will have to face multiple challenges such as producing more food for a growing population with a smaller rural labour force, contribute to overall development in agriculture-dependent developing countries, adopt more efficient and sustainable production methods and adapt to climate change [3]. • Projections from UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that feeding 9.8 billion people in 2050 would require raising overall food production by 70% and in developing countries production would need to almost double. • Ending hunger and food insecurity, therefore, will require continued and focused efforts, especially in Asia and Africa [4]. • However, there is general consensus that agriculture alone will not be sufficient to meet food-related SDGs. • For economic growth to be sustainable in the long-run, investments in agriculture have to be accompanied by investments and government spending in infrastructure, institutions and ultimately in the manufacturing and service sectors [3]. • The question that now arises is: in which areas do we need to invest for achieving such an ambitious goal? • The focus is on education and information and communication technologies (ICTs) for food processing and distribution industry. • First, education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and lays a foundation for sustainable economic growth [5]; nevertheless, many children in Least Developing Countries (LDCs) still lack access to quality education. • This knowledge gap is increased by their limited or no access to ICTs, essential in the developing world because information is seen as one of the major drivers of economic and social development and ICT makes access to information on an unprecedented scale. • Despite the progress made, the digital divide still remains between and within countries, in particular between urban, rural and underserved areas [6,7]. • In the Philippines, the access to internet and technology is controlled by 2 giant telecoms who form some sort of duopoly (Ayala-led Globe Telecoms and PLDT-Smart) • In the latest (Q1-2017) State of the Internet report from Akamai, Philippines still has one of the slowest average Internet connection speeds in Asia Pacific. • From a global perspective, Philippines is 100th on the list with an average speed of 5.0 Megabits per second (Mbps) in the 1st quarter of 2017. • On a brighter note, there was a 54.5 percent of improvement since 2014 when the Philippines averaged only 2.50 Mbps. • South Korea tops the list with an average speed of popping 28.6 Mbps, Hong Kong ranks second with 21.9 Mbps. • It’s no surprise that the Chinese mega-billionaire Jack Ma told an audience that included executives of PLDT and Globe Telecoms, “Your internet service is not good here.” • According to Manila Times columnist Rigoberto D. Tiglao, for the Philippines to have a success story like that of Jack Ma, it is imminent to improve the state of the internet infrastructure. • Recently, the DICT through the National Telecommunications Commission named the 3rd TelCo player and that is Mislatel or the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company
• "For having passed the Preliminary and Detailed
Evaluation phases, the NMP-SC (New Major Player Selection Committee) has determined that the first submission package of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. with Udenna Corporation, Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. and China Telecommunications Corporation (MISLATEL Group) was complete and compliant," the confirmation order read. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2018/11/19/1869966/ntc-confirms- mislatel-new-third-telco-player#Ep6PD67Dq0xL8gYT.99 • Secondly, as recognized by World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-17) convened in October 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, ICTs play a significant role in pivotal areas such as agriculture, education and health, particularly in LDCs. • However, innovative opportunities provided by ICTs should be accompanied by ambitious decision-making and measures aimed at reducing poverty and inequalities [6]. • ICTs form the backbone of digital economy and have enormous potential to fast forward progress on the SDGs and improve people’s lives in fundamental ways [8]. • In particular, to feed a growing population and improve food security and traceability at the same time, agri-food sector is increasingly knowledge-intensive [9]. • As an example, ICTs can help delivering more efficient and reliable data to comply with international traceability standards [10]. • Many definitions such as e-agriculture [10], m-farming [11] and smart farming [12] have been proposed for the use of ICTs in agriculture in its broadest sense. Generally speaking, ICTs for agri-food sector may include devices, networks, services and applications. • These can range from cutting edge sensors and technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data analytics, to consolidated technologies such as radio, fixed and mobile phone services and satellites. • Recent data from International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN specialized agency for ICTs, show that ICT development is currently driven by the spread of mobile-broadband services. Mobile broadband penetration has indeed largely outpaced that of fixed broadband, while average mobile-broadband prices have halved since 2013. • In particular, the steepest decrease occurred in LDCs, where mobile-broadband prices fell from 32.4 to 14.1% of gross national income (GNI) per capita [13]. • ITU data also show that 70% of the world’s youth (ages 15-24) are online. • These factors have resulted in about half of the world’s population getting online. • Internet bandwidth grew worldwide by 32% in 2015– 2016 and Africa experienced the highest increase during this period (72%). • Even though developing countries are home to 83% of the global population, they currently generate only 39% of the world’s telecommunication revenues. • Reported trends mean that demand for food, education and ICTs would continue to grow. • Therefore, public investment, private investment, as well as public-private partnerships need to be strengthened, especially in the developing world, for the expansion of broadband infrastructure, ICT services and applications in order to bridge the digital divide and foster an inclusive and sustainable economic growth. • At the same time educational, training and skill development policies need to be enhanced by promoting technology and knowledge transfer between developed and developing countries as well as among developing countries. • Continuous monitoring of environmental parameters is a fundamental preventative control and it can be accomplished by wireless technologies for IoT. (Internet of Things) • A wide range of industrial IoT applications have been developed in recent years by leveraging the growing ubiquity of radio-frequency identification (RFID), and wireless, mobile, and sensor devices [18]. • However, IoT is a very complicated heterogeneous network platform so future efforts are needed to address research challenges such as technology, standardization, security and privacy. • We believe that future investments in food safety should be directed towards service-oriented architecture (SOA)-based IoT solutions as the principles of service-orientation are independent of any vendor, product or communication technology. • Such an approach could be affordable also for emerging economies, by using existing telecommunications infrastructures and thus fostering their growth and updating. • The PDP 2017-2022 is the first medium-term plan to be anchored on the 0-10 point Socioeconomic Agenda and is geared towards the Ambisyon Natin 2040 which articulates the Filipino people’s collective vision of a MATATAG, MAGINHAWA, AT PANATAG NA BUHAY PARA SA LAHAT. [video] • It also takes into account the country’s international commitments such as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. • All of which, points to inclusive and sustainable growth in which technology plays a huge role. • In the social media alone, entrepreneurs are given tools to promote their business, in fact, I may be annoyed with friends posting items for sale in my newsfeeds yet we cannot deny the fact that business is now powered by social media. References: • http://sites.ieee.org/futuredirections/july-2018/the-role-of-education-and-information- technology-for-a-fair-and-sustainable-development/ by:Marco Pellegrini and Massimo Mozzon • http://neda.gov.ph • http://dict.gov.ph • 1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, “World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables, Working paper ESA/P/WP/248,” Internet: https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf [Nov. 23, 2017]. 2. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Development Policy & Analysis Division, “Least Developed Countries (LDCS),” Internet: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-country- category.html [Nov. 23, 2017]. 3. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization, “Outcome of the High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050,” Internet: http://www.fao.org/3/a-k6631e.pdf, Nov. 2009 [Nov. 23, 2017]. • 4. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development, “Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform,” Internet: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org[Nov. 23, 2017]. 5. B. Burns, A. Mingat and R. Rakotomalala, Achieving universal primary education by 2015: a chance for every child. Washington DC (USA): World Bank, 2003. 6. International Telecommunication Union, “Buenos Aires Declaration of World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 (WTDC-17),” Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU- D/Conferences/WTDC/WTDC17/Pages/default.aspx [Nov. 23, 2017]. 7. Close the Gap, “The role of ICT in the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” Internet: http://close-the-gap.org/the-role-of- ict-in-the-un-sustainable-development-goals [Nov. 23, 2017]. • 8. International Telecommunication Union, “ICTs for a Sustainable World #ICT4SDG,” Internet: http://www.itu.int/ICT4SDG [Nov. 23, 2017]. 9. International Telecommunication Union, “Goal 2. Hunger & food security,” Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/sustainable- world/Pages/goal2.aspx [Nov. 23, 2017]. 10. United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization and International Telecommunication Union, “E-Agriculture Strategy Guide. A summary,” Internet: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6909e.pdf [Nov. 23, 2017]. 11. International Telecommunication Union, “Innovating with Fatoumata: How m-farming can feed the next 2.4 billion people,” Internet: http://itu150.org/story/february [Nov. 23, 2017]. 12. S. Wolfert, L. Ge, C. Verdouw and M.-J. Bogaardt, “Big Data in Smart Farming – A review,” Agricultural Systems, vol. 153, pp. 69–80, 2017. 13. International Telecommunication Union, “ICT Facts and Figures 2017,” Internet: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU- D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2017.pdf [Nov. 23, 2017]. • 14. United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, “Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development,” Internet: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002 614/261445e.pdf[Jul. 6, 2018]. 15. Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), “Eco Schools,” Internet: http://www.ecoschools.global [Jul. 6, 2018]. 16. United Nations, Global Compact Office and KPMG International, “SDG Industry Matrix – Food, Beverage and Consumer Goods,” Feb. 2016, Internet: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issu es_doc/development/SDGMatrix- ConsumerGoods.pdf[Dec. 5, 2017]. 17. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, “Food Safety
An Investigation Into The Impact of The Adoption of Third Generation (3G) Wireless Technology On The Economy, Growth and Competitiveness of A Country. by Galeakelwe Kolaatamo.