On April 26, 2019, the first keynote session of ICBM 2019 was chaired by Prof. Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Brac Business School, Brac University and Prof. Dr. Hui-Ming Wee, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan. The keynote speaker at this session was Prof. Dr. Tzong-Ru Lee, Department of Marketing, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan and the Industry talk was delivered by Mr. M. Anis Ud Dowla, Chairman of ACI Group.

Prof. Dr. Tzong-Ru Lee discussed his extensive research on Purchasing Manager’s Index in agriculture and block-chain technology and its many uses. He also emphasized that these technologies were useful not just for large industries but smaller entrepreneurs and even blue collar workers like farmers could benefit from them.

Mr. Anis Ud Dowla started his speech with some eye-opening facts and statistics - 40% of all jobs that currently exist will disappear in the next 10 years and 65% of the children who are now in primary school will grow up to do jobs that have not even been created. Artificial intelligence, automation and machine learning will also result in a loss of a significant number of jobs by 2030, he said. By outlining these scenarios, Mr. Dowla said that he intended to highlight the fact that the future will be full of challenges and opportunities and only through adapting to the changing times will we be able to survive. He remarked that new and disruptive technologies can take away the competitive advantage of companies and make a sector unviable within an extremely short frame of time. All of these changes are part of the 4th industrial revolution and it is being driven by multiple factors.

Mr. Dowla stressed the importance of embracing Industry 4.0, not fighting it and resetting the playing field by exploring and sharing new ideas. Towards the end of his speech Mr. Dowla detailed some steps that have to be taken by the government and policy makers, academia and industry to survive and flourish in the changing world. His final message to all the participants and attendees was, “Our preparedness to harness the potential of Industry 4.0 will define how our next generation remember us, let’s act before it’s too late”.

During that session, the Westin Ball room was full of participants as well as there were a lively Q & A session.