BUET National Centre for Advanced Research

We are living in an era of extraordinarily technological innovations that transform our society, way of life and the economy. Economic paradigms are shifting faster than we can imagine. The new technologies are reshaping product and market factors and profoundly altering businesses and workplaces. Advances in artificial intelligence and related-innovations are expanding the frontiers of technological revolution. Technology plays a dominant role in increasing productivity growth. Advances in technology in industrialised nations have been the single greatest source of permanent productivity growth over the past 40 years. Technology-based strategies are becoming the primary drivers of economic growth in industrialized nations.

Silicon Valley in California, USA, is the world's best known technological hub for high-tech industries whereby its success is a result of effective linkages and cluster policies. The success of US Silicon Valley has become a role model for countries around the world. The creation of Israel's high-tech Silicon Wadi is also recognised as the most successful Silicon Valley-style technology-based economy outside the United States. The policy lessons and experiences drawn from these and many other countries such as South Korea can be applied to promote technology-based economic development in Bangladesh as well.

In knowledge-based economies, economic growth is increasingly dependent on innovation whereby access to finance is seen as a critical factor in the process. Interestingly, the government of Bangladesh has launched the Bangabandhu Innovation Grant (BIG) platform to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. The platform provides grants, mentorship, and networking opportunities to startups and entrepreneurs across all sectors, promoting diversity and inclusivity. BIG is organised by the Innovation Design and Entrepreneurship Academy (iDEA) project of the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of ICT Division of the government of Bangladesh.

However, Bangladesh hasn't been able to introduce any policy designed to scale up government investment in science and technology research, to support technology-based economic development (TBED) in a technological clustre platform. Introduction of such a programme could lead to sustainable economic growth in many marginalised districts of the country that are currently struggling. With a population of 160 million, most regions in the country are limited geographically and development there is not technology-based due to the lack of adequate communications, no access to high performance computing (HPC) facilities, lack of high-speed internet and inadequate research universities and state-of-the-art technological laboratories.

BUET National Center for Advanced Research (BNCAR) at BUET is a proposed national centre of excellence for advanced scientific, engineering and technological research. This prestigious centre will form partnerships that span engagements with other government ministries and agencies, academia, and the private sector. Partnerships will allow the BNCAR to serve as a key node in the R&D ecosystem and to integrate applied precompetitive research outcomes with broad networks of expertise to address new economic and technological challenges and critical national needs for decades to come. The centre will host a state-of-the-art High Performance Computational (HPC) facility, specialised laboratories, and an R&D ecosystem that will support scientific and technological research to overcome the challenges Bangladesh will face through the 21st century and beyond.

A consortium with universities and private and public institutions built on strong foundations can provide access to specialized resources and networks. BNCAR will form consortia as a means to muster multi-disciplinary teams for addressing complex national or global issues such as global and regional climate, food security, oceanic and atmospheric sciences, weather and flood forecasting systems, water resources and environmental sciences, agriculture, infrastructure management, high-performance computations, data mining and advanced database systems, aerodynamic and fluid dynamic simulations, space research, structural engineering design, artificial intelligence and machine learning, information and communication technology, and socio-economic and social sciences to support the nation's needs.

BNCAR will develop support programmes for technology-based economic development (TBED) designed to lead sustainable growth in the regional districts of the country. The objective of this programme would be to establish regional innovation hubs as an attempt to geographically expand the innovation economy. The BNCAR's incubators and accelerators programme will provide resources to foster the growth of entrepreneurial start-up companies and early-stage technology research projects that originate at the consortium. Technology incubators and accelerators at BNCAR and its regional hubs will be designed to provide free or affordable workspace, access to equipment, mentor support (campus entrepreneurs, faculty, alumni, external entrepreneurs) and funding within consortium member institutions, thereby shortening the time needed to achieve their goals. Each regional hub will focus on the economic and technological needs of the region leveraging the associated institutions' technological strength.

One of BNCAR's primary goals would be to bring together top-tier talents across the full spectrum of R&D performers, including universities, businesses, nonprofits, and Bangladeshi diasporas engaged in advanced research around the world. For universities, and individual scientists and engineers, in particular, collaborating with BNCAR would allow them to conduct science and technology research that would require large, complex, and specialized facilities that are often far too resource-intensive for a university and institutions to maintain. For the private sector, these partnerships not only provide critical access to resources but also accelerate the government return on investment. The private sector provides a breeding ground for scientists and technologists and helps them achieve their professional goals and advance their careers within the country.

Innovation Hubs in Divisional Districts

BNCAR will also engage in joint academic and research programmes with other institutions home and abroad, jointly offering Masters' and Ph.D. programmes and post-Doctoral research to foster technological innovation need for the nation's economic growth. The collaborations would provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research, professional development, and training to achieve goals that benefit the nation. Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members can make use of BNCAR's facilities to advance their research objectives, enabling a pipeline of scientific talents with broad benefit to the country's science and technology (S&T) capacity and advance the national goal for technology-based economic development.

A Sustainable and Integrated R&D Ecosystem comprising arrays of state-of-the-art laboratories can support BNCAR's primary goal to bring together top-tier talents across the full spectrum of R&D performers. There will be 11 technologically advanced laboratories at BNCAR, including high performance computing laboratory, water and climate laboratory, information technology laboratory, communications technology laboratory, computational science laboratory, biogeochemical and agricultural laboratory, business process and re-engineering laboratory, among others.

Historically, universities and research institutions dominated scientific research, and industry and, in turn, commercialized the results. Growing scientific complexity in recent decades, however, has complicated the transition from basic research to the early-phase development of technology. Bringing together enormous resources of BNCAR (state-of-the-art laboratories and top tier researchers) and private and public companies into "technological clustres" in close proximities, will transform a region's ability to deal with growing technological complexity.

A nation's innovative capacity is built on the combined strength of common innovation infrastructure and vitality of the environment for innovation in particular clustres. Technological clustres are a source of strategic competitive advantage. The clustre approach leads to increased levels of productivity, growth and employment. Within an industrial clustre, the social community and the economic agents work together to drive product/process innovations to the marketplace. Working within a clustre, these groups cooperatively conduct early-phase technology research, share production scale-up facilities, and provide targeted education and training infrastructures to support the creation of a large skilled labour pool that individual companies can draw on as their needs change.

In terms of comprehensive TBED policy infrastructure, BNCAR may offer entrepreneurship education programmes, incubators and accelerators, and programmes that support start-ups and small business enterprises. More time and resources, such as, special technology, capital, labour, and infrastructure assets are required to complete a technological cycle, something that private companies or individual institutions, acting alone, struggle to provide. The difficulty of this transition will lead BNCAR researchers increasingly to participate in the proof-of-concept phase of technology research and development.

The technology-based economy is developing rapidly worldwide, and it is the single most important driver of research, innovation, competitiveness, and growth. High-performance computing is an essential driver for innovation and accelerates the adoption of digital innovations and research fostering economic growth and competitiveness. The High Performing Computing facility, the core of the R&D ecosystem, is designed to elevate BUET and Bangladesh to a prestigious league of Top50. BNCAR will bring pride and prestige to BUET, and other institutions in the scientific community in Bangladesh. The BNCAR will help Bangladesh emerge as a nation of innovation and creativity. It is expected that through the programmes proposed in the R&D ecosystem, the innovation, and creativity of our workforce will hold out a far-reaching promise for spurring technology-based socio-economic growth at all stages of development of Bangladesh. All we need to do is find the right mix of policies to mobilise the innate innovative and creative potential of our workforces. The BNCAR will precisely provide a platform for materialising that high hope.

Dr. Quamrul Ahsan is a Former Faculty at IWFM, BUET and Dr. AKM Saiful Islam is a professor and director at IWFM, BUET