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Human-friendly tools for Industry 4.0
In April last year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the country’s fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-oriented strategy, Making Indonesia 4
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span>In April last year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo launched the country’s fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)-oriented strategy, Making Indonesia 4.0, with the ambition of becoming among the world’s top 10 largest economies by 2030.
The five key technologies that support this vision are: the internet of things, artificial intelligence, human machine interface, robotics and sensor technology, and 3D printing. If successful, the roadmap will boost Indonesia’s real economy by between 1 and 2 percent, facilitating gross domestic product growth rates in 2018-2030 to be at least 6 to 7 percent per year.
In the 4IR, the emerging 21st century technologies of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC) and their converging have an accelerating impact and determine future human development.
Back in 2010 the National Science Foundation of the United States had already reported that the converging NBIC technologies were expected to create the following scenarios for humans and societies within the next few decades:
* Various professions will experience tremendously increased creative abilities through improved understanding of human creativity. Formal education will be transformed by a unified but diverse curriculum based on a comprehensive paradigm for understanding the physical world.
* Individuals and teams will be able to communicate and cooperate effectively across the traditional barriers of culture, language, geographical distance and knowledge and/or professional background, resulting in radically increased effectiveness of teams, organizations and international collaboration.
* National security will be significantly strengthened by safe data networks, smart intelligence-gathering systems and effective war-fighting systems and measures against biological, chemical and nuclear attacks.
* The work of scientists will be revolutionized by the importation of approaches pioneered in diverse sciences and knowledge areas. The ability to control the genetics of humans, animals and agricultural plants will greatly benefit human welfare.
* Robots and other software media will be far more useful for human beings, because they will operate on principles compatible with human goals, awareness and personality.
* The human body will be healthier, more energetic, easier to cure and/or repair and more resistant to many kinds of stress and aging processes.
* New, smart materials will dominate many products, as they will have exactly the desired properties, including the ability to adapt to changing situations, and increase energy efficiency and environmental friendliness.
* Transportation will be much safer, cheaper and faster, due to real-time information systems, high-efficiency vehicle designs and the use of synthetic materials with optimal performance.
Yet, critics have expressed concerns over these technologies, even to the extent of existential risks for the future of humanity. The social risks associated with not furthering the use of NBIC and sharing the wealth generated from the innovations, however, may destabilize future global security. Future dangers from new technologies may appear alarming when considered in today’s unprepared world, therefore, it is of crucial importance to build in ethical, legal and moral issues from the start.
Human-friendly NBIC convergence cannot take place without new kinds of individuals who understand multiple fields in depth and can intelligently work to integrate them. Hence, education needs radical transformation. In preparing the future workforce, universities need to be cognizant of the anxiety of changing labor markets, great labor market polarization and rising inequalities.
The 2018 Automation Policy Brief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development confirms that 14 percent of jobs are automatable and another 32 percent will face substantial change in how they are carried out. Many other similar reports confirm that no job will be immune to change and young people will find it harder to enter the labor market.
Indonesian universities have a key role in preparing Indonesia for the 4IR and the emerging 21st century technologies by increasing education for employment, employability and job creation; improving education; developing flexible systems of education, training and lifelong learning; leveraging information and communication technology to extend access and improve education quality; expanding centers of excellence in research and development (R and D) in key emerging technologies; and also working with industries to set up leading R and D labs. Creating a critical mass of world-standard tertiary education institutions and centers of excellence, apart from developing policies and programs that support knowledge economy in public and private sectors, will be crucial for Indonesia’s success.
Governments and policymakers globally face important opportunities and challenges in preparing for the 4IR. It is highly encouraging that the design of the “Making Indonesia 4.0” roadmap involved stakeholders from various segments, including industry players, tech companies, as well as research and educational organizations. The commitments and efforts of all sides involved will be required to turn the roadmap into a success.
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The writer is a senior consultant and university adviser from Sweden based in Jakarta. He is also a chemical engineering professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
