New realities have arisen in the last two years, and new strategies have been adopted by economies around the world to cope with the changed realities. Renewed significance has been attached to digital transformation and equipping the population with the right set of skills to prepare them for the new world has been a priority; and with over 4.6 billion people, the Asia Pacific region has been doing considerably well in terms of digital transformation. The pandemic has expedited this process by about seven years.

As one of the major players in the region, Bangladesh is also doing considerably well as far as digital preparedness is concerned. And to provide a magnified view of the digital preparedness of countries around the world, Huawei has been reporting a special index called the Global Connectivity Index (GCI) since 2015. The index assesses 40 indicators focusing on broadband, routing, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence, and groups countries into three clusters: Starters, Adopters, and Frontrunners.

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The clusters distinguish different levels of connectivity; a country’s digital readiness from a national and business perspective depending on the current status, future trends, and challenges associated with digital transformation, and determine different parameters on what they need to work on to become a digital economy.

Beside all of these, the GCI categorically suggests that human resource and skills development are crucial for a country to transform into a digital economy. According to the 2021 World Economic Forum (WEF) report, benefits of upskilling, which the analysis suggests, could provide as much as 6.1 percent boost to GDP by 2030, and this will be facilitated when emerging Asian economies move into higher, valueadded sectors that require the most productive use of skills.

A version of this story appears in the print edition of the September 4, 2022, issue.