Let us build a Smart Mauritius together
I was on Talk of the Town, together with Shateeaum Sewpaul and Vishal Seeboruth, on Wednesday 21 November 2018 to talk about Artificial Intelligence and the World AI Show / World Blockchain Summit in Mauritius happening from 28 to 30 November 2018.
I talked about Sophia, the humanoid AI robot, the changing nature of jobs and the kind of job prospects which will exist in the future.
Thank you to Priscilla Sadien for having us at Radio Plus.
(Some photos taken by us and some courtesy of the MRC and Manoj Nawoor)
For the first time in my life, I went to Infotech four days in a row. Tomorrow is the last day and, if I were you, I would not miss it.
The first day, Wednesday 29 August, was the official opening of Infotech by the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation. As soon as Infotech opened, the Minister visited the various stands including the ones of the “normal” Infotech (i.e. the technology fair) as well as the ones in the Innovtech Demo Area (where individuals, associations, parastatals and other organisations showcased their innovative products).
On the second day, Thursday 30 August, I went to Infotech to participate in the official opening of the Innovtech Conferences. During my speech, I gave two messages to the audience: (1) Do not be afraid to interact with the speakers and ask them many questions and (2) that young people should really choose Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects at school in order for the country to have more engineers in the future. The Mauritius of the future can only be built by engineers.
On the third day, Friday 31 August, I participated in the launching of the Startup Weekend. During my intervention, I told the participants that 20% is inspiration and 80% is perspiration and that they should perspire a lot during the three days in order to win the competition. I also was happy to hear that the Development Bank of Mauritius has an easier procedure now to lend money to startups with fewer collaterals needed. This is a good thing as access to finance is key in order to succeed as a startup founder.
On the fourth day, Saturday 1st September, Christina, Anya and Kyan accompanied me to visit both Infotech and the Innovtech Demo Area. And I am happy to say that all three found the exhibits in the Demo Area more interesting (in general) than what was shown in the product fair. For example, on the National Computer Board stand, NCB staff were happy to show us all kinds of programmes they had written to control microcontrollers, sensors and robots. On the MRC website, the star of the show was the upcoming MIR-SAT1 satellite. It’s amazing what our small country will achieve in 2019 — having our own Cube Satellite orbiting the earth and sending infrared photos to Mauritius for us to analyse. I also like how, for example, some people were so dedicated to make young people learn robotics. Some others were collaborating with Google to create original AR/VR Mauritian content.
All in all, since last year, the Innovtech component has gathered some momentum. Of course, there are so many other components that can be added and some existing features can be made better. But I have to offer big congratulations to everyone involved in the organisation of this event, with a particular mention to the National Computer Board staff.
Do not miss the last day of Infotech Innovtech 2018 tomorrow if you have not gone yet. It’s worth it.
A big thanks to Alwin Sungeelee who shared this video to Christina and I yesterday. It’s an investigative interview of Tharman Shanmugaratnam (SG), Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Finance of Singapore by Stephen Sackur (GB), Presenter, BBC HARDtalk.
It was conducted during the 45th St. Gallen Symposium in 2015 and the theme was “Singapore: 50 years after independence”.
Here are some notes I made while watching the video which I would like to share with you:
(1) The most important decision made by the Government in Singapore was to have state-funded and state-built estates (i.e. apartment in blocks) for lower-class, middle-class and upper middle-class people with ethnic quotas imposed by Government. This was to make sure that different people (different backgrounds, different religions, different cultures…) mix and grow together so that they ultimately can work and create together.
(2) Immigration is essential for companies to get the best talents, expertise, network. One third (1/3) of the current workforce in Singapore is foreign.
(3) Singapore needs to be open but remain Singaporean to the core. This means that Government has to define as precisely as possible the values that need to be shared among all Singaporeans.
(4) Singapore never invents anything. All institutions are inspired by what works in other parts of the world. As a result, it’s easier to have successes than failures.
(5) Singapore has high-skill high-wage enterprises today and this is important for a country to progress.
(6) One should not forget the intangibles (i.e. values): being constant, keeping to your promises (which obviously means that everything should be strategically planned).
(7) A country needs to make its elected accountable. It is important to create a culture of accountability where electors can expect their politicians to actually do what they promised they would do while campaigning.
(8) A country never arrives — a country needs to constantly develop.
(9) One thing that Europe and the US have managed to do is to give respect to manual workers (blue collar workers) and allow them to contribute at all levels. This is not yet the case in Singapore.
Phew.
We still have a lot of work to do here in Mauritius. And it all starts by Nation building. I wonder whether this should start by introducing kids to the contemporary history of Mauritius (say, since Independence in 1968). Most young people I have spoken to do not have a clue of what happened at the end of the 70s in the country and/or the kinds of social and economic transformation which happened during the 80s and the 90s. That’s a pity.
Then, of course, it’s all about strategic planning, methodical execution and careful auditing.
