Mohammad Ali Hazari Russell, Dhaka.
On the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the initiatives of the iDEA project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under the ICT Division of Bangladesh is the Bangladesh-South Korea jointly-organized “ideaTHON” contest. A virtual demo day ceremony titled “Bangladesh Frontier Startups Business Preparation Support” was organized by the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) in South Korea on Tuesday, 17th August 2021 with the 5 winners of ideaTHON. The startups gave their presentation before the wise juries of the program and finally, “ANTT Robotics Limited” was declared as the first-place winner in the top 5 startups list.
The Hon’ble State Minister for ICT Division of Bangladesh Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP joined online as the chief guest of the program. He said that South Korea has been a good friend of Bangladesh since 1973 and has been a close development partner. He also thanked Korea Productivity Center (KPC) and Bangladesh Frontier Startup Business Preparations Support Project for organizing this program in South Korea which adds another milestone in the friendship between the two Nations. The Honorable State Minister said that “The Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina shared a vision with us. The Vision of building Digital Bangladesh by 2021; today after an era of recurring development of the whole Nation has proven that Digital Bangladesh is not a dream anymore but a very inspiring reality.” He also said at the program “Even while nations are facing economic recession due to the lockdown, Bangladesh can harness the opportunity to technologies in almost every aspect of our life. As a result, not only can our economy withstand but also we are overcoming the obstacle of mass vaccination to one single digital platform.”
The Honorable State Minister also said that “To empower the academia we have already established more than 8000 Sheikh Russel Digital Computer Labs in schools and colleges while more than 5000 are being established and more than 15000 are in the pipeline. To decentralize the technology and creativity channels, we are establishing 300 Schools of Future where students from the schools and colleges will be facilitated to develop their coding, programming, critical thinking, design thinking and all skills required to prepare them for uncertainty of the future tech industry. We have provided more than 33 specialised 4IR Technology based labs in 33 public and private universities across the country. We are also building Sheikh Kamal IT Training & Incubation Center in all 64 districts to create employment for non graduate youths while Sheikh Kamal IT business incubator established in universities are targeted to turn University report and thesis or research papers in real life products services so that we can bring new and original innovations into the market and create a new business venture within the industry out of Academia.”
Honorable Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bangladesh H.E. Lee Jang-keun said that Bangladeshi Startups who joined in this program, successfully fulfilled the expectation of the program and the initial goals too. He also shared that Bangladesh’s per capita GDP has tripled since 2009 and the country is doing great. Bangladesh has been managing the pandemic successfully and it is really impressive. Finally, the Honorable ambassador congratulated ideaTHON winners who have completed their 6 months long training in South Korea.
H.E. Lee Jang-keun, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bangladesh and Mr. N M Zeaul Alam PAA, Senior Secretary, ICT Division, Bangladesh graced the occasion as the Special Guest online. The Chairman of the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) of South Korea Mr. Ahn Wan-gi gave a welcome speech at the ceremony. Executive Director (Additional Secretary) of BCC of Bangladesh Mr. Parthapratim Deb and Project Director (Joint Secretary) of the iDEA Project Md. Abdur Rakib was also present at the online program.
The five winning teams of the ” ideaTHON ” contest were selected through a tough contest among 3147 startup applicants last December 2020 on the Mujib Year. Krishian, Char Chokka Limited, ANTT Robotics Limited, Rokkhi Limited and Chobir Baksho; these 5 Bangladeshi Startups received awards and honors as the winners at the closing ceremony of the “ideaTHON” competition held on 24th December 2020. Finally, on 8 March 2021, 10 young entrepreneurs from these winning teams left for South Korea for 6 months of special training. In the last 6 months, these young innovators from Bangladesh have been working with Korean experts, inventors and successful startups with the idea of developing their business and commercialization opportunities. The Korea Productivity Center (KPC) and the Korea Invention Promotion Association (KIPA) assist to train and improve the startups. In addition to communicating with international entrepreneurs and private investors, they are being assisted in obtaining international patents, designs, copyrights and trademark rights. The organizers believe that through this training, these emerging startups of the country will be able to brighten the name of the country by establishing their business in the future as well as bring in a lot of foreign exchange investment. Meanwhile, ANTT Robotics Limited, with their “Artificial Intelligence Based Learning Management System” signed with an angel investor. This angel investment is worth more than 200 pieces of “Edublock” of Robotic Kits and the cost of a quarter-year task of the organization.