New Delhi, 18 Jan (KNN) The World Economic Forum is being held this year virtually from 17th to 21st January to address economic, environmental, social, political issues emerging due to the covid-19 pandemic.

A session on “Technology Cooperation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” which had panelist from various countries with Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises as the Indian counterpart.

He pressed on the importance for the rapid digital adoption in the MSME sector to get better equipped to face the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Calling MSME firms as the base of distributed global supply chains, he opined that digital adoption could support these companies for future prospects

“A quintessential example would be the automobile industry in India where small-medium enterprises have flourished and are fuelling their supplies into larger players. Similar positing is observed in the food industry and kirana shops. What all of these need is a digital push,” added Mittal.

Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) moderated the session and the other speakers in the panel were Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon, and Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT & Innovation, Rwanda. 

The panellists deliberated on how technology stakeholders can work together to balance innovation and responsibility to maximise the potential of emerging technologies in addressing emerging global issues.