We Are About Eight Years Behind the World

Dr. Moshiur Rahman

There is a recurring pattern in the public discourse on technology in Bangladesh. Many years ago, during a class at North South University, I casually commented that global technology arrives in our country at least eight years late. I said this in the context of VoIP technology, but afterward, a student—whose name I can’t recall now, currently living in Australia—laughed and said, “Sir, it’s not just VoIP; the eight-year rule applies to almost all technology.” Today, a decade later, witnessing the occasional excitement in Bangladesh’s tech scene, it seems that student was absolutely right.

The “unprecedented innovations” often presented by our media are, in reality, technologies that already reached practical, everyday use worldwide a long time ago. For example, the recent buzz around IoT sensors and basic microcontroller modules—by 2013, startups everywhere from Silicon Valley to Shanghai were producing them. Alibaba or AliExpress offers sensor sets for five to fifteen dollars, enough for any undergraduate student to easily build a simple IoT device. No patent required, no media limelight. That’s why, at Singapore’s 2012 startup exhibition, I saw countless solutions being showcased—solutions that our media today describe as “unprecedented innovations.”

In the past decade, more than 400 IoT-based startups have found commercial success in Malaysia, India, and Vietnam. Between 2020 and 2023, India’s IoT market surpassed $13.8 billion. Southeast Asia’s IoT market is growing at nearly 20 percent annually. Yet we still portray these technologies in our media as revolutionary forces destined to change the world.

Another problem with tech news in Bangladesh is the lack of skepticism, exaggeration, and absence of verification. In 2021, there was a huge sensation at Shahjalal Airport claiming “cancer detection in five minutes,” but not a single piece of data was validated by international standards. Yet, many, from the Finance Minister to esteemed university professors, endorsed it. This reflects not just journalistic failure—but also the frailty of our scientific practice.

A clear pattern emerges here. In our country, “discoveries” are usually centered around one or two students or professors with very limited industry exposure. They call a press conference inside the university and announce they’ve made a world-changing discovery. The media then amplifies their words and publishes it as a “historic success.” None of it ever gets published in an international journal—where scientific research gets its credibility through impact factor. Forget about industry expert reviews; instead, we invite politicians to publicize the news even more widely, prioritizing spectacle over scientific rigor.

The situation concerning patents in Bangladesh is also rather obscure. Anyone can file for a patent on even the most trivial matters by paying a certain fee. There is hardly any skilled personnel or technological assessment. Globally, around 3.4 million patent applications are submitted each year, but less than one percent have real commercial impact. In Bangladesh, this rate is even lower—virtually close to zero.

When an invention is truly valuable on an international scale, it undergoes multiple levels of scrutiny—lab tests, data verification, pilot implementation, real-world scaling, and industry adoption. Yet, Bangladesh’s tech discovery news lacks any of these steps.

The excitement generated in our media also has a fleeting shelf life. Usually, within three months to a year, there’s no further news about the so-called “revolutionary” invention. They are like fireworks—lighting up for a moment, then fading silently into darkness.

What’s astonishing is that we keep making the same mistakes, delight in the same excitement, and encounter the same disappointments. So now, I’m no longer surprised. Rather, it seems we have yet to cultivate a genuine scientific culture. Unless we truly prioritize research quality, industry-academia collaboration, and authentic innovation, this eight-year gap will never diminish.

While the global market for AI-driven IoT devices is heading towards $500 billion, we should focus less on media hype and more on improving research quality, data verification, and fostering an industry-based research culture. Keeping pace with future technology requires us to break the “eight-year rule” and move forward with greater agility and sound judgment.

The original version of this article was written on December 28, 2021. It has been updated with some additional information for publication as an editorial for Scientist Org.