The National Science and Technology Policy has been formulated and adopted by the Government. It has laid down the directions for S and T activities and research, institutional and manpower development. dissemination and documentation facilities. The National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) determines S and T policies, reviews the activities of different institutions and provides direction towards S and T research and activities.
Bangladesh has a relatively long experience in the use of computers – the first “second generation” computer was installed in 1964 at Dhaka and very soon some of the large banks and industrial concerns started using computers, mainly for accounting and payroll applications. The utility companies (e.g. gas, electricity) also started using the bureau facilities of these installations for their customer billing. Unfortunately, the financial crisis that the country faced immediately after its independence in 1971 did not permit the sustenance of this early lead and lack of maintenance forced the closure of most of these installations.
Although the possibility of export of data entry services and software fromBangladeshhas been discussed for over a decade, only a few companies were successful in getting some work from outside. In June 1997, the Government of Bangladesh appointed a Committee (with the author of this article as its Convenor) to look into the problems and prospects of export of software fromBangladesh. The Committee submitted its report in September, 1997. It contained 45 recommendations, both short term and medium term; some of these recommendations have already been implemented and the government has asked different concerned ministries to go ahead with implementing the other recommendations.
Although not properly exploited yet,Bangladeshdoes have quite a few inherent strengths which can be used as the launching pad for making this country a potential offshore source of Software and Data Processing Services. Some of these advantages are :
A substantial number of educated unemployed youth force, with ability to read and write English, exists in the country. They can be trained in the required skill (particularly in Data Processing Services) within a short time. Quite a few Bangladeshi skilled professionals have been working abroad. They can be encouraged to return to the country and/or collaborate with Bangladeshi entrepreneurs, provided proper environment is created. Universities inBangladeshare turning out an increasing number of graduates in Computer related subjects every year, although the number is much less than the requirement. A large number of Bangladeshi students are studying overseas in Computer related subjects. A wide range of Hardware platforms, from Mainframe to PC, are available.
The government has taken a decision recently (June, 1998) to withdraw all import duties and VAT from all computer hardware and software. This has brought the prices of computers down to a level affordable by middle income households and sales of PCs have soared during the last few months. A 80-90% annual growth in the number of PCs sold is expected this year.
An Information Technology village is going to be set up very close toDhaka. The government has already made 18 acres of land available for setting up this IT village. This would be similar to the Software Technology Parks inIndia. All the infrastructure, including high-speed telecommunication facilities ( 2 Mbps link) would be provided. These would enable the small companies to move into buildings with readily available facilities. Since this is going to take at least two years, a decision has been taken to initially set it up in an existing building inDhaka.
In June, 1996 the government decided to allow private companies to act as Internet Services Providers (ISPs) using VSATs. At present, there are about 22,000 account holders with the ISPs ( 8 in Dhaka and 2 inChittagong) and the total number of users would be around 100,000. The slow speed of access provided by VSATs ( max. 128.8 kbps) is a major constraint. A number of Cybercafes providing e-mail and Internet browsing facilities have been opened inDhakacity; these are quite popular among the young generation. Public kiosks with internet facilities are also being planned.
BTTB has already established a network for providing Internet connectivity and plans to start commercial service very soon. The proposed tariff rate should make Internet connection affordable to a larger cross-section of public. BTTB is also establishing a fibre optic backbone in the country. They also plan to offer ISDN service very soon using the facilities of the already installed digital exchanges in Dhaka andChittagongcities.
In order to enable the young entrepreneurs in the IT field, a special fund has been created by the government to provide working capital loan without any collaterals. A venture capital fund is also being set up. The banking procedures are also being amended and simplified to reflect the different nature of software transactions.
Experience of other countries shows that it is very difficult to achieve success in exporting software unless there is a big domestic market. The government ministries and departments are being asked to computerise their activities. A domestic price preference of 15% would be given to suppliers of locally developed software.
Bangladeshi students have recently been participating in international programming contests. For example, in the ACM Inter-collegiate Programming Contest held atAtlanta,USA, last year, the team from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (which had earlier emerged as the regional champions) secured the 24th position, above many of the reputed universities inUSA(includingStanfordUniversity). In the on-going ACM programming contest on Internet, the performance of Bangladeshi students is among the best – out of the top 25 positions, 17 are now occupied by Bangladeshis. In the Regional ACM Inter-collegiate Programming Contest held in Dhaka recently, teams from Bangladesh (particularly from BUET) performed much better than those from other countries of the region (including India, Sri Lanka and Iran).
Some of the local firms have already succeeded in exporting software, although the total amount is not very large. One firm has been producing CDs with searchable database for US and Latin American clients. CAD conversion work and web-page design work are also being undertaken. Taking advantage of the considerable number of COBOL programmers who were trained in the sixties and seventies, a number of firms are doing work related to the Y2K problem. ERP software is being developed by a local firm in partnership with Microsoft
