Rethinking our education system to inspire innovation

Bangladesh's apparel industry has changed dramatically over the nearly 40 years since its inception, enjoying rapid expansion, employing some four million people (with 65 percent of the workforce being female) and contributing over USD 32 billion to the nation's economy last year.

Although the country's readymade garment (RMG) industry is well-positioned, ranked the second largest globally after China, and is the largest contributing sector to the nation's economy, all of us involved in the RMG business are aware of the intense competition that exists in the global textile industry. We can no longer assume that reliance on a low-cost workforce will ensure the future success of our industry.

Times are changing and as Bangladesh continues to advance towards the developing country status, RMG companies are embracing innovation that can benefit the supply chain across the whole spectrum of operations (from purchasing of raw materials to CAD tools that expedite the whole product design and development process, maximise fabric utilisation, reduce standard minutes in garment manufacturing, reduce laundry costs and the possibility of rejected sub-standard product, through to the delivery of the finished item).

Aside from the above gains, innovation has been proven to contribute towards the sustainable and ecological impact of the whole sector, improving working conditions and minimising both the social and environmental impacts of the industry. Furthermore, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that as much as 50 percent of economic growth in its member countries can be accounted for by innovation activity, and that this contribution will grow. Innovation has also been proven to drive productivity growth in the OECD member countries and the competitive advantage of businesses.

It is interesting that given the importance of innovation for the RMG industry and, by implication, the nation as a whole, there appears to be a lack of support for the development of innovation within our educational system and institutes in Bangladesh. And this is a situation that needs to be addressed.

Currently, the vast majority of innovation introduced in the RMG sector and other areas of the economy (infrastructure projects and construction of new EPZs, for example) is mostly being purchased from foreign companies. Not only does this involve the procurement of physical machines and technology that comes with them but it also generally involves the contracting of foreign nationals to ensure the correct implementation of the product or project and the general upkeep of that product when it is in place.

But where is the investment necessary for the nurturing of innovation? We cannot continue to rely on investment and expertise from outside our shores. Although they offer a short-term solution, they leave the Bangladesh RMG industry dependent upon the services and innovation of foreign companies at a time when the industry should be finding its own solutions to problems that it will, undoubtedly, face.

As Suzie Boss, writer and educational consultant, states in her book Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World: "The first step in teaching students to innovate is making sure that educators have opportunities to be innovators themselves." This line of thought is further echoed by an article in Forbes magazine from April 2018 regarding the reinvention of India as a leading nation of innovation. The article highlighted the importance of a strong educational framework to act as "a support system to build an innovation-positive environment." As we become a more advanced nation, with technology increasing the flow of information and access to knowledge, there is a need for a "newly educated workforce with different demands on skills and competencies."

This line of thought is crucial for the future development of both the Bangladesh RMG industry and the nation as a whole. If we are to develop innovation locally and transform the "first in Bangladesh" culture, utilising imported technology and expertise, into a "first in the world" environment, where our expertise is not only used domestically but also internationally, then our education system needs to step up to the mark.

How will the Bangladesh RMG industry continue to develop if we fail to nurture homegrown talent in the field of innovation? We are blessed with a population of some 167 million people, 70 percent of whom are under the age of 40. However, only 72.8 percent of the population over 15 years of age is literate (compared to 94.5 percent of the population in Vietnam, the new RMG "star" in the region) with a GDP expenditure of only 2.5 percent on education, compared to 5.8 percent of GDP in Vietnam. Even with the relatively small amount of expenditure on education in Bangladesh, little or none is used to encourage the development of innovation within our educational system.

Surely, it is time for the government to start investing in and improving both current and future employees' tech capabilities and literacy so that we can encourage future generations to embrace advances in technology and the benefits that innovation can bring. They must not only be conversant with these advances but also be able to innovate so that they can create things that we can proudly call our own.

Encouraging and developing innovation throughout the entire educational system will require a sea-change in approach by local and national authorities. We need to ensure that the teachers themselves are equipped with the necessary skills. The RMG industry and other interested parties should also be involved in the process, not only to ensure that the correct levels of innovation are being encouraged but also to ensure that the newly emerging talent can find suitable employment where their skills can be best utilised.

Innovation and technology are changing how our customers' apparel product is designed, produced, laundered, packaged, shipped and sold. If developing economies such as Bangladesh wish to remain competitive during this time of change, the government and stakeholders in the RMG sector need a change of approach when it comes to how they think about innovation within the RMG industry.

Mostafiz Uddin is the Managing Director of Denim Expert Limited. He is also the Founder and CEO of Bangladesh Denim Expo and Bangladesh Apparel Exchange (BAE). He can be reached at mostafiz@denimexpert.com.

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