Better Skills, Industry Ties Needed to Unlock High-Tech Parks’ Potential

Bangla Press Desk:  Bangladesh needs to shift its focus from building High-Tech and Software Technology Parks to developing skilled human resources, strengthening industry links and improving governance if the parks are to deliver their intended economic and technological benefits, experts said on Saturday.

They made the observations at a virtual discussion organised by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) as part of its Ajker Agenda series, titled “Hi-Tech Parks: What is the Mission? What is the Reality?”The session brought together industry leaders, former government officials and policy experts to assess the performance of Bangladesh’s nationwide network of High-Tech and Software Technology Parks and the challenges facing the sector.

Dr M Rokonuzzaman, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North South University, said Bangladesh built 39 High-Tech and Software Technology Parks between 2009 and 2023 on the assumption that infrastructure alone would trigger a boom in high-tech investment.

However, the model failed to give adequate attention to a supportive ecosystem, skilled labour and industry-academia linkages, he said.

“The results so far clearly show that the assumption was not the right one,” Dr Rokonuzzaman said, citing the experiences of Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

Mohammad Mohidul Islam, managing director of Ongsho, highlighted the challenges faced by companies operating at the Jashore High-Tech Park, established in December 2017.

He said the 40 companies housed at the park were struggling to survive independently due to a lack of effective ecosystem support.

“The authority treats them as tenants rather than as entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that trained manpower often leaves while poor maintenance and high utility costs have compounded the difficulties.

Engr Md Ashafuddoza Shishir, co-founder and chief operating officer of Netro Systems Ltd and Telzen at Hi-Tech Park Rajshahi, offered a more positive assessment of the facility.

He said its technology ventures had grown from a 2016 incubation centre and established global footprints.

However, the tangible benefits for companies remained largely limited to tax exemptions, while direct institutional support for startups was largely absent, he said.

Farhana A Rahman, chairperson and CEO of UY Systems Ltd, said Bangladesh remained caught in a cycle of ambitious promises about High-Tech Parks without sufficient progress on the ground.

Drawing on her experience with the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), she said the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park had offered land plots without providing adequate supporting services, leading many companies to surrender their allocations.

Rafel Kabir, managing director of DNS Software Ltd, criticised government policy and what he described as sensationalist media coverage of the technology sector.

He contrasted the light-touch regulatory environment that allowed services such as Uber and Foodpanda to grow with the top-down approach adopted in developing the High-Tech Parks.

Rather than relying mainly on export tax incentives, the parks should have focused on foundational technology manufacturing, including motherboards and chips, while providing complete infrastructure comparable to export processing zones, he said.

Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, former special assistant to the Chief Adviser at the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, said the location of many parks was a major weakness.

He said parks had been established in areas without viable surrounding economies instead of being integrated with existing export processing zones or commercial hubs.

“The core failure of Bangladesh’s High-Tech Parks stems from placing heavy physical infrastructure in regions lacking a viable local economy,” he said.

The problem, he added, extended beyond physical infrastructure to the credibility of the training ecosystem.

Summing up the discussion, moderator Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of PPRC, said long-term success required a shift from physical infrastructure to soft infrastructure, skilled human capital and industry-driven training.

The panel broadly agreed that Bangladesh did not necessarily need to abandon the High-Tech Park model. Instead, it needed to rebuild the ecosystem around reliable utilities, accountable governance, industry linkages and stronger support systems.

Companies, they said, should be treated as partners rather than simply as tenants expected to operate on their own.