Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 20
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Most experts agree that the vast majority of jobs that will dominate the workforce in 2030 are still in their formative stage. That is, they will rely on technologies that are so new, we are still unable to fully predict what they will look like. Regardless, all experts agree that these jobs will be highly technological. Even a look at the way nations around the world are attempting to battle coronavirus reveals that without technology and technological innovation, most human advancement would be lost. For the first time in history, the Saudi Ministry of Education has implemented a system of virtual schooling, both synchronous and asynchronous. The ministry built a platform that enables virtual classes to be taught at various educational levels, regardless of one’s location. All Saudi universities can now conduct classes remotely and make use of technology to improve students’ internalization of material and test their performance. Experiments conducted on similar platforms elsewhere around the world reveal that they are highly effective in improving student outcomes. The outbreak of coronavirus offers, for the first time, the opportunity for public- and private-sector employees to work remotely. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development managed to build and launch a remote work platform ahead of the epidemic, allowing business owners to track their employees and follow up on job performance and compliance level. This enables business not only to stay in operation during quarantines but also to reduce operating costs by up to 25%. The pandemic should also push us to plan for the future. We must have contingency plans that offer temporary alternatives to humans and operate in the event of widespread epidemics or natural disasters. These would be systems associated with huge databases, which could be analyzed and optimized to simulate the human mind and make critical, time-sensitive decisions. The reality is that most countries have benefited from the coronavirus crisis from a technological standpoint. Whether reluctantly or not, governments around the world have been forced to develop virtual communication platforms to help patients stay connected with health providers and emergency responders. They have been pushed to make school available to students at home. They are forcing employers to reconcile employees’ requests to work from home. The daunting photos of European nations standing idly by as Italy implodes under the coronavirus burden is a stark reminder that nations can rely only on themselves. Breakthroughs can be achieved only through self-sufficiency and investing in local talent and local industries, and through a state’s dependence on itself and its own potential. Global solidarity, unfortunately, is an empty slogan that collapsed as soon as the first coronavirus carrier was discovered outside the borders of China. – Badr Bin Saud (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)