Conclusions

community Mechamind in Dhaka that supports the vision of an Open Science society in Bangladesh. The team of mentors teaches underprivileged kids to work on local innovation problems and develop skill sets for future tech-based industries. The community lab has four collaborative streams, including democratized biology; AI and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); enabling technologies; and prosthetics (Pauwels 2020).

The strength of democratized local innovation ecosystems such as community labs serves not only the inclusion agenda for human capital, but also its empowerment. Innovation in such places is driven by a common ethos characterized by interdisciplinary, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, higher self-esteem, acceptance, and empathy. They provide an innovative and alternative incubator for individual and collective empowerment, which can supplement efforts to build trust, legal and regulatory protections, and formal governance mechanisms, which are covered in the next chapter.

The long-term impact of the converging technology revolution on employment is difficult to gauge and varies by sector and across countries. For the South Asia region to benefit from its demographic dividend, it will need to promote the use of digital technologies among the vast labor pool in the informal economy. Under all scenarios, an important challenge will be the need to reskill and upskill large segments of the the labor force, especially women and vulnerable populations. The demand-side shock created by the pandemic has led to massive job losses and highlighted the need for adaptive social protection mechanisms and reinsertion into the labor market. Digital platforms for jobs and online training offerings as well as technology-enabled payment of targeted social assistance need to be specifically designed for poor and informal sector workers with limited connectivity and digital skills.

The rapid advances in digitalization of science and innovation raise even bigger challenges for countries in South Asia. New research and support are needed to understand how to inspire communities to create social capital and sustain connectedness in ways that strengthen their capacity to adapt and utilize technologies for shoring up resilience. Bolstering community-created digital and public spaces is promising. Action is required on two fronts: building up the advanced skills and capabilities for innovation through cross-border collaboration and Open Science and supporting dynamic, community-led innovation ecosystems to harness converging technologies for local human development needs and to build resilience to shocks.