Rising to the Challenge

• Determine which datasets should be made available as a public good and what specialized data institutions and oversight mechanisms should be put in place or strengthened. • Systematically apply analytical tools to data value chains, with special attention to converging technologies and the political economy over data competition and control.

• Develop standards for accountability, transparency, and grievance redress for risks to human capital agency and empowerment. • Encourage open-source solutions to support diffusion, adoption, and transparency. • Undertake systematic monitoring and evaluation and peer review.

The convergence revolution is transformational and is affecting all elements of economies and societies. As the scenario exercise made clear, much greater awareness is needed on the part of the World Bank, development community, developing country policy makers, private sector, and citizens at large about both the opportunities and challenges posed by the convergence revolution.

The deployment of converging technologies for human capital is bound to soon pick up speed. Because of the rapidly changing technology landscape, the World Bank should seize the opportunity for participatory technology foresight and undertake scenario planning exercises with government agencies, the private sector, and community groups engaged in innovation to hear different voices and to sensitize all participants to what is at stake. The World Bank should step up its policy dialogue and operational support for data management, governance, laws, regulations, implementation mechanisms, and ethics specifically related to health, education, and social protection. This policy orientation, embedded in a theory of no harm, should be accompanied by operational mechanisms for transparency and accountability in using converging technologies. The World Bank is well positioned to encourage and facilitate regional collaboration among stakeholders in order to develop a consensus on and share approaches to innovations in the use of technology for human capital.

However, the World Bank also needs to build its own capacity to take advantage of the potential of converging technologies for accelerating human capital outcomes, while ensuring inclusion and empowerment. In doing so, it will have to address several internal constraints. Although the study noted the widespread take-up of technology across many projects, on the whole this approach still tends to be piecemeal and pilotfocused as opposed to systemic and at scale. To keep up with the rapidly changing technology and innovation environment, the skill mix of staff should be continually upgraded. Stepping up engagement and collaboration with country and global experts

should be elevated in priority. In particular, partnerships with leading innovation hubs and a capacity to critically evaluate innovative solutions offer promising ways in which to rapidly test and enable policy measures going forward.

This study proposes three broad sets of actions:

1. Develop partnerships so that the Bank becomes a better-informed practice leader. • Develop partnerships. Identify and network with external thought leaders and leading practitioners on technology for human capital; organize a virtual advisory panel; engage with development partners to coordinate digital transformation programs in health, education, and social protection; pursue engagements with private sector partners and multilateral and multi-stakeholder forums to both explore opportunities for collaboration and shape a normative consensus. • Build sustained client engagement on technology. Conduct joint scenario exercises with clients; codevelop sandboxes, pilots, and programs with clients; and offer ongoing analytics and just-in-time technology assessments. • Advance the global HD agenda on COVID-19 response and recovery. Address broader resilience through technology (such as adaptive social protection and local innovation capabilities) to include preparing for future shocks such as new pandemics, climate change, food security, and other major disruptions. 2. Fast-track a shared understanding of a technology-enabled human capital program. • Internalize the findings of this study by soliciting feedback on the technology landscape and identify areas of broader engagement. Incorporate the nine technology action areas into the policy dialogue and operational projects as part of the South Asia Human Capital Plan in order to improve service delivery, improve resilience and adaptability, and promote inclusion and empowerment. Core elements of the HD agenda should be, for example, setting standards for equitable digital access in health, education, and social protection and jobs; promoting trust in the use of technology; encouraging local digital content; and establishing a technology and data governance framework. Undertake a “one HD approach” to technology and move beyond pilot-focused initiatives to systemwide engagements at the country level. 3. Develop HD’s service offerings and raise the capacity for technology design, advice, and delivery. • Develop new service offerings, including assessments of the technology landscape for human capital and of policy and institutional aspects (such as part of a human capital public expenditure and institutional review); preparatory work on key policy actions and other operational entry points; virtual advisory services focused on technology transformation (such as inclusive AI in HD and