SHARJAH: Three papers discussed the 4th Industrial Revolution challenges, in a panel discussion held at the Sharjah 5th Conference of Human Resources. The conference was inaugurated, on Jan.31, by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah.

The panel, which was moderated by Meera Al Muhairi, a media representative from Sharjah Media Corporation, shed light on the knowledge society that includes concepts, foundations, challenges, and innovative visions.

Speakers of the panel included Dr Ali Hilal Al Naqbi, Head of Polytechnic in Abu Dhabi, Dr Salahuddin Fahmi Mahmoud, assistant professor and head of Islamic Economy Department at the American Open University and Dean of Al Jazeera Higher Institute for IT in Egypt. It also included Fareed Mahmoud Al Ameeri, management consultant and researcher in qualifications development, innovation management, and knowledge economy.

Dr Al Naqbi introduced the discussion, which dwelt on robots, artificial intelligence, human enhancement, gene editing, micro factories and innovation, at the conference.

On his part, he said, “In the last 5 years, the society has started to completely rely on online services. They need higher technological power than human power. The kind of power that will have all the required services, involving the bank, muncipality, education, and more, to be worked out online without the need for physically travelling for each task.”

The outcome of the 4th Industrial Revolution is dependent on robots and matrix, and reduces the human’s role. This happens because the society is dependent on getting the services to be monitored by robots.

This has created an imbalance in the society, further, the unemployment percentage has increased. Thus, our wise leaders are trying to overcome such challenges.

“However, students’ learning abilities are not fulfilling needs of the knowledge society,” he added.

On his part, Dr Salahuddin questioned the audience, “What are we doing? Where will we reach?” on tackling the rapid development of technology.

“The HR development future content comes under individuals’ development, as we are looking forward to living in one integrated cultural incubator that keeps the human value satisfied as we knew that from various ages,” he mentioned.

He emphasised the importance of collaboration and cooperation between all the three components, including: country, individual, society, so that we can achieve the Industrial Revolution.

Al Ameeri presented a model for The World Bank, where he indicated that the UAE has been applying innovation in various fields.

He emphasised the importance of creating knowledge that we can apply in our daily life; entrepreneurs should work more to increase the level of knowledge.

The Sharjah 5th Conference of Human Resources, which continues till Feb.1, at the University of Sharjah (UOS), is themed “Modern Qualification Strategy in a Knowledge Based Society,” and is holding four panel discussions.