After the failure of the hybrid regime’s Project Imran Khan, the government of Pakistan unveiled a economic plan to revive its ailing economy by capitalizing on the country’s untapped potential in key sectors such as defense production, agriculture, livestock, minerals, and information technology, amid fears of default due to uncertainty over the revival of a stalled loan from the IMF. The plan has been termed as the ‘Economic Revival Plan – 2023.’
Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has critically transformed the nature of global economic systems and accelerated the technology revolution. Countries around the world are fine tuning their economic policies when it comes to technology in a bid to boost their own GDP. States continue to jostle for a higher perch in the global hierarchy, with competitiveness now determined by the deployment of evolving technologies that have become critical to national prosperity.
Scientific developments and technological changes have become therefore significant drivers of economic growth. The ability to produce, allocate and exploit technical knowledge has become a major source of competitive benefits, wealth creation and growth in a national economy. Some of the main topographies of this transformation are the growing impact of information and communication technologies, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and automation & robotics on the economy and on society. These transformations indicate that science, technology and innovation are now crucial to cultivating economic performance and societal well-being. However, if governments want to gain the benefits from this transformation, they will have to put the right policies in place.
In the same way, one of the most significant stories in the world right now is the battle to own the future by investing in technology, what can appropriately be described as “techno-nationalism.” In techno-nationalism, national governments seek to protect their own interests by developing and promoting their own technologies and limiting the use of foreign technologies. Nations are doing this to maintain their own political, social and economic advantages. Techno-nationalism is a leading tactic in governance that links a nation’s technological capabilities and self-sufficiency to its state security, social stability and economic prosperity.
Techno-nationalism is more than an announcement of objectives or a set of goals, – it is a plan of achievements. Therefore, many states have frequently pursued linked strategies of economic prosperity and technological expansion to be more self-reliant and more independent. Several states are taking steps to regulate their economic policies to the growing importance of science, technology and innovation. Nations such as Austria, China, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, and Korea have all undertaken wide-ranging initiatives to reform their science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in recent years.
For Pakistan, techno-nationalism must be reflected in government policies and national strategies for economic prosperity. The techno-nationalist model has long attracted states wishing to accelerate national economic or industrial development. It is also intended to serve significant strategic objectives of increasing national self-reliance. This increased sovereignty, in turn, anticipated to contribute to greater independence and perhaps even greater clout in global affairs. For instance, the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, or the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 is an act of Congress intended to increase American competitiveness, innovation and national security by investing in local semiconductor manufacturing. Germany’s Industrie 4.0 Initiative is a national strategic initiative that aims to drive digital manufacturing forward over a period of 10 to 15 years to eventually improve Germany’s competitive position in manufacturing. China’s Made in China 2025 Plan seeks to decrease China’s dependence on foreign supply chains. The plan targets numerous industries, including AI, quantum computing and robotics etc. The plan seeks to achieve 70% domestic content of essential components and materials by 2025.
In a nutshell, technology is central to today’s geopolitical and geoeconomics competition. To address the geopolitical and geoeconomics challenges to national stability, Pakistan should bring together a selected group of strong-minded and top policymakers, technology experts, tech leaders and investors, and economic specialists to define the issues, and examine how techno-nationalist approach and policies in specific sectors may shape the future of Pakistan, and the potential for techno-nationalism to define our efforts to address poverty reduction, fiscal sustainability, and inflation.