Keeping up with the world

A new world is arriving at speed. Artificial intelligence and related technologies are no longer niche tools. They are becoming part of everyday work, shaping how we learn, how we earn, how businesses compete, and how countries position themselves in global supply chains. The pace of change can feel dizzying. For Bangladesh, it is also a moment of possibility.

Bangladesh has long been defined by the energy of its people and the determination of its entrepreneurs. With millions entering the workforce each year, the country’s youth dividend can be an advantage only if opportunity keeps pace with ambition. In an economy where skills can date quickly, the biggest risk is not change itself but exclusion from it.

Over the past year, the future of work has shifted from theory to lived experience. Roles are being redesigned. Tasks once considered secure are being automated, assisted, or assessed in new ways. At the same time, fresh avenues are opening for those who can adapt fast, learn continuously, and work with emerging tools rather than against them. For students, freelancers, and early career professionals, the challenge is clear: how to turn disruption into advantage.

This supplement examines what it will take for Bangladesh to stay competitive in a transforming global economy. We look at youth as both the most exposed to change and the best placed to harness it. Our goal is to equip the next generation with clarity and confidence. Not with easy predictions, because the future will refuse them, but with the tools to navigate uncertainty. 

Technology, however, is not only an economic story. It is also a governance story. The systems that power innovation rely on data, raising hard questions about privacy, security, consent, and accountability. A fast moving digital economy needs rules that protect citizens without strangling enterprise, and institutions that can keep pace with the stakes.

If there is a single thread running through these pages, it is that adaptation is a choice. Bangladesh’s place in the world of tomorrow will be shaped by decisions made today, in classrooms, startups, boardrooms, and government offices. 

Keeping up is not about running faster for its own sake. It is about moving with purpose.