Daily Times

This year has been one of extensive socio-economic disruption. Nevertheless, in such times of uncertainty, nations are creating new opportunities by rethinking old archetypes and supporting innovation within local communities. Prioritizing smarter, leaner, and more productive models of industry has been at the forefront of Pakistan’s economic recovery plans in the second half of 2020.

While progress has certainly been made, there are many factors that lead to economic revitalization. Public policy must ultimately support an innovation agenda. Even though nations in the region have been advocates of this throughout the year, the global geopolitical climate has often been less progressive, especially when it comes to technological innovation. The current US administration, in particular, has been actively pushing a more controlled, protectionist agenda around the globe. Its ongoing trade saga with China is a prime example and one that has vast implications for us all.

The Trump administration has recently amplified its campaign to harm other non-American technology companies, widening its focus from Huawei to social media pioneers TikTok and we chat in an attempt to stunt their global growth

Former Google chief executive and entrepreneur Dr. Eric Schmidt recently acknowledged that America has “dropped the ball” on innovation and funding for basic research. Dr. Schmidt has been keeping an eye on the pace of American innovation, expressing concerns that the nation’s R&D funding has fallen to a lower percentage number of GDP than it was before America’s Sputnik program in the 1950s. According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a US research institute, the US government now invests less in R&D compared to the size of the economy than it has in more than 60 years.

Why does this matter to us?

One clear example is in the area of telecommunications. For the past year, the US administration has been launching attacks on non-American technology firms like Huawei under the guise of “national security”. The administration has been pressuring traditional allies to not use Huawei 5G network technologies, and in some cases, to rip out existing investments at the cost of billions of dollars to telecommunications companies.

There has actually been no evidence of Huawei’s national security threat to the US or anyone else. US Secretary of State Michael Pompano alluded to the administration’s real concern, which is that US allies like Europe “need to get” Huawei “out of their system” as part of ensuring “that the next century remains a Western one”. While that may be in America’s interests, it could greatly hamper rapid 5G adoption in places like Europe, South East Asia, and Pakistan-technology that can serve as a foundation for wider economic transformation and provide a much-needed economic boost in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through such geopolitical posturing, the US administration is also hurting the very foundation of global innovation. The US administration’s latest Clean Network program-aimed at guarding US privacy and sensitive information-has, for example, been criticized by global industry bodies like the Internet Society, which notes how policies under this program can “fracture [the Internet] into pieces” and is part of a “larger disturbing trend” that challenges the very core of the Internet’s architecture .

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has recently amplified its campaign to harm other non-American technology companies, widening its focus from Huawei to social media pioneers TikTok and we chat in an attempt to stunt their global growth.

It is therefore up to us to decide what kind of future we want for ourselves. Digital innovation has always required open, transparent, and shared success, regardless of the nationality of the enterprises involved. Will we continue to value fair trade and global knowledge exchange platforms? Will we give up that autonomy and let global superpowers decide what technology is available to us and who can use it? Whatever the decision, it is one we must all make, and should not be dictated from abroad.

Writer is a correspondent in Daily Times and he tweets at @maferozi