Dr. Muhammad Mustafa HussainBangladesh is charting a bold new course toward economic resilience and technological self-reliance. In a significant departure from legacy development models, the country is mobilizing a comprehensive deep-tech strategy built on national values, strategic foresight, and inclusive capacity-building. At the heart of this transformation are two integrated frameworks: BEAR (Biotech, Electronics, AI, Robotics) and the National Semiconductor Strategy.
These efforts aim to shift Bangladesh from a labor-driven economy to a knowledge-driven innovation hub—leveraging public-private partnerships, youth potential, and strategic global linkages. For policymakers and partners, this presents an actionable, scalable model for innovation-driven development in the Global South.
Foundational Principles: A Values-Driven Innovation Model
The strategy is grounded in six core values: integrity, innovation, inspiration, inclusion, equity, and people-centric governance. These principles serve as the ethical infrastructure of the transformation, ensuring technology serves national interest and social justice alike.
Three overarching goals—zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions—align with SDG targets and social enterprise ethics. Inspired by Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s “social business” philosophy, this approach underscores the imperative that deep technology must also be just, regenerative, and sustainable.
BEAR Framework: Deep Tech for Development
Led by the ICT Division with World Bank funding, BIDA collaboration, and BCC-EDGE implementation, the BEAR framework targets systemic solutions in climate resilience, public health, smart agriculture, and equitable education. Youth, academia, and industry are central actors in this ecosystem.
The upcoming BEAR Summit 2025 in Dhaka will serve as a national showcase of startup innovation, diaspora mentorship, and international partnership, highlighting Bangladesh’s emergence as a potential regional innovation node.
National Semiconductor Policy (2025): From Design to Sovereignty
The National Semiconductor Policy lays out a phased roadmap for design enablement, OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing), skills development, and IP creation. A proposed Semiconductor Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), one stop service center, and a go/no-go accountability mechanism ensure transparency and results-driven allocation.
The policy envisions $500 million in public investment by 2030, breaking from syndicate-driven models and promoting equitable access to industry-building opportunities. Sovereignty in chip design and packaging is framed as a national security and development imperative.
Institutional Anchors: STAR and BASICS
- STAR Facility (BUET): With a $3.45M investment, BUET’s STAR (Semiconductor Training, Advancement, and Research) center will serve as Bangladesh’s national lab for fabrication, ASIC design, embedded systems, packaging, and testing. Target launch: Independence Day 2026.
- BASICS Program: A 3-year, scalable VLSI training model designed to upskill 4,500 students in partnership with Synopsys and GlobalFoundries. The curriculum includes AI integration, tape-out readiness, and startup incubation. Estimated cost: ~$4M.
These institutions are positioned not merely as academic bodies but as accelerators of a self-sustaining innovative economy.
Applied Innovation: Robotics, Digital Twin, Embedded Systems
- The Robotics Roadmap (2025–2027) targets the formation of 25–30 startups and the training of 1,000+ individuals in disaster response, water/air quality, traffic systems, and labor-assistive robotics. Investment: <300M BDT.
- Embedded systems, prototyping labs, and digital twin platforms will enable cross-sectoral innovation in health, agriculture, and transport. These technologies will also position Bangladesh as a regional leader in predictive modeling and adaptive design.
Toward a Full Semiconductor Value Chain
With STAR as the nucleus and co-investment from private partners, Bangladesh is developing OSAT and packaging infrastructure that can anchor a complete domestic semiconductor supply chain. Design service and verification capabilities are being prioritized to offer global competitiveness at lower cost, serving unmet demand from smaller AI chip firms and startups.
Higher Education Modernization: The BRIDGE Ecosystem
The BRIDGE (Bangladesh Resilient Integrated Deep-tech Graduate Ecosystem) initiative targets university reform across curriculum design, infrastructure, faculty development, global collaboration, and innovation culture. Instead of focusing on rankings alone, BRIDGE prioritizes ecosystem relevance, research productivity, and private-sector alignment.
Annual national budget allocations of $200–250 million are proposed to support faculty recruitment, talent retention, maker spaces, and joint centers across public and private universities.
Global Alignment and Recognition
Bangladesh’s innovation roadmap draws on successful Asian models—from Taiwan’s fabless strategy and India’s design corridors to Vietnam’s EDA clusters and Malaysia’s PPP structures—while remaining adaptive to local realities.
Over 10 senior executives (CTO/CVP/VP) from global semiconductor firms have confirmed participation in the 2025 National Semiconductor Symposium, further validating Bangladesh’s policy architecture and global readiness.
Governance, Integrity, and Inclusive Politics
A core element of the BEAR strategy is strict adherence to anti-corruption, transparency, and performance-based evaluation. Startup Bangladesh has been recommended to commit 2.6 billion BDT in investment to BEAR-aligned ventures using a go/no-go system, ensuring merit-based opportunity distribution.
The initiative is non-partisan by design. All major political parties are being engaged to ensure continuity, institutionalization, and leadership transition to more qualified stewards of the vision.
Policy Implications: A New Model for Innovation-Led Development
Bangladesh’s deep-tech framework offers critical lessons for policy actors:
- Strategic coherence across sectors (agriculture, education, defense, health)
- Localization of global best practices without imitation
- Human capital investment as a foundation for industrial policy
- Public-private synergy that avoids capture by elites
- Leveraging NRB intelligence and influence in parallel to remittance
- Governance innovation through real-time accountability frameworks
The BEAR and semiconductor strategy is not merely a tech upgrade—it is a developmental leap. For policymakers, donors, and innovation ecosystems, Bangladesh offers a replicable, values-based model that links technology with equity, competitiveness with justice, and local ambition with global relevance.
