The humankind, who developed the technology to travel to the moon about sixty years ago, had to change most of his habits with a new virus that emerged about three years ago.
The pandemic radically affected change in the digital world and quickly resolved the hesitations in digital change efforts. Companies that want to reduce large office expenses but do not dare to do so have started to encourage working from home after seeing that working from home reduces costs and positive changes in work efficiency. The common practice of face-to-face meetings transformed into video calls. Bank payments also shifted towards contactless payment methods. In other words, people now communicate in a different way, get education and work in a different way. The role that digital technologies will play in the transformation of economic activities and the transition to a green economy during and after the COVID-19 epidemic will be important.
The digital economy continues to evolve with the collection, analysis and use of digital data accumulated in almost every aspect of life. According to the research “Unlocking the Transformation: Digitalization and Green Tech” conducted by Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB), new digital technologies offer a window of opportunity for developing countries. These technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are expected to reach a total market size of $3.2 trillion by 2025. The application of these technologies to existing business lines has the potential to provide developing countries with a competitive advantage in the near future through the discovery of new products and services.
Robotics are currently used mainly in a small number of industries such the automotive industry and electronics. Some sectors such as textiles are still labor-intensive and digitalization is expected to increase in these sectors for competition in the future.
In the coming years, robots are expected to become cheaper, while their capabilities and efficiency are expected to increase significantly. Digital technologies such as AI and automation also offer opportunities for developing countries.
The demand for data centres, digital services and cloud computing services, which are the basis of future technologies, is expected to grow in the near future. But this digital transformation must be accompanied by a transformation in energy.
The European Union also plans to invest 300 billion Euros ($340 billion) for some infrastructure projects around the world by 2027 and to direct these resources to areas such as digital transformation, climate, telecommunications, transportation, education, energy, research and health.
Nurmyrat Mommayev,
PhD Candidate at Marmara University's Department of Political Science and International Relations in Istanbul, Turkey
