Dr. Victor Fung Visits idsMED Indonesia
On 17 September 2019, idsMED Indonesia had the honour of welcoming Dr. Victor Fung (Chairman of the Fung Group), as he visited our idsMED Indonesia office during his trip as one of the keynote speaker at the CSIS Global Dialogue 2019. Dr Victor Fung used the opportunity to conduct an impromptu townhall session with the team from idsMED and Li & Fung who are based in Jakarta at idsMED Education and Training centre.
In his townhall, Dr. Fung reminded the company once again to embrace change, in particular technological innovation and digitization, as they form a great disruption and opportunity for our business going forward. In a casual and friendly way, Dr. Fung encouraged the audience that we, as humans, are supposed to be “a great partner” of technology, adapt to the technological changes and use the opportunities that arise from these changes to our advantage.
Dr Fung also shared his thoughts on the need for the organization to adopt continuous learning as a key requirement for us to remain relevant in the market place, as well as secure our future.
The session ended with group photo before Dr Victor had to make his way to Hotel Borobudur for the CSIS Global Dialogue event.
As Keynote Speaker in CSIS Global Dialogue - Asia Facing Automation and Artificial Intelligence: Impacts on Work, Business, and Society
Dr. Fung’s visit to Jakarta was part of the invitation from CSIS Indonesia as one of the Keynote Speaker at the CSIS Global Dialogue 2019 which was held from 16-17 September 2019 in Jakarta. In his speech, Dr. Fung shared his thought on how Asia is facing Automation and Artificial Intelligence, and how they impact work, business, as well as society. He discussed the business response on the rise of technology, digitization, and artificial intelligence.
The speech was shared based on his experience leading the Fung group and despite Fung Group’s aspiration to always grow the business, it always strives to ensure that such growth is inclusive and sustainable. Dr Fung himself admitted how the rise and changes in technology, digitalization, big data, AI has transformed the heart of what the Fung Group does, i.e. its supply chain business, from “Sourcing in the East – Selling in the West” to “Sourcing everywhere – Selling everywhere”. Dr. Fung also shared that the rise of technology nowadays comes with both opportunities and challenges, including how jobs can disappear and the challenge in retraining people to adopt new skills that will prepare them for jobs in the future, which may not yet exist in the present.
Dr Victor Fung also sees the need for both the public and private sectors to work hand in hand to address the challenges. One of the key areas where both the public and private sectors need to work hand in hand is in term of education. Both parties need to work on how to develop and encourage creativity and critical thinking among our students as well as developing a culture of continuous learning so that people are adept to change, especially when it comes to technological changes.
In term of mindset and culture, Dr Victor Fung also shares his thought on how we need to adopt a culture of embracing failure, something that does not come naturally for us Asian. We need a mindset that embraces innovation and encourages business start-up, according to Dr. Fung. We need to start shifting that mindset and encourage people to try new things, innovate, and to accept failure as a learning process rather than marking it as the end of things.
To summarize, technology advancement and digitization present us with huge opportunities, however we also need to be aware of the challenges that come along with them. We need to learn, adapt, and deal with these changes consciously and cautiously – as a business, not just focusing on profit but also public interest and social impact.
The 2019 CSIS Global Dialogue is organized in Collaboration with the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) and will build upon the 2018 CSIS Global Dialogue “Global Disorder: The Need for New Regional Architecture and Business Model?”. This year will focus on one of the most defining factors in shaping future of global economy: the ongoing rapid advancement of technology and its impact to the global economy.
