President of the Economic and Social Council (ESC) of Jordan, Dr. Musa Shteiwi, said the Kingdom’s enjoys a “good” technological infrastructure in terms of the geographical spread of Internet and at the social level.
Shteiwi’s remarks came during the Government Communication Forum organized by Ministry of Government Communication Tuesday on the “Country Status Report…The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Labor Market.”
Shteiwi also noted necessity of providing the “necessary” skills and technologies for modern industries and technology, indicating that adopting the 4IR requires funding resources needed to invest in innovation, research and development.
Outcomes of the said report concluded that access to the 4IR requires Jordanian government’s concerted efforts, the private sector, and the education sector, he pointed out.
Shteiwi added that this bid is achieved by building a Jordanian “strategic” framework that constitutes a road map for advancing national industry set by Jordan’s Economic Modernizat
ion Vision (EMV) by adopting “high-value” industries and focusing on leadership and creativity.
Additionally, Shteiwi said government begun to respond to the 4IR components as the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship announced Jordan’s Artificial Intelligence Policy Document in 2020 and approved Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the years 2023-2027.
He added that the gov’t also approved Ethical Charter for Artificial Intelligence in 2023, established National Cyber Security Center and telecom providers started to provide 5G service in some areas.
However, he noted number of projects supported by the Jordan Scientific Research Support Fund (SRSF) is modest, as 539 were supported in all specializations since 2008-2022, of which 264 have been published or are under publication, at a total cost of JD32 million at a rate of JD2.2 million annually.
According to global databases, research activities in the field of artificial intelligence by Jordanian researchers have increased “significantly”, as
this research witnessed an increase from 38 research works in 2000 to 1,727 in 2022.
According to Shteiwi, Jordan has recently made progress in global indicators, as it recorded an improvement in the Network Readiness Index (NRI) from 72nd place in 2021 to 68th place in 2023, and jumped on the Global Innovation Index by 7 points over the year 2021 to achieve 71st rank out of 132 countries.
Jordan also advanced on the Government Readiness Index for Artificial Intelligence to 55th place globally compared to 80th slot in 2021, he said.
Source: Jordan News Agency