China's Digital Economy and Moore's Law

 Greetings from the Australian National University's China Update. The first session is on China's digital economy, innovation, finance and growth. Harry X Wu started with industry policy implications and the difficult issue of productivity. He argues ICT drives China's productivity, despite the "productivity paradox". This is due to government policy promotion of ICT in State Owned Enterprises (SOE). He suggested this benefited from Moore's Law, but unevenly distributed across the economy. 

I suggest that this analysis could be applied to other fields, such as defence. There is concern in Western countries over the growth of China's military capabilities. This comes party from government increasing investment but also from applying manufacturing capabilities. Western countries will tend to produce a few of each aircraft, tank or ship, thus making them expensive. China can afford to make more by making more. The other factor yest to be appreciated is AI. 

Recently I was discussing the role of drone submarines with a defence specialist. They argued these had limited use as it is very difficult to communicate with a submarine, so they could not be remotely controlled. This missed the point that these will be tasked like a crewed submarine: given patrol orders then left to execute them, reporting occasionally from periscope depth by radio or laser. The use of a lethal AI system might seem problematic but sea mines use much less intelligence.

Sherry Tao Kong argued that China has a widely adopted digital payment system, but it lacks depth in digital finance. That is you can make payment for goods with Alipay or WeChat pay, but not conduct other financial transactions, such as taking out a loan, or buying insurance. There is also a gap between rural and urban users. I had experience of lack of digital transactions this week when I tried to take out car insurance with NRMA Insurance. I could get a quote online, gut had to call to get the policy issued, despite being an existing customer. It took three attempts to make the payment, due to the poorly designed process, while the people at the car dealership waited to give me the car.

Yanrui Wu cited China's digital economy action plan. The most interesting part for me is digital talent development. Interestingly Dr Wu pointed to the high density of fibre optic cables in China as a measure of digital economy. This also would make the country more resilient to natural disasters and military attacks. 

This was an interesting session but not long enough for questions.

Lessons from history for the ADF

Greetings from the  Chief of Army History Conference in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra. This might seem an academic exercise, literally. However there are very relevant lessons for today. As an example, Professor Bob Breen detailed the "graveyard of reputations" experienced by some nations militaries while conducting peacekeeping operations in Somalia. With the possibility of the Australian Defence Force being involved in Gaza, these risks are very real.

Singapore Fintech Festival 2025: The FinTech Talent Blueprint: Navigating the New Era of FinTech Workforce Transformation,

Greetings from day two of Singapore Fintech Festival 2025. I have managed to navigate my way to Hall 3 (each is the size of a football field) at the right time (my calendar is on Sydney time). I am here to look at skills gaps, so this session on "FinTech Talent Blueprint: Navigating the New Era of FinTech Workforce Transformation" looks relevant. However, no one on the panel seems to be from training, education or human resources. The panel did not start with comments like "anything you learned in school is out of date ... Cutting edges work only happens in industry"m one comment I did agree with was the value of long internships, although the suggested year seems a bit long to me. 

Another panelist said they were willing to pay for top talent and train them. They also said every manager also has to be hands on with a project. That doesn't make sense to me: do senior people really have to be working at a technical level? At the Australian Defence Force HQ I worked for a senior air force officer. They were still qualified to fly a F-18, but would it make sense to sack them when they coul no longer fly (or now drones are making pilots obsolete). As I tell my students, the languages I trained on went out of use before they were born, but human nature doesn't change that fast, so project management is much the same l. As it happens, another panelist is speaking in the value of soft skills, including empathy. 

Overall, the panel was not very informative. Also, there was no time for questions, which is my favourite bit of any panel. Perhaps there is something good in the mentioned "Singapore FinTech Talent Report 2025".

 

AI Governance for the Global Financial System

Tom Worthington (me) and Jason Grant Allen from SMU
at Insights Forum 2025

Greetings from the Insights Forum roundtable on "AI Governance, stability and competitive dynamics: Aligning priorities for safe and effective AI adoption". I am not exactly sure what the forum is, or who by, But I happened to be in Singapore for another conference, so thought I would come along. Chatham House rules apply, so I can say what is said but not by whom. From some of the preliminary remarks I get the impression previous forums would have focused on blockchain and before that whatever tech was trendy.

The topic seems to be on risks from AI, rather than benefits. Speakers appear to be from international finance and banking. One speaker is expresing concern about the loss of bank to bank relationships in the Pacific. The result is remittances become more expensive and difficult. They suggest regulators can use AI to check compliance of banks quickly. This doesn't sound a compelling case when applied to traditional banks, as there aren't many and they have highly trained staff. However, it could open the market to new entrants. But then AI could be used to generate plausible fake details for scammers. 

Worryingly all the panelists appear to be experienced bankers, with no actual AI experts. I had been mentioned their companies have AI experts, but they haven't been invited to speak. We just hired someone who is a real AI expert. One panelists just said "Not just a talking head like me". They seemed to think this amusing. Would any other forum have someone saying how proud they were not to be competent. 

I asked the panel if the senior leadership teams in financial organisations have AI expertise, or are they all lawyers and accountants. Worryingly the first answer was that they spent several hours a day. That doesn't sound a good way to make decisions at our global institutions. 

One speaker made a useful point that banks face a threat from within where spies use a false identity to get a job in a company to steal information or money. Of course this happened in the past but is easier with remote employees.

This event raises the question as to if universities have looked in a similar way at their use of AI. Rather than just wondering about students cheating, how can AI provide better services to students. As an example, AI could suggest course credit for prospective students, based on past study and work l. This could allow universities to offer to cut a year or more off study time and tens of thousands of dollars. The AI could collate the required information and evidence. This would be a powerful incentive to enrol versus current practice, where the university says "enrol and we will see what we can do .. sorry now you have paid you are getting no credit". This is a personal experience I have had. At CIT I was assigned an expert to help me with ROL (Reconciliation of Prior Learning). I was given 80% of my qualification by RPL. In contrast a university held out the prospect of RPL. Already having two qualifications and a decade of experience (including designing a course for the university) I expected at least 33% credit, but got none.

ps: I bumped into Jason Grant Allen from SMU at the forum. 

Time to reform assessment for authenticity

Greetings from EduTech Asia in Singapore where a panel is discussing "Panel: Is it time for reform? The bid for authenticity in assessments". With Edwin Lim, Hwa Chong Institution, Yian Hoon Lim, Seng Kang Secondary School, Barbara Tajti, Saint John Mary International School and Kerry Moore, Stonyhurst International School Penang. There are many teachers from international schools in the audience. You may wonder why as a university lecturer I am at a school session. But there is a lot in common between international schools and universities. They have international students and have to cope with international needs. 

The topic of reflection just came up. This is something I teach, mentor and assess students on. I have spent many years being trained on how to do it, but I am still not sure I understand what it is. One thing I would like to explore is how to automate asking the student about the work they submitted: "Here you wrote ... why?".

Problem based learning and design thinking also came up. 

Instapod for Education

 The excitement of EduTech Asia was getting a little overwhelming so I retreated to one of the six Instapods installed on the conference floor.  These each accommodate four people at a small meeting table. Not completely soundproof, they appear only single glazed, but workable. There are smaller and larger pods available.

edX for Credentialing

Greetings from EduTech Asia in Singapore, where Christyl Potgieter, Director, Enterprise Partner Marketing at edX and Dr Paulina Pannen, Senior Expert, Indonesia Cyber Education Institute, Universitas Terbuka are talking on AI, skills and learning. edX has been around for some time, delivering puerly online courses, which were marketed as "MOOCs" Massive Open Online Courses. These did not catch on at traditional universities, but as is being discussed could still find a role to provide shorter qualifications (marketed as "microcredentials") for those who are unable to attend a traditional university program. 

Nanyang Polytechnic’s competency-based learning approach

Greetings from EduTech Asia in Singapore, where Sophia Wei and Tay Mia Eng, are speaking on Nanyang Polytechnic’s competency-based learning approach. This is very relevant as I was asked yesterday if I could create videos on professional skills, such as how to run a meeting, for professionals. While I have been trained in making training videos, the difficulty is how to position this for advanced technical students. Recently I had students comment to me that they used complex terms in their writing as they thought they needed to be "academic". Similarly, academics dismiss professional skills teaching as not academic. However these are areas which employers value and graduate suffer from a lack of. Tay Mia Eng gave the example of writing a resume, a task their paid with learning to use AI, to make it technical and relevant for STEM students.  

EduTech Asia in Singapore Expo and Silent Disco Conference

Greetings from EduTech Asia in Singapore. The trade show is about the same size as last year. I was surprised there was not more mention of AI on vendors stands, although there is in the title of conference talks. The conference venus takes some getting used to for those familiar with academic events. Rather than have to go upstairs to the conference rooms above the exhibition floor, some of the floor has been curtained off around the periphery. 

There are stages for the speakers and rows of seats for delegates, but the area I am in has 1,000 seats and three stages. The roar from the exhibition floor comes through the curtains. To overcome the noise the audience wear headphones, which are tuned to one of the three presentations taking place. The sound is excellent with the headphones, but the panel member farthest from the chair is having to wear headphone as well to hear. Also the room is very dark and so the large projection screens look uncomfortably bright. 

EcoTrain Microforest for Sustainable Education

In Singapore for Edutech Asia, I was taking in the sights and came across the EcoTrain Educational Centre. This is a carriage from Singapore's metro, set up as an environmental display for children. Outside I bumped into Associate Professor Adrian Loo, Deputy Director of the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, who explained the Microforest, being established next to the center. What makes this remarkable is it is a very narrow former garden, between a metro station, a busy road and a major shopping center, and yet you find lush growth and wildlife. There are lessons here not only for the children the center is aimed at but for us all.