Bangladesh needs to move from consuming foreign technology to innovating and exporting its own, Science and Technology Minister Faqir Mahbub Anam said on Saturday as 44 homegrown innovations received national recognition.
The government is seeking to build a “Made in Bangladesh” technology brand in artificial intelligence, semiconductor design, software, data centres and digital services, he said at the Bangladesh ICT & Innovation Awards 2026 at BRAC University in Dhaka.
A total of 355 projects competed for the awards organised by the Bangladesh ICT and Innovation Network (BIIN), with 40 judges from industry, academia, banking, government and the startup sector evaluating the entries over two days.
Nine projects received champion awards, 10 were named winners and 25 received merit awards.
Anam said the number of entries showed Bangladesh had no shortage of innovative talent, but turning prototypes into commercial products would require research, investment and policy support.
The government wants to shift Bangladesh from a labour-intensive economy towards one driven increasingly by knowledge and technology, he said.
Young innovators would play a central role in that transition, but businesses would also need to become early customers, provide opportunities for pilot projects and invest in promising technologies, Anam said.
Universities, meanwhile, should build stronger links between research laboratories and industry so that innovations can move beyond the experimental stage and into the market.
Among the institutional champions named in the ministry’s release were Sokrio Technologies Limited’s intelligent sales and distribution management platform Sokrio DMS, Teton Private Limited’s AI-powered ECG device MyECGAI, and Grameen HealthTech Limited’s integrated digital healthcare initiative The Shukhi Way.
Sokrio Technologies and Grameen HealthTech operate technology platforms in their respective fields, while MyECGAI has a dedicated product platform for ECG monitoring.
The ministry release listed Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s AgentIAM, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh’s Chronic, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology’s Sync V-1: Braille Embosser, Khulna University’s Arbor and Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public College’s BrailleBridge among the student champions. Bindo won in the individual or team category.
The champion and winner projects are expected to be nominated to represent Bangladesh at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2026, according to the release.
The awards come as policymakers acknowledge a persistent gap between invention and commercialisation.
Science and Technology Secretary Md Anwar Hossain said Bangladesh had expanded its research infrastructure but still lacked strong links among universities, industry and government.
The government is working on an innovation ecosystem intended to address financing, intellectual-property protection, commercialisation and policy support, he said.
The effort involves Bangladesh Bank, the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, the National Board of Revenue and the United Nations Development Programme, with work under way on startup and technology financing, research and development tax support and intellectual-property protection.
Hossain said policy priorities include science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, moving research and innovation to market and building capacity in frontier technologies such as semiconductors, AI, nanotechnology, biotechnology and space research.
Planning State Minister Junaid Abdur Rahim Saki said awards and isolated research projects alone would not be enough to turn Bangladesh into a trillion-dollar economy.
Innovation, research and business needed to be connected through closer cooperation among government, industry and academia, he said. Saki has previously called for stronger coordination among the three sectors to support technology-driven development.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Chairman Md Emdad Ul Bari said connectivity alone was not enough, stressing the need for quality internet, suitable devices and affordable access.
“Regulation should support innovation rather than become a barrier,” he said.
