Asian millennials see artificial intelligence, IoT and virtual reality as key technologies for achieving world peace, according to a survey released by Telenor Group.
The regional online survey – which covers Telenor’s markets in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand, and was designed support recruitment for its Telenor Youth Forum 2017 – aimed to assess the attitudes of Asia’s millennials towards technology and social impact, as well as the support they feel necessary to become future leaders committed to peace.
When asked about the technology that has the largest potential to give rise to peace, 32% of the respondents placed their bets on AI, followed by the IoT(30%), and virtual reality (28%). Across all six markets, AI, IoT and VR rank consistently in the top three – suggesting the vast potential seen in these future technologies by the Internet generation, Telenor said.
The survey also found that respondents are most passionate for providing opportunities for children to get an education (37%), followed by climate change and global warming (21%). Other global issues that respondents want to change include the stigma surrounding mental health issues (17%), unemployment among youth (17%), and gender inequality (8%).
Asia’s millennials feel strongly about the role of technology and its impact in relation to the pursuit of their social causes. Close to half of respondents (48%) believe that enabling equal opportunities and access to education will benefit most from technology advancements. Selected by the second most number of respondents was confronting climate change and global warming (28%).
Another consistent trend across all markets is the youth’s perspectives of their generation. Regionally, 37% of the millennials polled described themselves as “the most innovative and entrepreneurial generation in history”, reflecting a similar proportion in Bangladesh (37%), Malaysia (38%) and Pakistan (38%).
Youths in all the surveyed markets ranked education as the most critical form of support to enable them to become tomorrow’s peace leaders. This finding was consistent in all six Asia markets, where 47% of Asia’s respondents believe leaders today should invest in developing a more inclusive education system that gives everyone equal access and opportunities.
Almost 40% of millennials say that having access to the right platforms to introduce and launch their digital ideas is crucial.
Designed as a year-long program in partnership with the Nobel Peace Centre, the Telenor Youth Forum challenges delegates with solving major socioeconomic crises facing youth. They are put in teams and paired with mentors from organizations such as UNICEF, Interbridge, the Red Cross, Techfugees and Telenor Research. Delegates learn skills such as service/product design and prototyping, in addition to insights on issues that can only be gained through hands-on experience.
Recruitment for the Telenor Youth Forum 2017 is now in progress. Youths between 20-28 years of age in markets where Telenor is present are encouraged to apply.
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