Evarist Bartolo, Minister of Education and Employmemt

Technology shapes the way we live and interact with one another but it also shapes the way we work. It makes us more efficient and productive and industry is able to offer a better product or service in the market. Often, I meet people who fear the future. They see driverless vehicles and automated machines and those working in that line of work ask themselves: when will I get the boot?

Such concerns are genuine and we, as policymakers, must listen to them to better understand these realities. However, being scared of the future is not the answer. Only by embracing it will we fulfill our human potential. As some jobs become automated, with smarter machines taking over areas of manufacturing, transport and retail services, we must ask ourselves how we can redistribute the human potential rather than fearing its elimination.

This is achieved through heavy investment in reskilling programmes, which empower people to increase their value in the marketplace. When technology replaces an individual, the market value drops and it is up to politicians to make sure we create an environment where that value has the possibility to rise.

We must ask ourselves how we can redistribute the human potential rather than fearing its elimination

A fast-food restaurant might no longer need a cashier as orders can be placed digitally but that person can be retrained in quality assurance or accounting (both areas where small businesses struggle to find people in) through subsidised training. This will restore the market value of the individual. Trying to distort the natural evolution of the market through government intervention does not work.

The pace of the changes around us is increasing and, sometimes, it feels like too much change at once, especially in the workplace. What we have to do is convince ourselves that these changes are positive, provided we believe in ourselves and have the right policies in place.

I firmly believe that had countries like the US and UK invested in reskilling programmes, which give dignity and hope to those facing difficulties in the modern economy, we would not have had the wave of populist vote which we saw last year.

People who had a high value in the labour market in the past now face a changed world where they no longer do. The sudden downward spiral has made them feel lost, angry and without dignity. Immigration rhetoric and populism might be the ugly faces of these feelings but the source reasons are inequality and lack of hope for a better future.

The populist solutions of yesteryear are not the way forward. There can be no better example of the dangers of such false steps than the US, which recently ditched alternative energy to safeguard jobs in the coal industry, which has little future. Rather than grasping for the last breaths of a dying past, we ought to invest human and economic capital in innovative and modern concepts that advance sustainable development.

Closing our eyes to these challenges will not make them go away. It is up to policymakers and governments to have the right set-up to redistribute effectively the human potential as new technologies shape our economy.

Today, we call it robots and automation but 100 years ago it was electricity and the industrial revolution. History shows us that the ones who have been bullish and optimistic about the future have always been better off. In retrospect, innovation has always been for the best and has elevated the world.

We live in a world where there’s the least amount of conflict and poverty in its history because we were not afraid of change and progress.

Rather than fearing the future, let’s embrace it. So far, we’ve done alright whenever we did so.

Therese Comodini Cachia, Education and Employment spokeswoman

Robotics is here today and is already impacting employment. A visit to a few of the factories in this country already exposes the use of robotics on the factory floor and also shows the interaction of workers with robotic machinery. This type of robotic application often lessens the burdens of the employees, such as heavy lifting or repetitive work and this is the positive angle to the robotisation of the workplace.

Robotics also brings about automation of work and this is what we have so far seen as impacting employment prospects most. Automation, where a machine is capable of doing the work on its own, often brings about a decrease in the workforce.

We have already seen how automation has affected the workforce and, at least, in Malta we have found ways of diverting the workforce to adopt different skills and, consequently, find other types of employment.

Technology foresight studies are, however, focusing on the consequences of developing increasingly more advanced and complex robots. Studies consider the possibilities, challenges and consequences of the development and utilisation of robots with cognitive capabilities.

With the advancement of technology should come the advancement of our workforce

Robots that will enable machines to operate in different ways responding to their surroundings. Robots that will continue to affect our lives, be it at work or at home.

We often focus on robotics and the employment of skilled workers and trades but then give little attention to the fact that robotics is already influencing professions too and has already entered in all spheres of life.

Think of all the robotics that one finds in an operating theatre or the robotic advances made in harnessing more efficient body enhancements and in addressing different forms of health issues. Robotics is also used to safeguard the life of firemen, police or military officers who find themselves in dangerous situations.

So, there are angles to robotics that go beyond employment issues and, at times, also touch upon ethical standards, which are equally important.

How do we accept the use of robotics to enhance interaction for a child with autism? And how do we accept the use of robotics to ensure that old people who are in care homes are reminded of the medication they are to take?

Investment in robotics and technology is continuously increasing but so should investment in our current workforce as in our future one. With the advancement of technology should come the advancement of our workforce.

Of course, this will necessitate a change in education paths that lead us to the acquisition of skill sets that may very well be different to the ones we could have gotten used to.

Only a few months ago, I presented a report on robotics, its legal, ethical and social challenges to  the European Parliament. If we manage to adopt an attitude of lifelong learning, provide an education path that provides us with the right mindset and skills and identify the correct standards and ethical values to use in robotisation, then we will be able to overcome the challenge that this development poses to employment prospects. The challenge is on not only for skilled workers but also for professionals.

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