Brunei Darussalam has set clear ambitions for its digital transformation, anchored by the national vision of Digital Brunei 2030. The vision calls for a digital-first nation built on stronger government services, technology enabled businesses, and a capable workforce for the digital future. Many of the foundations for this transformation, including infrastructure and supporting policies, are already being developed. However, further opportunities exist to translate these plans into outcomes that improve public services, strengthen businesses and create real opportunities for people.
Against this backdrop, the Authority for Infocommunications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) organised The Digital Future Conference and Exhibition (DFCE) 2026. Now on its fourth edition, the conference under the theme “Together Towards a Digital Brunei: Innovate, Empower, Transform,” brought together government leaders, regulators, industry, academia and technology providers. Over three days, the programme covered six priority areas, namely Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies, Personal Data Protection, Online Safety, Digital Content and Future-Ready Digital Skills, through keynote addresses, presentations and panel discussions aimed at connecting policy, industry expertise and practical implementation.
DFCE’s theme for its third day was “Future-Ready Digital Skills” and Arifah Sharifuddin, Institute Director of TFGI, delivered a keynote presentation titled “The Experience Dividend: Promoting Mid-Career Resilience in SEA’s AI Economy,”. This keynote is based on a TFGI policy brief which examines how mid-career workers can build new skills, adapt to changing roles and turn experience into a lasting advantage amid AI-driven disruption. She also joined the panel discussion “From Policy to Delivery: Building Digital Capability Across Government,” which examined how governments can build digital capability across the wider sphere of public services.
Moderators and Panelists
Moderator
- Rozana Yunos, Head of Corporate Services, Dynamik Technologies
Panelists
- Heather Gilmore, Director Corporate Affairs, Pearson Asia Pacific
- Arifah Sharifuddin, Institute Director, Tech For Good Institute
- Nadiah Ghani, Special Duties Officer I, Manpower Planning Office, Prime Minister’s Office
Key Takeaways
1. An ecosystem approach to workforce transformation can be harnessed for strengthening public sector capabilities
Ecosystem reform principles for building a digitally capable workforce have wide applicability to the public sector. Workforce development must move beyond upskilling to cover the full journey of a career, including labour market literacy and last-mile support that connects training to employment. Pathways for resiliency can be strengthened through social protections and incentives that reduce the financial risk of transition. Processes can be streamlined so that governance frameworks keep pace with technological change through using real time data and evidence. Applied to the public services workforce, building digital capability requires both investments in human capacity in talent, while addressing structural barriers hindering the development of fully capable public servants for the digital future. Brunei’s digital capacity initiatives focused on digitalising human resource management platforms, strengthening ICT competency frameworks, and specialising public sector innovation programmes provide a strong example of this ecosystem approach.
2. Digital capability needs to be embedded across the public service, not limited to technology roles.
The structure and composition of the public sector workforce may be a key constraint to building digital capability at scale. Rather than treating digital skills as a specialised competency for IT personnel, governments can integrate digital capability development into workforce development across the civil service. Malaysia’s Digital Government Competency and Capability Readiness (DGCCR) framework provides one example of this approach by promoting access to relevant digital training beyond technology-specific roles.
Digital transformation is not solely a technology or infrastructure challenge, but also a workforce capability and institutional capacity challenge. Expanding training access to non-IT officers could help build a broader baseline of digital literacy, improve the ability of public servants to adopt and manage new technologies, and reduce reliance on a relatively small pool of technical specialists. More broadly, embedding digital competencies into public-sector workforce policies could make digital capability development more sustainable, rather than dependent on individual departments or technology-focused roles.
3. AI readiness depends not only on access to tools, but on opportunities to build practical capability.
There are gaps between the availability of AI tools and workers’ ability to apply them effectively in real-world settings. A report on AI readiness by graduates by Pearson frames this as “experience friction” or the disconnect between access to AI technologies and structured opportunities for individuals to practise, apply, and demonstrate AI-related capabilities. To address this, AI skills development should extend beyond awareness-building or tool-specific training. Without opportunities to apply AI to realistic workplace tasks, individuals may struggle to translate knowledge into demonstrable capability. Training programmes could therefore place greater emphasis on experiential learning, including practical exercises, workplace simulations, and opportunities to demonstrate outcomes. This is particularly relevant as AI tools evolve rapidly: building the capacity to apply AI effectively may be more durable than training workers to use specific tools or platforms.
