High-potential ideas, pilot projects: Minister orders creation of ‘AI Fund’

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, to encourage innovation and reduce funding-related barriers, directed for establishing a National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Fund to support high-potential ideas and pilot projects related to artificial intelligence.

The minister gave these directions while chairing a meeting of the National Taskforce on Artificial Intelligence, where he called for a detailed and inclusive national approach to integrate AI across Pakistan’s development sectors.

To support this direction, the taskforce was assigned a clear mandate to identify 12 key sectors, including education, health, agriculture, climate, business, and governance where AI applications can generate measurable national benefits.

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Each sector will establish a multi-stakeholder working group, comprising experts from government, academia, and the private sector. These groups will develop sector-specific AI roadmaps, with defined objectives, timelines, and resource requirements. The purpose is to ensure that Pakistan not only aligns with global technological trends but also maximises the utility of AI in solving domestic challenges.

Recognising the growing global investment in AI, the minister emphasised that it is time that Pakistan should move with clarity and purpose. He stated that AI adoption cannot be advanced in isolation and must instead be guided by cross-sectoral collaboration, alignment with national priorities, and effective coordination across all relevant institutions.

He said that the government has established nine Centers of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Cloud Computing, Robotics, Quantum Computing etc in major universities and has also initiated the Quantum Valley Pakistan initiative to build future capabilities in frontier technologies.

The minister also called for a comprehensive mapping exercise to assess the availability of AI-related talent and resources across Pakistan. This will include universities, research centres, and industry actors, with the aim of deploying these assets in a strategic and coordinated manner.

In order to bring key stakeholders together, the minister instructed the taskforce to organise a national AI workshop in collaboration withPakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) and other relevant industry bodies. The workshop will provide a platform for dialogue between government, academia, and industry, and will focus on designing practical AI solutions tailored to Pakistan’s development context.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja; Dr Yasar Ayaz, project director of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence; senior officials from the Ministry of IT, NADRA, PA@HA; and leading private sector representatives.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025