Development, prosperity: 'Innovation, emerging technologies can open up new vistas'

KARACHI: President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi said that the fastest way for Pakistan to emerge as a strong knowledge economy was through promotion of innovative entrepreneurship based on information technology.

"Innovation and emerging technologies together can open up new vistas of development and prosperity for Pakistan," the President said at the inauguration of National Ideas Bank, here at Aiwan e Sadr.

Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology is the host of National Ideas Bank which is a collaboration among academia, government and industry. It is aimed at addressing indigenous problems using technology and innovations in business and governance models.

President Alvi pointed out that in the world of digitalisation, Pakistan needed to establish a mechanism comprising thinkers and practitioners to identify innovative ideas for different organisations. Every knowledge-based product starts with an idea to improve quality of life on planet, may it be the historic ideas of Galileo, Archimedes or Newton that concluded to theories and well established facts.

He expressed confidence that National Ideas Bank as a knowledge-intensive system would contribute to rapid pace of development compared to the conventional brick and mortar setups. Innovative ideas could resolve an industry problem or a social challenge in a more effective and efficient way.

The President lauded the efforts of Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication and Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology for establishing the setup to accept ideas by the people on a regular pitch schedule.

He also expressed satisfaction over the growth of IT related exports during last six months, terming it an important setup in attaining rapid development.

Minister IT Syed Amin ul Haque said under Prime Minister's vision of Digital Pakistan, the IT Ministry was taking steps in right direction and mentioned projects in progress including local manufacturing of smart phones and launch of e-parliament system with electronic tablets to replace the file system by June.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021