KARACHI: Pakistan is presently tapped in the natural resource-based economy and to emerge as a strong nation country need to make education, science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship the key drivers of socio-economic development.
These views were expressed by the Chairman of Prime Minister’s National Task Force on Science and Technology Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman on Saturday.
He was the chief guest at the opening session of the two-day long second International Conference on Information Science and Communication Technology at Karachi University.
He said by 2025, 12 disruptive technologies would make an impact around the world and it is suggested that they would generate revenue of around US$100 trillion.
The local experts should focus on advanced robotics, autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles, next-generation genomics, energy storage, mobile internet, advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery to become a part of that gigantic global economic output.
He informed the audience that the government of Pakistan would spend around Rs50 billion in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, IoT, big data, cybersecurity and related technologies.
He shared that all government software contracts would only go to local companies to boost local business and special technology zones would be established.
Meanwhile, the guest of honor, member of the national assembly Dr Syeda Shahida Rehmani, said that information technology is changing the world.
“It is influencing the way we think, the way we behave and the way we do our tasks, which is why the tools offered information and communication technology should be studied and adapted as soon as possible and as efficiently as possible.
She said that only a very small percent graduated from university with a bachelor’s degree. This puts a heavy responsibility on the educated person to play a positive role in the economy and overall productivity of the country.
Dr Shahida Rehmani mentioned that the culture of academic conferences is popular all over the world, and recently been on the rise in Pakistan as well.
The KU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that this conference has offered us the opportunity to join hands together for shaping the future of sustainable development in the area of information and communication technology.
The Chairman DSC KU Professor Dr Muhammad Sadiq Ali Khan mentioned that the ICISCT is aimed to bridge the communication gap between academics and professionals locally and internationally.
The Conference Co-Chair Professor Dr BS Chowdhry said that ICISCT is providing a platform that brings together leading academicians, researchers and scholars to exchange and share their latest research results on all aspects of information sciences and communication technology.
Professor Dr Jonathan Andrew Ware from the University of South Wales, United Kingdom, while presenting his keynote address, shared that worldwide, maintaining the health and safety of construction workers is a major problem.
In the UK construction industry alone, an ongoing unacceptable average of nearly 39 people is killed each year and countless others seriously injured.
To help reduce the risks, various countries have adopted a range of methodologies and approaches to help foresee potential problems and put in place measures to mitigate against them.
Another keynote speaker, Dr Jim Buckley, senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Limerick, Ireland, focuses on helping software developers to undertake the complex tasks required by them when developing and maintaining software systems.
Furthermore, the number of scholars presented their research papers besides technical talks by the experts.
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