ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday presided over a meeting of the Taskforce on Emerging Technologies at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
The meeting was attended by the Federal Minster for Information Technology and Telecommunication Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and various IT experts from across the Country.
In his remarks at the meeting, the president said that emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Robotics and Internet of Things (IoTs) are poised to unleash the next wave of digital disruption, and industrial sectors should prepare for it.
The president said that dynamically evolving Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are playing a key role towards Digital Transformation and had crossed sectoral significance in terms of fourth industrial revolution.
President Arif Alvi highlighted that digitally-enabled transformation has many components, one of which is to continue to invest in the development of important key digital enablers like digital identity, shared data services, shared business processes, technology centres, etc. and provide incentives for their use across the public sector. Therefore, building an innovation ecosystem is also an essential ingredient, he added.
Moreover, he pointed out that the government is already making efforts to enhance the environment of innovation through different start-ups in emerging technologies. He also highlighted that we have seen very significant role of Technology companies in building Pakistan’s digital economy. There are many low hanging fruits and with a collective effort we could yield quick and long lasting results, he added.
The president said that next decade in Pakistan would be the decade of ICT revolution based on a futuristic telecom infrastructure, for which Pakistan must have necessary ingredients i.e. the infrastructure, a great number of educated youth in IT & Telecom and a population willing to adapt to new technologies. In this regard, he emphasized that digitization of Government including digital identification machines and voting technology, holds special significance. Furthermore, cyber tools and apps must also be incorporated in education, health and population planning, biotechnology, security, he said.
Emerging Technologies are penetrating all sectors of modern life. Investment in AI is increasing and it is estimated that tech giants spent $20-$30 billion on AI in 2016, with 90 % of this spent on R&D and deployment, and 10% on Al acquisitions. In terms of Blockchain, top 10 cases of public sector use are: Digital Currency Payments, Land Registration, Voting (Electronics), Identity Management, Supply chain traceability, Health Care, Voting (proxy), corporate registration, Taxation, and Entitlements Management.
