How Best to Utilize ICT for Development: Meeting Held

Pakistan Technology Board, Ministry of Science & Technology held an
Expert panel meeting under the Technology Foresight Project in PCST.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss the “Effective utilization
of ICT for the sustainable development of Pakistan”.

The Director General, Pakistan Technology Board, Mr. Muhammad Khalid
Siddiq chaired the meeting. Amongst the participants were members from
Public and, private sector, academia and civil society.

The Director General in his remarks told that the Foresight is not a
new concept for the world and it dates back to early 70’s when Japan
first took the initiative.

Considering the huge socio-economic benefits the world has
experienced, this concept was brought to Pakistan in 2007 when
Ministry of Science & Technology undertook this project through
Pakistan Technology Board. Mr. Siddiq expressed his hope that the
expert group will produce a plan and a document which is implementable
and do able.

The expert group, following the international practice, selected Mr.
Mansoor Malik (Ex Chairman IEEE) as the chair of the panel with Mr.
Paras Ali (Editor Technology Times) as his secretary for the up coming
meetings. The panel came to a consensus to identify the applications
of ICT in various sectors including Agriculture, Industry, Health,
Education and Environment.

Further it was proposed a model through which the panel will take this
activity to the provinces and establish a linkage with the academia
and societies in each province. The major outcome will be to find the
key applications of ICT in respective areas considering the next 10-15
years.