NITB to Offer Working Space for National Incubation Program

The National Information Technology Board (NITB) has agreed to provide space for National Incubation program.

The Minister of State for IT & Telecom Anusha Rehman stated this while chairing the 44th Board of Directors meeting of National ICT R&D fund here on Tuesday.

Mrs. Anusha Rehman has said that young entrepreneurs are an asset and the government is focusing on their capacity building through an appropriate policy measure. Therefore it has been decided to establish a state of the art “National Incubation Center.” NITB has agreed to provide space for the project as well.

Federal Secretary (IT) Azmat Ali Ranjha, Acting CEO ICT R&D Fund Co. Syed Ismael Shah, Member Telecom Mudassar Hussain, Member HR Tahir Mushtaq and other board members were also present in the meeting.

It is the need of the hour that young IT graduates are encouraged for entrepreneurship by providing them a conducive environment to begin and grow their own IT businesses.

The Federal Government is pursuing a three pronged strategy for ICT development throughout the country which includes provision of subsidies for laying fiber optics and broadband proliferation (especially in un-served/underserved areas), Infrastructure development and technical training.

It merits mentioning here that ICT R&D Fund has already floated an advertisement for “Proposal of Interests” from relevant professionals/agencies for setting up of a “Tech City”.

The government had announced in the telecom policy that the National ICT R&D Fund will be used for:

• The development and deployment of applications and relevant content associated with government developmental goals and WSIS Action Lines. This will be delivered over telecommunications networks including via smart phones, tablets and through Telecentres;
• The development of Intellectual Property in ICT, particularly in telecommunications, working in conjunction with the international research and development community.
  The Fund, according to the new policy, will be utilized for demand and output driven research and development. Moreover, the Fund will ensure that the eco-system, applications and content that will get developed under its oversight will be equally relevant for many other developing countries.

The Fund will facilitate promotion of ICT start-ups, incubators, technology acceleration programmes as well as Human Resource Development.