Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF) announced Pakistan’s second National Innovation Awards at its 3rd Annual Pakistan Innovation Forum 2016.
The Conference, titled Innovators of Tomorrow, sought to showcase and promote individuals and institutions who had gone against the tide to innovate and build something from scratch. The Conference featured an Innovation Showcase that brought together about 50 Innovators from across the country to demonstrate their ideas and talents.
Speaking at the Pakistan Innovation Forum, Dr. Miftah Ismail, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and Chairman, Board of Investment lauded the efforts of Pakistani Innovators, and PIF, for creating an innovation culture in Pakistan and noted that Pakistan was full of innovative talent and creative people and all they needed for inspiration and some support to achieve glory.
The Conference was also attend by some of the leaders from Pakistan’s corporate sector, government, and the civil society who enjoyed the noteworthy exhibits and contributions of the innovators including an full-motion F-16 Flight simulator being exported to France, Pakistan’s First Formula Electric Car, a virtual reality cricket game, and several exhibits from the classrooms of the future including science, astronomy, robotics, music, and art.
Later, the Winners of the National Innovation Awards were announced across 12 general categories and 3 special categories. Dr. Abdul Bari Khan of Indus Hospital was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions and lifelong service to healthcare, philanthropy, and the society at large. Usman Riaz, Senior TED Fellow and creator for the Sheesha Gar – Pakistan’s first hand drawn animation film – was awarded Special Young Innovative Talent Award. Other winners included Telenor, UBL, TCS, BISP, Forward Sports, Indus Hospital, Zaheen Machines, Habib University, Numaish Karachi, Invest2Innovate, British Council’s ILMPOSSIBLE, and Aman Ambulances.
Pakistan Innovation Foundation launched new initiatives – a pre-seed ideas Accelerator, National STEM School, and Karachi Civic Innovation Lab to address important gaps in Pakistan’s Innovation Eco-system.
Speaking at the Launch of the National Innovation Awards ™ Mr. Saad Amanullah Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Innovation Foundation said:
“One of the three main streams of our work is about recognizing and rewarding Pakistani Innovators. There are many exemplary things and we must recognize those innovators so that the hands of others are strengthened.”
The winners of the event were:
- Corporate Innovation:
- TCS (Winner)
- Telenor (Runnerup)
- Education Innovation:
- British Council’s ILMPossible (Winner)
- Multinet’s meraSABAQ (Runnerup)
- Health Innovation:
- Indus Hospital (Winner)
- doctHERS (Runnerup)
- Government Innovation:
- BISP (Winner)
- PITB (Runnerup)
- Agri+Rural:
- Telenor Kushhal Zamindar (Winner)
- Pakistan Agriculture Council’s Agri-Mandi (Runnerup)
- Most Innovative University or Programme:
- Habib University (Winner)
- School of Mechanical and Metalurgical Engineering (SMME-NUST) (Runnerup)
- Finance/Fintech Innovation:
- UBL (Winner)
- INNOV8 (Runnerup)
- Industrial Innovation:
- Forward Sports (Winner)
- SPEL Group (Runnerup)
- Social/Development Innovation:
- Invest2Innovate (Winner),
- The Reading Room Project (Runnerup)
- Civic Innovation:
- Aman Ambulances (Winner)
- Painting the Walls of Karachi (Runnerup)
- Art+Design Innovation:
- Numaish Karachi (Winner)
- Patari (Runnerup)
- Most Innovative Technology Startup:
- Zaheen Machines (Winner)
- Rozee.pk (Runnerup)
- The Three Special Awards went to:
- Peoples Choice Innovator of the Year Award: System Teknologies International AND PNEC-NUST Formula Electric Car (Tied)
- Special Award for Young Innovative Talent: Usman Riaz, Senior TED Fellow and Creator of Sheesha Gar.
- Special Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation: Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, Founder of Indus Hospital Network, Philanthropist, and Changebearer
