Ignite has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Pakistan Innovation & Testing Centre (PITC) for partnership and collaboration for the growth of entrepreneurs, researchers, industrialists, and academia in engineering innovation in Pakistan.
The PITC is a department of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
Speaking on the occasion, the Federal Secretary of Information Technology & Telecom (IT&T), Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, expressed his pleasure to see the PITC and Ignite ally for innovation.
“There is no denying the fact that we urgently need to jump-start the economy and improve the business investment environment for our tech entrepreneurs,” he said.
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He further said that this collaboration will be in the best interest of Pakistan’s innovators, researchers, industrialists, and academicians who will benefit from the massive opportunities emerging due to various initiatives of Ignite and the PITC.
The secretary added that the National Incubation Center (NIC) startups will now be able to access these engineering laboratories for the development and testing of engineering products and that the Ministry of IT&T has always supported its departments in connecting with relevant organizations that can add value to Pakistan’s innovation and startup ecosystem.
The Advisor on Innovation, Brigadier Tariq Javed (R), said that the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has been assigned the lead role of promoting innovative engineering products and the local manufacturing of engineering goods, products, and services.
The PEC has established the PITC and is facilitating innovators, researchers, and product designers to locally develop and manufacture engineering goods/products. The PEC has coined a new term — ‘Researchers and Product Development’ (R&PD) instead of R&D only.
The focus is on collaboration manufacturing and product design/development, which has an important aspect of integration between software and hardware.
This collaboration between Ignite and PITC is the first step that will result in an avalanche of further initiatives.
Earlier in his welcome address, the CEO of Ignite, Asim Shahryar Husain, stated that Ignite will facilitate the engineering students of the PEC accredited institutions and was recommended by the PITC to apply to the network of five incubators through their innovative ideas and products.
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He said that Pakistan has been missing engineering-related equipment and facilities at the National Incubation Centers, and added, “so this partnership with the PITC will help us in bridging this gap. This collaboration will enable our startups to carry out the tests and trials of their end products, and have regulatory approval related help for their engineering goods, products, and services, including agri-products, robotics, virtual reality, etc.”
Ignite will also provide web-based training and opportunities to engineering students and professionals through its DigiSkills training platform to develop their skill sets and enable them to grab new freelancing opportunities to enhance Pakistan’s freelancing exports.
The event was attended by Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, the Federal Secretary of IT&T, Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite, Engr. Dr. Nasir Mehmood Khan Registrar/Secretary, Brig. Tariq Javed (R), the Advisor on Innovation, and senior officials of the Ministry of IT&T and Ignite.
This is what is required and should be utmost priority, not only for startups but for already established software developers, it should also include telecom equipment to promote telco software products.