Report by Engineering Post
The Federal Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication has been and continues to work on the vision of Digital Pakistan through multiple cross-sectoral digital transformation initiatives to enable the digital landscape.
Briefly speaking, following policy measures have been taken by the Ministry among others so far.
Computer Emergency Response Teams Rules to safeguard the national cyber security ecosystem; Artificial Intelligence Policy; National Freelancing Facilitation Policy; Personal Data Protection Bill and Digital Pakistan Policy 2024.
IT Skills training for 200000 university graduates in order to attain the target of annual exports of US $ 15 billion in the next five years. The annual addition of at least 200000 proficient and specialized IT professionals. Estimated cost of Rs 1000. million Placement Programme for 20000 students in the last semesters of their ICT disciplines. A stipend of Rs 30 thousand to be provided to support their commitment whereas Rs 50 thousand per term will also be given to IT companies. 16000 individuals’ certification through National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC).
As for E Rozgar Centres are concerned, 10000 E Rozgar Centres to be established, to facilitate one million freelancers, Free Training and Interest free loans upto Rs 10 million.
Pakistan Start-up Fund (PSF) is a federal government backed initiative aimed at supporting and promoting the growth of start-ups in Pakistan through encouraging investments in Pakistan by top-notch global as well as local Venture Capital (VC) Funds. The federal government has also duly recognized the necessity of intervention and accordingly has launched a programme to mitigate the risks faced by Venture Capitalists through the Pakistan Startup Fund. The fund will be offering 10 percent-30 percent of the total investment made by a Venture Capital (VC) in a particular funding round with equity-free capital or a grant as the last cheque. The contribution of Rs 2 billion by the federal government as such is poised to catalyse a valuation of Rs 50 billion in the Pakistani startup ecosystem.
