The scientists should utilise modern emerging technologies (ETs) for socio-economic uplift of the country, said Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi.
The advancement in telecommunications' infrastructure is the basic tool for any country to meet challenges of information age, he said while inaugurating two-day international conference here on Saturday.
The conference on "Emerging Technologies" is being organised by the Center for Advance Studies in Engineering (Case) in collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Dr Naqvi said that with emergence of new technologies at a fast pace, technology gap between rich and the poor nations was widening at an alarming rate.
A major reason for widening the gap was lack of skilled engineers and technologists capable of integrating new technologies into existing systems and networks, he said and added Pakistan could earn its due share from IT revolution if the country had enough trained manpower in cutting edge technologies.
He said the government was paying utmost importance to deploy state-of-the-art telecom infrastructure in the country and in that regard recent telecom deregulation would play vital role.
The government, he said was giving top priority to higher education especially, in the fields of science and technology to enhance human resources' availability and through which ample funding would be available for public as well as private sector universities.
The Executive Director said expatriate scholars, researchers, educationists and scientists were being appointed in Pakistani universities to raise the standard of education and research in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive Vice President Information Technology of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Fawad Imran Khan said as a result of deregulation policy the telecom sector had taken an unprecedented growth and foreign direct investment in the sector had topped all other sectors during last year.