Ignite National Technology Fund an innovation value chain fixing arm of Ministry of IT & Telecom in coordination with Japan External Trade Organization, Karachi, organized a one day Design Thinking workshop for the Japanese companies working in Pakistan. Design Thinking approach systematically extract, teach, learn and apply human-centred techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way. Some of the world's leading brands, such as Apple, Google, Samsung and GE, have rapidly adopted the Design Thinking approach, and the same is being taught at leading universities around the world.
Considering the significance of the approach, Ignite provided an opportunity to local start-ups to work on real world problems and use 4th Industrial Wave Revolution Technologies and Design Thinking to identify and solve specific problems faced by Japanese companies working in Pakistan. Through JETRO, the workshop helped local start-ups to get an international perspective of the corporate related issues of Japanese companies working here.
It also envisaged to identify key verticals where collaboration between Ignite, National Incubation Centres, JETRO and Japanese companies besides forging a long-term relationship between Pakistani start-ups, IT/ITES industry, SMEs, Government and Japanese companies working in Pakistan.
The platform facilitated the knowledge sharing and interaction with relevant stakeholders particularly with Japanese entrepreneurs, discussion about the existing problems in key verticals in Pakistan requiring solutions from technology interventions and opportunity to discuss projects of interest to academia, industry and government departments.
In his opening address, CEO Ignite, Yusuf Hussain said that the Development of technology entrepreneurship is a priority of the Government, as a driver of growth and jobs. Collaborations between Japanese conglomerates and Pakistani start-ups and IT companies should help achieve these goals by providing opportunities for tech product and solution development in Pakistan that will also improve the competitiveness and productivity of Japanese corporations.
Osamu Hisaki, Country Director JETRO Karachi said that JETRO has been actively supporting the collaboration of Japanese companies and Pakistani start-ups and is optimistic that such endeavours will be beneficial for both Pakistan and Japan. Promotion and collaboration in the IT sector of Pakistan has been one of the priorities as a result of the Joint Government Dialogue between Japan and Pakistan held in Tokyo in December 2018, whereby Advisor Commerce, Abdul Razzak Dawood had emphasized the need for such joint interaction in this sector. Dr Suleman Shahid, Assistant Professor, LUMS extended his expertise as trainer.-PR