IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

Pakistan embassy explores synergies with BUCIC for digital city development

A delegation headed by Aslam Chaudhary, the Economic Minister of the Pakistan Embassy in China, visited Beijing Urban Construction Intelligent Control (BUCIC) on January 18th, solidifying efforts to boost bilateral cooperation in digital city development.

During the visit, the delegation explored BUCIC’s cutting-edge facilities, including the Digital Experience Centre and the Urban Rail Transit Cloud Intelligent IoT (Internet of Things) Laboratory. Their focus was on BUCIC’s digital transportation and smart city products, with a spotlight on the integrated intelligent control centre. This centre houses various facilities such as station control rooms, customer service centres, fire control rooms, and ticket booths, contributing to intelligent operation and maintenance.

In a statement issued by Huawei company here, Yafang Sun, Chairperson Board of Directors Huawei Technologies said his company would not only serve telecommunication sector of Pakistan but also strengthen the legendary friendship between the two countries.

In the context of the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese and Pakistani researchers are helping Pakistan build smarter and safer cities through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

At the beginning of year 2022, the CPInS Lab was officially established at Pakistan National University of Science and Technology (NUST), with joint efforts of NUST and Guangzhou Institute of Software Application Technology. At present, various researches are in progress in an orderly manner.

Chinese and Pakistani researchers are collaborating to enhance Pakistan’s urban infrastructure by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This initiative is part of the broader Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Through the application of AI, these efforts aim to create smarter and safer cities in Pakistan, improving various aspects of urban living such as transportation, public safety, and resource management. This partnership underscores the potential of AI to address complex urban challenges and contribute to sustainable development in the region.

According to a report by Gwadar Pro on Sunday, numerous research projects are currently moving forward methodically. Dr. Wu Jun, Director of the CPInS Lab, highlighted significant advancements in UAV control systems and AI recognition localization. These developments mark the initial stages of implementing smart city solutions in Pakistan, showcasing the collaborative efforts between Chinese and Pakistani researchers in advancing urban technologies.

Over the last few decades, the exceptional innovation and use of the cyber space has taken place, giving rise to a inter-connected world and brought people together from all spheres of life on one platform.

The majority of modern nations have ridden themselves of manual systems of infrastructure vital to their national economy and shifted to enhance their systems to digitization. But this huge development and progress has a cost to pay. The nature of digital systems are vulnerable to cyber-attacks by malevolent groups, or individuals, with enhanced and serious repercussions for nations of all over the world.

A special report on cybersecurity norms by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) concluded that many engineered systems, around the world, which depend on digital-computational parts can be ‘hacked’. The states have been trying to deal with such vulnerabilities for many years and the development of protection is known as information-systems security or information technology (IT) security. Within this discourse, integrity is part of the ‘CIA triad’, which consists of the key IT-security system properties of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

The initiative, Aman Telehealth, under the Aman Foundation banner is scheduled to be open for calls from September 15 at 111-11-3737. Over the last year, the team has been working on creating a medical directory for hospitals, clinics, medical centres and laboratories across the city. They will use this directory to advise people about the closest facilities they can contact for the medical services they require.

Head of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Digital Pakistan Initiative Tania Aidrus visited the Central Depository Company. She was welcomed by CDC’s senior management team led by Badiuddin Akber, CEO-CDC, who briefed her about the contribution of CDC in transforming the Pakistan’s capital market. He also highlighted CDC’s efforts towards digitization of a number of industry sectors including Pakistan capital market and insurance industry and future plans to introduce reforms in the government sector including Zakat Repository and digitization of national savings certificates.

Pakistan needs to work on its economic development strategy. The country has a population of over 210 million, but its GDP hasn’t grown nearly as fast.

The country’s GDP is around $300 billion and the average income is about $1,500 per year which is significantly below the global average. It’s certainly not enough to maintain a decent standard of living as most people are unable to afford the basic necessities like access to quality education and healthcare.

In her commentary, the writer says that while the Digital Pakistan Vision tackles exclusion due to poor infrastructure, the policy lags behind on individual access and accessibility to technological environments.

In the Digital Pakistan Vision launched recently, Tania Aidrus, the head of the initiative, laid out the strategic pillars of the vision, namely - infrastructure, e-governance, digital skills and training, and innovation and entrepreneurship.

The rapid digitization across the globe is transforming almost everything on face of earth from economy (physical to software-controlled) to government-citizens' interaction, market-customer relations to healthcare and education.

The digital landscape is grown tremendously in Pakistan with a population of over 200 million people. The country has over 165 million mobile subscribers, 70 million active internet users and 60 million Smartphone users.

In a first of its kind initiative DKT Pakistan inaugurated the first doctHERs e-health facility on Tuesday in their Dhanak clinic in Ilyas Goth, Karachi. An international social franchising organisation that came to Pakistan in 2012, DKT Pakistan has been striving to provide better family planning and health care services to the people of the country. Having established 850 Dhanak clinics around the country, DKT Pakistan is now extending their services with the addition of a quality health examination facility in collaboration with doctHERs.

With an aim to serve people through latest technology, first system under the banner of Digital Pakistan on Wednesday launched, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

As per details, E-challan system has been launched and connected with the Central System for better performance and hassle free working.

E-governance doesn’t only have the ability to improve service delivery, but can also bring citizens closer to their governments

Digital governance or digitisation of public sector by using technology to provide government services online is now one of the standard tools of statecraft even in the developing countries. There are some good reasons to believe that digital governance can and has resulted in better service delivery. In addition to improving governance through greater transparency and accountability of government functionaries, digitisation helps governments to ensure the efficient and effective provision of services at a fraction of the costs incurred by providing the same services through traditional means.

He was addressing a seminar on "Enhancing productivity for the textile sector through use of IT", organised by IT solution providers Arwen Technology Ltd (ATL) here on Saturday.

The exponential growth of knowledge and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly the net has been helpful and yielded positive impact. various studies have witnessed these positive impacts, for fast, in tending, e-government and public administrations, education etc. In developed countries ICT are valuable to the e-societies.

Talking to APP, the official said the service will help the general public to check the status of their vote conveniently anytime and from anywhere from across Pakistan.

H3C, a leader in digital solutions, recently rolled out its global virtual event, the H3C Digital Tour 2021, in Pakistan. During the event, Gary Huang, President of International Business and Senior Vice President of H3C, shared his insights on Pakistan’s digital transformation and its social impact with experts, customers and partners.

Themed “Digital Future · We Together”, the event promoted mutual engagement between H3C, its partners and end users in Pakistan to encourage the implementation of smart digital strategies in key industries. H3C believes that by accelerating the digital transformation of traditional enterprises and enabling the industrial intelligent application, we will be together to share the benefits of digitalization and create a better digital future. Launched in several countries including Russia and Malaysia, the aim of H3C Digital Tour 2021 is to share the vision in assisting H3C’s global clients and partners to achieve higher levels of digital transformation.