The Government of the Punjab envisions Information Technologies as a vehicle for transforming the province into a knowledge-based, economically vibrant, democratic and inclusive society. Our vision is that Punjab becomes the top e-Governed, IT-enabled, e-Literate province in the region, is a preferred destination for global IT businesses and becomes a major supplier of skilled IT human resource.

Policy Formulation Process
In order for a policy to be realistic yet, the same time, effective, it is imperative that the policy follow a systematic pattern of consultation, deliberation and revisions, allowing for constant improvement of the draft. The formulation process of the Punjab IT Policy 2018 builds on the following:
Inclusivity
The policy process took into account the needs of all stakeholders involved and how they would be impacted by the policy
Forward Looking
The process focused on determining the emerging and upcoming opportunities and focused on a long-run view of things
Joined-up
The policy attempts to take a holistic view of the government policies as a whole and work across institutional boundaries
Outward Looking
The formulation process drew heavily on the experiences of other countries as well as global trends and challenges
Evidence based
A conscious effort was made to base this policy on the best-available evidence from a multiple range of sources and involve relevant stakeholders throughout the process
In view of these principles, the policy formulation process was carried out through three major sets of activities which are discussed briefly as follows:
Focus Group discussions were conducted at all stages of the policy-making process i.e. to identify the challenges in the status quo, to deliberate on the possible remedies and to chalk-up policy recommendations. More than 20 focus group discussions were conducted across Pakistan, bringing together members of the academia, IT industry, government departments, manufecturing sector as well as other relevant stakeholders, to make the process as inclusive as possible


In addition to the focus group discussions, it was realised that individual consultation meetings were required, especially in the case of emerging disciplines such as IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Angel Investments etc. to obtain first-hand account of the challenges and opportunities in these sectors. More than 50 individual consultation meetings were held during the process to seek input from specialists in the relevant fields


One of the key components of the policy formulation was the research undertaken by the team of researchers and interns at PITB. Moreover, highly qualified young individuals with policy research experience at both national and international level were engaged to identify global trends, local challenges, opportunities and threats. A comparative research process was also initiated to determine best policy practices from across the globe, especially in the emerging economies and the developing world. Policy documents from more than 25 countries and states were reviewed during the policy formulation process


This draft is the culmination of intense efforts by more than 200 individuals from different segments of the society. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of these individuals, who showed tremendous enthusiasm, support and participation to bring this draft to life.
We are especially grateful to Mr. Salman Ansari, Ms. Jehan Ara and Mr. Yusuf Hussain who reviewed this draft on our request and provided invaluable feedback. A special mention must also be made of McKinsey & Company who reviewed this draft and aligned it with international best practices.


Following is a list of individuals who provided us with their valuable feedback and suggestions on how to improve the policy draft through individual feedback and focus groups. We have made an effort to include all the names that were available in the records, but there would be others who were a part of the process and might not find their name here.
List of Contributors
The list below is our humble show of gratitude and an acknowledgment that this draft would not have been possible without the valuable input that we received from all of these brilliant individuals and many others.
The Team
The Punjab IT policy has been drafted by a group of highly motivated and dedicated team of individuals who worked tirelessly during the last six months to bring this policy draft to fruition. The members of the core team were:

Ali Sarfraz Hussain
Chairman

Sajid Latif
Director General IT

Atif Mumtaz
Director Entrepreneurship

Ahmad Islam Syan
Program Manager
Download Punjab IT Policy 2018