Punjab IT Policy 2018

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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.

Post 18th Amendment, a number of domains, such as the power to levy certain taxes, legislate on education, health, environment and rural development etc. have now become provincial subjects. Furthermore, the IT paradigm has changed significantly with new technologies and ideas such as IoT, Cloud Computing, Big Data etc. taking the forefront. There is, consequently, a need to revisit the IT Policy introduced in year 2000 and enable the provinces to take lead in the matter.

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.
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Ali Ansari
Dewan Group
Dr. Arshad Ali
HEC Pakistan
Jehan Ara
P@SHA
Naeem Zamindar
Acumen
Salman Ansari
SAC
Wahaj Siraj
Nayatel
Faisal Khan
Ovex Technologies
Yusuf Hussain
DM Ventures
Imran Moinuddin
NexDegree Pvt Ltd.
Syed Ahmad
DPL
Jonas Eichhorst
Silicon Straits
Murad Akhtar
Tintash
Nevil Patel
i2c Inc.
Khuram Rahat
Teradata Pakistan
Owais Zaidi
Infinitum Innovation
Dr. Yaqub Bangash
ITU
Faisal Khan
Faisal Khan & Co.
Shahjahan Chaudhary
Voostudio Pvt Ltd
Rai Azam
Azam & Rai Advocates
Dr. Qaiser Durrani
GIFT University
Afaque Ahmad
KITE
Ahrar Naqvi
Ebryx
Imran S. Baloch
Govt. of the Punjab
Asif Peer
Systems Ltd.
Khurram Jahanzeb
HEC Punjab
Sultan Hamdani
Maison Consulting
Khurram Malik
PBIT
Saad Hamid
Invest2Innovate
Sajjad Kirmani
Infogistic
Shahid Muneer
GSC Pvt. Ltd
Abbas Ali Khan
Abacus Consulting
Saad Idrees
Social Innovation Lab
Jazib Zahir
Tintash
Zeshan Qureshi
Haier
Nadeem A. Malik
Microsoft
Rizwan Rashid
PITB
Saleem Rafiq
NADRA
William Wu
Haier
Zaeem Yaqoob
BNU
Saboor Karamat
HaidermotaBNR
Noshaba Awais
HEC Pakistan
Mustafa Naseem
IPAL
Umar Zafar
Netsol Technologies
Rana Shahzad
TDAP
Obaid Saleem
GMIA
Asim Ghaffar
Redbuffer / LMKR
Zubair Anwar
BNU
Waqar Saleem
Shana Bashana
Adnan Faisal
NUST TIC
Sana Taskeen Gulzar
BBC
Mujtaba Piracha
PRA
Omer Khan
Vivid Technologies
Ahmad Khalid
Xgear
Sundas Javaid
Jumpstart Pakistan
Talaal Burny
Careem
Obaid Saleem
GMIA
Ahmed Aslam
SZABIST
Pervaiz Abbasi
Teamup Pakistan
Waqar Qureshi
PITB
Faisal Aftab
Bahria University
Arslan Khalid
Social Innovation Lab
Rabia Chaudhary
ZEF Institute Bonn
Amin Baig
Optimaken
Fazaila Qazi
Air University
Arzish Azam
Justprice.pk
Amina Sadaf
Entrepreneurial Alliances
Uzair Shahid
PITB
Furqan Shamsi
Corporate trainer
Faizan Laghari
Forun
Wadood Yahya
Cisco Systems
Ch Shoaib Akhtar
University of Lahore
Hamza Abbas
Bakhsh Autogenie
Farooq Ahmed
FAST Lahore
Ata ur Rehman
PITB
Mohsin H Malik
Bahria University
Hasham Sarwar
Infomist Services
Momina Rajput
Telenor Velocity
Kishwar S. Gulzar
NUST Business School
Eisha Zeb
PlanX
Naima Atiq
QAU
Faryal Asghar
PlanX
Atif Mumtaz
Crossover
Irfan Ahmed
Babyplanet
Zainab Tariq
Plan9
Richard Anderson
Washington University
Bilal Sohaib
Bahria University
Javaria Najeeb
Crescent Ventures
Ayesha Sohail
Care Foundation
M.Usman Gulzari
The Missing P
Fatima Rizvi
Nspire
Usama Tauqeer
Plan9
Zouhair Khaliq
Teamup Pakistan
Maaz Zahid
Mobilink
Ms. Nighat Dad & Ms. Shmyla Khan
Digital Rights Foundation
Naeem Iqbal
NADRA
Saira Ahmad
Netsol Technologies
Noman Zubair
PlanX
Maleeha Kiyani
Ez Pz
Mian Hamza
Auto Genie
Yalman Ansari
COMSATS

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:

Faisal Yousaf
Chairman
Sajid Latif
Director General e-Governance
Ahmad Islam Syan
Program Manager
Download Punjab IT Policy 2018