27-year-old Usman was awarded the Commonwealth’s highest honor for young achievers by its newly appointed youth ambassador, Prince Harry of England in recognition of his efforts to promote and advance entrepreneurship.

Usman an engineer of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology went onto pursue his Masters in engineering management from Australia. After the completion of his degree with Distinction from the University of Wollongong he faced major roadblocks in pursuing a career in his new home country.

He then went on to cofound Catalysr a first of its kind startup incubator for refugees and migrant workers in Australia that enables and empowers migrants to start their own businesses using the skills and talent they already possess. It is a social enterprise that seeks to cultivate the mindset and skillset necessary for becoming a future business leader.

“A lot of migrants and refugees who come to Australia can’t get into employment for various reasons, cultural barriers, language barriers, helping them say there’s an alternative solution to employment which is entrepreneurship,” he said. He added “We don’t tell people what to do. We find a problem they’re trying to fix through their business, then help them with mentoring and capital to help it become a reality.”

Dozens have budding entrepreneurs and innovators have gone through the program so far ranging from an Egyptian food truck, to people trying to print 3D diamonds.  His venture extends support to a diverse community of migrants with entrepreneurial ideas. His enterprise operates with the goal “to provide an alternate pathway to people and unleash their untapped potential to help change the landscape not just for them but also their communities.”

The Accelertaor program is also complimented with a podcast that features Migrapreneur Stories of different startups in the industry to help other adopt best practices.

References:

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1688706/3-pak-australian-engineer-bags-commonwealth-young-person-year-award/

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australian-who-empowers-migrants-in-business-takes-out-commonwealth-youth-award

https://nation.com.pk/18-Apr-2018/commonwealth-young-person-of-the-year-pakistani-australian-engineer-steals-the-show?show=preview/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/usmaniftikhar/

https://www.dawn.com/news/1402339

With the global introduction of high speed modes of transportation the UAE government sprang to the challenge of advancing these highly automated future transport systems on its home ground.
Which is why the first ever hyper loop passenger pods were unveiled at UAE’s Innovation exhibit at the final week of UAE innovation Month. The exhibit which was open to the public gave visitors a chance to witness the futuristic transportation system that is believed to revolutionize all aspects of terrestrial transportation.

Previously, a prototype of the Hyperloop which was initially conceptualized as a low cost, energy efficient model was unveiled by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in collaboration with Virgin Hyperloop One at City Walk. This move comes in the wake of one of many tangible efforts by the country to make 25 per cent of all journeys to be driverless by 2030.
The Hyperloop pod which is slated to be launched by 2020, is furnished with leather seats and high definition screens for displaying information. Each pod has the capacity to accommodate 12 passengers who will be travelling at speeds of over 1,000 kilometers an hour, making the normal 2 hour journey in under 12 minutes only. The Hyperloop will initially make journeys between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah and Dubai.

The hyperloop is designed in a way that the passenger pod is enclosed in a tube under a partial vacuum. The pods are made to levitate through the vacuum tube with the help of an electromagnetic propulsion system. The system hovers above the ground and is held in place by concrete columns thereby maintaining a straight trajectory. The pods do not have windows to avoid motion sickness.

A statement revealed that His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, director general of the RTA, said: ‘When introduced in future, the hyperloop technology will impact the town planning and the availability of parking spaces. ‘It will revolutionize people mobility between various destinations in the city, logistical hubs like airports and ports, and shipping patterns.

‘These pods, the first of their kind worldwide, have been designed to travel over short and medium distances on dedicated lanes. ‘They can be coupled in 15 to 20 seconds or detached, depending on the destination of riders, in five seconds. ‘They are fitted with cameras and electro-mechanical technologies to carry out the coupling and detaching processes, and this feature can be activated in-motion.’

Sources:
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/transport/first-look-prototype-for-hyperloop-unveiled-in-dubai-1.706889
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/transport/video-rta-unveils-hyperloop-prototype-in-uae-innovation-month-

Team members Muhammad Dawood, Ushma Farooq, Hassan Raza, Hassnain Qasim, Ayesha Khan and Babar Nawaz were awarded a Silver medal at an award ceremony that was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

The global iGEM contest based on synthetic biology is a five-day event featuring oral presentations, poster presentations, workshops and social events.

This year’s participants were encouraged to design projects in the environmental/social context. The iGEM Peshawar team developed a “Reporter Fish” that is genetically engineered to detect mental contamination in water. The fish will change its color once it comes into contact with water contaminated with heavy metals or other pollutants – an indication that the waterbody is too polluted to support a population of fish for human consumption. The team self-engineered the genetic circuits for the said characteristic and tested its viability in bacterial cells. The project also featured a sensor system that alarms farmers through a text message upon detection of contaminated water.

Today, polluted seafood is a serious environmental issue. It contains an increasing level of contaminants that are causing serious health problems. The iGEM Peshawar students believe that this technology can be used by fish farmers to combat the problem of unhealthy fish and provide produce which is safe for human consumption.

iGEM is a global event that has been running for over a decade. It encourages students to solve some of the world’s most serious problems by building genetically engineered biological systems. The Pakistani cohort competed with over 90 teams whose projects were featured at the event – it also had over 3,000 synthetic biologists.  Speaking about the experience Omer Zeb from Swabi said: “Being the only electrical engineer in the team working with the undergrad biologists of Pakistan was a good experience.” Another member of the team, Hassan Raza, from Faisalabad said the project would help in combating a pressing environmental issue – water pollution.

‘I am super proud of the team who put in a lot of effort to win us a Silver medal this time. A lot of thanks to the Government of KP and CECOS university for the sponsorship and the all-out support throughout the competition this year, said Dr. Faisal Khan team supervisor and the director of the Institute of Integrative Biosciences at CECOS University. ‘We hope our industry will join hands with us in IGEM 2018 like all other teams here from different countries’, he added.

This is the second time a Pakistani team has participated and won in this competition. Previously, the Pakistani team was awarded a bronze medal for devising a BioSensor that recorded carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide levels being eliminated from vehicle exhausts.

Sources:

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1557867/1-pakistani-team-bag-silver-medal-igem-2017/

http://iib.cecos.edu.pk/igem-peshawar-17-wins-silver/

https://www.pakistankakhudahafiz.com/pakistani-biology-students-bag-bronze-medal-igem-world-championship/

Four students of Pakistani American descent won the coveted $1m Hult Prize in New York City last month. They were handed over their award by former US President Bill Clinton.

Recent graduates of the Rutgers University, Gia Lakhani, Hasan Usmani, Moneed Mian and Hanaa won seed funding for their transportation startup called Roshni Rides. The team devised a solution to provide affordable, readily available and reliable public transportation for informal settlements in the South Asian region. Customers have the option of using preloaded Roshni cards that act as tickets to ensure an efficient and uniform payment option.

The Hult challenge is one of the most prestigious awards for social entrepreneurs and enterprises and has gained considerable popularity in a very short span of time. The contest invites teams from all over the world to address pressing social issues centered around food and water issues, energy, climate change, sustainable growth and education.

This year’s contest on social ventures to address problems of people residing in informal settlements anywhere. After several rounds in the competition six finalists, including Team Roshni Rides and another team from Pakistan, pitched before a jury in New York to take the ultimate prize.

Roshni Rides had successfully raised around $30,000 through a crowd funding campaign to put their idea to practice in Karachi’s Orangi Town. The team felt that transportation was a major challenge for the informal communities because of lack of infrastructure and this resulted in poor access to hospitals, schools or workplaces. Due to poorly constructed roads even three wheeled rickshaws cannot make it to some of these localities and those that do often demanded often staggering fares.

Beginning with trying to build a solar powered electric rickshaw, the team ended up using ride sharing app for existing rickshaw fleets. This way the drivers could share rides and earn a higher income than what he could as an independent driver.

In the coming years, Roshni Rides hopes to use the prize money to expand the company. By 2022, they aim to have a fleet of 1,200 rickshaws across south Asia and serve 2.2 million refugees. If they meet that goal, the company is projected to make a profit of over $5 million a year through advertising revenue and fares.

The idea of “Walk to Beat” walking stick initially struck Neha when she saw her grandfather suffering from Parkinson’s for nearly eight years. After witnessing the Parkinson’s freeze herself, she aimed to help patients who suffer from this disease.

Parkinson’s disease refers to a neurological disorder which particularly affects movement in the body and is more common among the elderly. It affects a person’s ability to walk, eat, write and speak. This state has come to be known as a Parkinson’s freeze – a sudden temporary episode of complete immobility. It not only limits the ability to start movement but also hampers an ongoing rhythmic activity such as walking or speaking. The brief pause in walking is very disabling as it gives the sensation of being glued to the ground. During this Parkinson’s freeze, there is a high probability that patients might injure themselves if they continue to stand for too long.

Key components of the Walk to Beat walking stick handle

By conducting research, Neha found a simple solution to remedy this particular aspect of the illness. Neha developed this idea as her final year research project during her Bachelor’s degree at the University of the West of England. She made an initial prototype of the walking stick which she incubated at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory. The structure of the walking stick operates using haptic vibrations; the handle of the stick is equipped with a device that gives a vibrating pulse like sensation to the person holding the stick serving as an impulse to continue movement. The rhythmic pulse allows patients to match the pace of their movement with the beating. She also incorporated a recording sensor in the stick that will record the time and duration of the freezing episode based on their walking patterns. Neha believes this is an important modification which will help doctors and health care professionals to better understand the disease and its implications on their patients.

Neha tested the walking stick with Parkinson’s patients making changes over the course of one year based on patients’ feedback. She wanted to develop a product which was not only effective but also aesthetically pleasing to reflect the needs of the patients. This battery operated walking stick has is rechargeable and once fully charged, it operates for 5 days. Each product has a life span of five years.

Neha has received widespread positive feedback on this invention. As a result of this, she went on to found her own company “Walk to Beat” under which she began developing this product further. Neha and her team are continuously making efforts to improve this product and develop a minimum viable product by November 2017, aiming to launch the complete product by early next year. Neha is currently doing her Master’s in Marketing at the University of the West of England, polishing her skills to reach a wider market audience. Her invention has won three awards for entrepreneurship and five prizes including 100,000 pounds worth of investment to produce and develop this walking stick.

Farid Dailami, Associate Professor for Knowledge Exchange in Manufacturing at the Robotics Innovation Facility remarked: “The Walk to Beat walking stick can make a real difference to the lives of people suffering from Parkinson’s, and we are looking forward to providing further support and helping realize its potential.”

References:

http://parkinsonslife.eu/parkinsons-walking-stick-neha-chaudhry-walk-to-beat/

https://info.uwe.ac.uk/news/uwenews/news.aspx?id=3360

http://parkinsonslife.eu/walk-to-beat-innovative-walking-stick-parkinsons-patients-neha-shahid-chaudhry/

A group of scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed an environmentally friendly omni-phobic (liquid repellent) material, it was learnt today. This novel material is inspired by soil-dwelling insects – springtails which are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions.

Working under the leadership of Himanshu Mishra at KAUST’s Water Desalination and Reuse Centre, these new materials can be used in a range of applications such as reducing biofouling and underwater drag to membrane distillation, oil-water separation, and waterproofing.

Himanshu Mishra is the Assistant Professor at KAUST in the Environmental Science and Engineering and Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Divisions with an interest in this particular discipline. Generally, the process of developing liquid repellent veneers relies heavily on the use of per-fluorinated coatings; even though this solution works, it is generally short-lived and is likely to corrode under harsh physical conditions. It also has adverse effects on environment as well as health. To counter this issue, Himanshu Mishra and his colleagues came up with a viable alternative by studying the surface coatings of springtails.

Using inspirations from naturally occurring materials, substances, and phenomena to create artificial materials and designs, generally known as biomimicry, is a highly popular mechanism to induce greater creativity in the scientific process and has been widely used in other instances such as conversing energy and improving communications and transportation.

Scientists draw inspiration from springtails for developing a liquid repellent material

In this particular instance, the scientists studied the surface properties of springtails. The patterns on the springtails exploit surface textures that contain a double layer of reentrant cavities, which keep them dry. By using photolithography and dry-etching tools at the KAUST Nanofabrication Core Lab, the researchers recreated these double layered reentrant micro cavities on silica surfaces. These micro cavities can trap air and prevent penetration of liquids, even under elevated pressures. The surface of the springtails also prevents any loss of omniphobicity in the presence of localized damage or defects or upon immersion in wetting liquids.

The team of scientists stated that the potential of this material is yet to be fully realized as it can be used to reduce hydrodynamic drag which is the force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid and anti-fouling which refers to  specialized category of coatings applied as the outer surfaces of materials to slow the growth of subaquatic organisms.

References:

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=177740&CultureCode=en

Legend has it that that the seeds of what we know today as the Silicon Valley were laid at the Stanford University and the Stanford University Industrial Park when a Stanford Professor Frederick Terman who loaned a thousand dollars to two of his students – William Hewlett and David Packard – who ended up creating Hewlett and Packard Company. (1) Then came Fairchild Electronics and the rest is history.

Ever since, the Silicon Valley has been a part and parcel of the folklore of entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation. Governments and locations, from both developed and developing world, have tried to create Silicon Valley clones and the results have been rather mixed. Yet the dream of creating a technology cluster lives on, sometimes in the most unlikely-est of the places.

The world’s best kept secret

The newest aspirants to this global trend is none other than Tehran, the capital of Iran – a country that can easily be described the ‘world’s best kept secret’. Dr. Fereidoun Ghasemzadeh, CEO of Afranet and a professor of management and economics at Sharif University, recently described Iran as ‘the largest unconquered market in the world.’ (2) Not only is it home to potential immense wealth – the second largest discovered oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and the second largest gas reserves after Russia – but also a large and multi-talented population of over 130 million people.

With the promise that easily pales many of its neighbours, Iran is only undermined by its the traditional and archaic socio-economic structures, large (and inefficient) government, the oil-based economy and the dampening of economic incentive to venture that it creates, a lack of maturity of the market economy, and crippling sanctions by the West.

The latter has been both a challenge for entrepreneurs and businessmen since it significantly enhances the cost of doing business in Iran. But it also creates an opportunity for it has shielded them from intense international competition thus allowing them to develop basic technical capabilities. Though sometimes, if not always, only to be hampered again in the efforts to capitalize on this opportunity because of restricted market opportunities.

Entrepreneurs: people are the key

Nevertheless, Iran’s entrepreneurs are brimming with talent and energy to make a difference for their country and, in the process, money for themselves. They also feel that there is a narrow window of opportunity to use technology to transform Iranian society and this ultimately shall open doors to many more possibilities. Several demographic statistics are worth noting here:

40% of the Iran’s population – around 80 million people – are between the ages of 20-40 years. This generation of baby boomers – the generation that was born after the Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war – is both young and restless and pushing for rapid changes within the society.

60% of the university graduates are women. 40% of the students study engineering at the bachelors level, though up to 40% of university graduates are unemployed. This makes for perfect conditions for an entrepreneurship revolution in Iran. And there are already signs that this is beginning to happen. Many of these young people will, in the process, create the future for Iran, and for the World.

Three frontiers for Iranian entrepreneurs

A number of ‘me-too’ startups have used internationally successful business models to fill particular gaps within the local eco-system. Whether these are group buying (Khafifian.com), online ecommerce (Digikala.com), crowdfunding (Hamijoo.com), online video sharing (apparat.com), or online food delivery (mamanpaz.ir), these startups have begun to target gaps in local socio-economic structures as a starting point for a transformation that has to come. (3)

In doing so, they have avoided falling into the trap of expecting the government to catch-up. Techcrunch, the technology industry website, has called Iran the ‘latest country the internet economy is emerging in.” (4) There are also signs that the German Rocket Internet model is beginning to take hold in Iran. (5) This has been, and rightly so, the first frontier in Iran’s quest to use technology within its society.

The second frontier – something that many entrepreneurs have been silently pushing at for several years – is where technology meets the traditional sectors such as transportation, healthcare, logistics, and the like. Here, there are still considerable challenges because of the considerable inertia within the country’s socio-economic infrastructure. This will require going beyond the ‘me-too’ products to create solutions that will address typical Iranian problems.

Here, the government can use its procurement power to make a difference to create market opportunities for the entrepreneurs. But, like most other governments in the developing world, fall short of doing so. One could find entrepreneurs with decent products who would have readily found government support in another (developed) country complaining that there is no market for them within Iran.

The final frontier for Iranian entrepreneurs shall be to target global markets from Iran. There are riches to be had in selling to the world and there is no reason that why creative and entrepreneurial Iranians can’t have a fair share of the pie. However, doing so will require not the removal of Western sanctions – just leveling the playing field for them but also exposing Iranian entrepreneurs to global competition.

While there are some examples such as Parsa Ghaffari’s Artificial Intelligence Startup Ayelien, among others, creating the next Facebook, Google, Microsoft, WhatsApp, or the like does not often happen in a vacuum. It is no accident that a vast majority of these billion dollar companies were created in the free and laissez faire United States rather than the much more regulated Europe, Asia, or a developing country. While exceptions can happen, creating a system of innovation and venturing that repeatedly delivers shall require more than just luck and raw talent.

Incubators –>  Science Parks –> Accelerators –> VCs

Some help is on the way. In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on creating the necessary ingredients of an innovation and startup eco-system. Here is the government seems to have taken the first step.

Just over 20 years ago, the proposal to set up the country’s first technology incubator and science park was put forth before the Governor of the Isfahan Province and this evolved into the Isfahan Science and Technology Town (ISTT). Over the years, Iranians, through government involvement at various levels, have created 34 science and technology parks and more than 150 incubators. These investments, though managed in a semi-private sector fashion, laid the foundations of an emerging entrepreneurial culture within Iran.

Emboldened, the private sector is now jumping in the fray, particular when it comes to information technology startups. Plans are afoot to create Iran’s first private sector STPs. This shall not be encumbered by regulations and restrictions that hamper the usual public sector STPs and will be driven by incentives and flexibility of a true private sector player.

While there was hardly a startup eco-system in Iran in the early 2000s, since 2010-12 it has seen an explosive growth. More than 35 Startup Weekend events have been organized thus far (5). Recently, there have been a number of accelerators and semi-formal incubators that have come in.

Accelerators include DMOND Group (a brand of Plug & Play) and Avatech, though there are several other private sector initiatives in the works. Avatech is most well-known and it recently organized its demo day with 6-8 companies presenting their products. There is considerable angel and VC interest in some of these emerging startups.

Private ambitions, public aspirations

While these exciting developments represent the passion and ambition of private individuals seeking to make a killing at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation in Iran, there is also patriotism and sense of being at the forefront of history being created for this nation of 130 million people. Young Iranian entrepreneurs believe it is in their grasp to fundamentally change Iran’s standing in the world by showing the tremendous raw talent and energy that this country embodies.

The Government is not very far behind in this for they too have public aspirations – of fully integrating with the rest of the world and – of using the immense power of technology to solve Iran’s (and the World’s) problems, most notably youth unemployment but also increasingly address the country’s economic competitiveness and its transition from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy.

It is evident from the ongoing negotiations between Iran and P5+1 that Iranians and their Government want the crippling sanctions to be lifted and for Iranians to play a role – according to their weight – in the global eco-system through creation of new technology and knowledge. Many countries of the West, particularly, China and Europe are equally eager to embrace Iran when such a break through happens for they are dazzled and charmed by the raw talent and potential of this 5000+ year old civilization.

One indicator of this was organization of the iBridges Conference in Berlin where Iranians from around the world descended to have a fundamental conversation among themselves and with others from the around world about the opportunity that this country represents.

Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. Parsa Ghaffari, an Iranian Entrepreneur described the excitement in the following words:

“Iranians are, just like Israelis, very entrepreneurial. They don’t really like to work for a big company for 30 years. So I think that’s why this whole concept [of startups] became so popular so quickly in Iran.” (5)

If words had between the lines meanings, this sentence would say a lot about how Iranians see themselves and the future potential.

Iran is ready to take on the challenge of technology. Whether the world is willing, yet, to take a step forward is another story.

References:

1) http://www.netvalley.com/silicon_valley/Fred_Terman_Father_of_Silicon_Valley.html

2) Speech at iBridges Berlin Conference available at: http://www.ibridges.org/conference-2015

3) http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/31/amazon-iranian-style-digikala-other-startups-aparat-hamijoo-takhfifan

4) http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/02/the-next-tech-startup-ecosystem-to-emerge-iran/

5) http://www.geektime.com/2015/05/26/the-persian-dream-an-in-depth-look-at-the-iranian-startup-scene/

On the flakier side, some say aliens did it.

Perhaps the most confounding mystery of all involves how incredibly large stones made their way to the middle of the desert without massive mechanical assistance. No camel, even the Egyptian kind, is that strong.

The truth, researchers at the University of Amsterdam announced this week in a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, may actually be quite simple. It has long been believed that Egyptians used wooden sleds to haul the stone, but until now it hasn’t been entirely understood how they overcame the problem of friction. It amounts to nothing more, scientists say, than a “clever trick”.

They most likely wet the sand.

“For the construction of the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians had to transport heavy blocks of stone and large statues across the desert,” the university said. “The Egyptians therefore placed the heavy objects on a sledge that workers pulled over the sand. Research … revealed that the Egyptians probably made the desert sand in front of the sledge wet.”

It has to do with physics. The sort of sledges the Egyptians used to transport the two-tonne loads of stone were pretty rudimentary. They were wooden planks with upturned edges. Dragging something that heavy through hot sand would – unsurprisingly – dig into the grains, creating a sand berm that would make progress nearly impossible. It “was perhaps observed by the Egyptians that in [a] dry case, a heap of sand forms in front of the sled before it can really start to move,” says the study, authored by a team of eight researchers led by Daniel Bonn.

The only way around that problem would be to constantly clear the sand out of the way, making a tedious process even more tedious.

Damp sand, however, operates very differently. According to the research, “sliding friction on sand is greatly reduced by the addition of some – but not that much – water”. So this time, researchers placed a laboratory version of an Egyptian sledge in a bin of sand that had been dried in the oven. Then they threw down some water, and measured the grains’ stiffness. If the water had the appropriate level of wetness, something called “capillary bridges” – extremely small droplets of water that glue together individual grains of sand – would form.

These bridges not only stopped the sled from forming sand berms but also cut by half the amount of force required to move the cart. “I was very surprised by the amount the pulling force could be reduced – by as much as 50 per cent – meaning that the Egyptians needed only half the men to pull over wet sand as compared to dry,” Bonn said.

Indeed, he says the experiments showed the required force decreased in proportion to the sand’s stiffness. “In the presence of the correct quantity of water, wet desert sand is about twice as stiff as dry sand,” the university says. “A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.”

Too much water, however, would create separate problems. “The static friction progressively decreases in amplitude when more water is added to the system,” the study says.

Adding more evidence to the conclusion that Egyptians used water is a wall painting in the tomb of Djehutihotep. A splash of orange and grey, it appears to show a person standing at the front of a massive sledge, pouring water onto the sand just in front of the progressing sled. What this man was doing has been a matter of great debate and discussion.

“This was the question,” Bonn said. “In fact, Egyptologists had been interpreting the water as part of a purification ritual, and had never sought a scientific explanation. And friction is a terribly complicated problem; even if you realise that wet sand is harder – as in a sandcastle, you cannot build on dry sand – the consequences of that for friction are hard to predict.”

He said the experiment not only solved “the Egyptian mystery, but also shows, interestingly, that the stiffness of sand is directly related to the friction force.”

In all, the scientists say, “the Egyptians were probably aware of this handy trick.”

Source: Sydney Herald

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely, dark place. For Pakistani tech entrepreneurs, that seems to be literally true (what with power shortage amounting to 12 hours a day sometimes). Pitted against this lack of funds, mentorship, and resources, is Punjab Information Technology Board’s Plan9 – Pakistan’s first national tech incubator.

Power shortage alone begs the question whether a technology incubator can be successful in a Pakistani environment. Besides, can we count on technology to solve our local problems?

PITB Chairman Dr. Umar Saif, certainly thinks so. “Technology is reshaping the world. Tech startups are solving global problems locally,” he says. And how does he regard Plan9’s role in this ecosystem? “Plan9 is contributing towards an ecosystem whose aim is to promote tech entrepreneurship in Pakistan. It is playing a pivotal role in providing a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs who often have to succumb in the face of hardships due to lack of resources and opportunities.” Dr. Saif is hopeful that Plan9 will bridge the gap between academia, industry and the government through technology.

Plan9 Core Team

While Plan9 is not Pakistan’s first technology incubator, it is certainly so far the most consistent and visible one and the first national initiative of its kind. Launched in 2012, Plan9 was awarded a grant of 180 million rupees by the Punjab government to realize its aim: which is to provide an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and business development in Pakistan.

Each cycle, entrepreneurs are invited to apply as an incubatee. After filling an online application, teams are shortlisted to present their business ideas at a Launchpad. A Launchpad is a three day event held at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, for the selection of teams for incubation at Plan9.  A board of advisors, including PITB Chairman Dr. Umar Saif, PASHA President Jehan Ara, Google Pakistan Country Consultant Badar Khushnood, among others, rates and shortlists applicants on the merit of their ideas and their potential as a tech startup.

An incubation cycle is six months long. Successful applicants are provided free office space, laptops and the chance to work in an environment with uninterrupted power supply and internet access. A team can include anywhere between 2 to 5 members. Each team member of the incubated team is also granted a monthly stipend of Rs 20,000 for financial assistance for the entirety of their incubation cycle.

Through various workshops, trainings and mentorship sessions, the Plan9 team helps each project focus on the attainability of its goal. In a short time Plan9 has developed a large network of mentors who help train and mentor incubated teams. Among them are names such as Hussein Kanji, Partner at Hoxton Ventures; Saad Khan, Partner at CMEA Capital; Naeem Zamindar, CEO Wateen; Jazib Zahir, CEO Tintash; and Fadi Bishara, Founder Blackbox. Encouraging an environment conducive to innovative thinking, these mentors allocate their time to develop and shape the understanding of incubated teams through their sessions.

Angel Investors Club

All incubated startups have the opportunity to pitch their business/product ideas to Plan9 Angel Investors Club. The Angels Investors Club is comprised of investors who are hopeful of advancing technological developments in Pakistan. The club comprises of visionaries such as Syed Babar Ali; PITB Chairman, Dr. Umar Saif; CEO Sofizar, Zafar Khan; CEO Angels Den, Bill Morrow; and Thal Industries Director Farah Khan among others. To date the club has invested 500,000 USD in various startups incubated at Plan9.

How has this innovative approach, to realizing Pakistan’s entrepreneurial spirit, proved to be fruitful? For one, this relatively young incubator has become a beacon of hope for young entrepreneurs all over the country. More importantly, within the short span that it has been functioning, several Plan9 incubatees have successfully launched their projects for both Android and Apple devices, such as Groopic, Technolsys, and Locpro. Additionally, the mobile app helpline, Appography has been selected for the BlackBox 2014 Spring Program in Silicon Valley. Apart from announcing a Fellowship program, which invites individuals to intern with Plan9 and its incubated teams, Plan9 has also recently opened its offices for freelance developers, thereby providing a viable space for freelancers to co-work and engage in meaningful conversations.

Among Plan9’s most successful incubated companies, are names like Eyedeus Labs, Hometown, Kickstoro, Technolsys Labs, MyBizPakistan and Appography. What sets these startups apart from most? “Passion, team strength and focus”, says Plan9 Marketing and PR Manager, Hafsa Shorish. “Each incubatee is given similar resources to work with. Those who bring commitment and passion to their work have a greater chance to succeed. If a team is in sync with its visions and goals, it will go far.”

Eyedeus Labs is one such success story. Groopic, their first product, was launched in 2013 and has become a favourite with many. Groopic allows users to take photographs which also includes the photographer. Hometown is another success story to come out of Plan9 incubation. With the aim to bridge the gap between local craftsmen and consumers, Hometown offers exquisite handcrafted leather shoes to consumers.

Plan9 has clearly set an example for other aspiring incubators to follow a successful model. However, Plan9’s success has limitations as well. Government support – both organizational and financial – has played a very critical role in the establishment and sustainability of Plan9. And while the results achieved by incubatees are impressive, they have largely been non-financial and it is not clear if a private-sector entity can sustain this level of support without a direct financial outcome associated with it.

With the establishment of Plan 9 as an innovative working space for young entrepreneurs, it is hoped that more incubation centers are opened in other parts of Pakistan, in order to engage the youth. More than anything, Plan 9 ensures that tech entrepreneurship is no longer a lonely, dark place, rather, a lively hub of the nation’s brightest minds.