November 2022: Ignite signed contract for launching its first vertical incubator in Aerospace Technologies in collaboration with Aviation City Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. The National Incubation Center in Aerospace Technologies (NICAT) will be established at National Aerospace Science & Technology Park (NASTP), Rawalpindi. After going through a bidding process, the contract for establishment of NICAT was awarded to NETSOL Technologies Ltd. and signed by CEO Ignite, Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO ACPPL, Air Commodore Dr. Liaquat Ullah Iqbal SI(M), and CEO NETSOL, Salim Ghauri.
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“The new incubator in Aerospace Technologies will be Ignite’s eighth incubation center with a focus on nurturing high-tech startups related to aerospace & engineering. The engineering facilities available at NASTP will enable our startups to develop hardware in addition to software for aerospace systems.”
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Asim Shahryar Husain,
CEO Ignite
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Pakistani Startups Create Buzz at GITEX 2022
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October 2022: Ten startups from different National Incubation Centers participated with Ignite National Technology Fund at Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) 2022 exhibition in Dubai. GITEX is the largest technology event in the Middle East which attracted more than 100,000 visitors from more than 170 countries in 2022. Ignite established a large Pakistan pavilion in Zaabeel Hall 5 for the first time in the history of GITEX. Based on pitch decks and results achieved by startups so far, evaluation committee selected startups from different verticals to showcase the entrepreneurial potential of Pakistan in different areas including MyTM (Fintech), MapAlytics (AR/VR), XpertFlow (AI), Empowering People and Organizations (e-services), Asani.IO (CleanTech), InstaCare (HealthTech), Brayt (Ecommerce), Edversity(EdTech), WonderTree( AR/VR), and Orbit (EdTech). Three of these startups qualified for the Supernova pitching competition at GITEX.
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“I am delighted that future stars of Pakistan are showcasing their ideas at GITEX this year. This clearly shows that entrepreneurial ecosystem of Pakistan is on the rise. Ignite has doubled the number of Pakistani startups participating at GITEX this year which reflects Ignite’s efforts towards global promotion of Pakistani Startups.”
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Syed Amin Ul Haque,
Federal Minister for IT & Telecom
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Ignite and Huawei Ink MoU for Cooperation and for Fostering Startup Programs
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October 2022: At the Pakistan Innovation Day celebrated during the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) Dubai 2022, Chief Executive Officer, Ignite, Asim Shahryar Husain signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CEO Huawei Pakistan , Mark Meng in the presence of Federal Minister for IT & Telecom, Syed Amin Ul Haque and other officials from MoITT, Ignite, and Huawei. The purpose of this MoU is to establish collaboration between Ignite and Huawei Pakistan for Pakistani startups, especially those having products/services for the telecom sector.
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Ignite Exhibits at IDEAS 2022 in Karachi
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November 2022: Ignite exhibited at the 11th Edition of International Defence Exhibition and Seminar, “IDEAS 2022” at Karachi Expo Centre. Two startups with defense related products from National Incubation Center (NIC) Karachi and two Ignite funded projects were showcased at the event. Ignite’s stall showcased defense related startups and funded projects which attracted the attention of many visitors. The startups from Ignite’s NIC Karachi included Bioniks, a startup providing best, cost-effective and highly trustable artificial limbs in Pakistan, and VTOL Dynamics, a startup providing drone-based solutions for inspection, mapping, surveying, surveillance and agriculture. Funded projects included 5G SDR; a flexible solution for tactical communications (5G air-interface testbed: development of waveform and IP components) from CASE Institute of Technology, and Multimodal sensing enabled real-time intelligent wireless camera networks for secure spaces from Al-Khwarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) at University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore.
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Ignite Signs MoU with Bank Alfalah to Support the Startups and Freelancers of Pakistan
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November 2022: Ignite signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bank Alfalah to provide financing support to startups and freelancers of Pakistan. The MoU was signed by Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite and Mehreen Ahmed, Group Head of Retail Banking. Also present on the occasion were Mohsin Mushtaq, Additional Secretary (Incharge) IT & Telecom, Aisha Humera Additional Secretary Ministry of IT & Telecom, along with officials from Ministry of IT & Telecom, Ignite, and Bank Alfalah. Both, Ignite and Bank Aflalah will work together to facilitate the short-term financing needs of startups of National Incubation Centers (NICs) and freelancers of Digiskills program.
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“This collaboration between Ignite and Bank Alfalah will benefit startups and freelancers in meeting their financial needs.”
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Mohsin Mushtaq,
Additional Secretary (Incharge) IT & Telecom
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Ignite Conducts Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022 Across Pakistan
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December 2022: Ignite National Technology Fund conducted the qualifier rounds of Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022 in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad. The Cybersecurity Hackathon aims to improve cybersecurity readiness, protection, and incident response capabilities of the country by conducting cyber drills at national level and to identify cybersecurity talent for public and private sector organizations. The goal of the cybersecurity hackathon is to create awareness about the rising importance of cybersecurity for Pakistan and also to identify and motivate cybersecurity talent which can be hired by public and private sector organizations to secure their networks from cyberattacks. Top cybersecurity experts were invited for keynote talks during the occasion.
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“Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon is a step towards harnessing the national talent to form a national cybersecurity response team.”
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Mohsin Mushtaq,
Additional Secretary, MoITT
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Ignite holds Startups Business Match Making and Networking Event with APICTA Investors and Corporates
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December 2022: APICTA – Asia Pacific ICT Alliance, is an alliance of national ICT organizations representing their respective economy to build and enhance a mutually cooperative network to promote ICT, to enhance technology innovations, capability and adoption, and to encourage the development of indigenous ICT solutions for the global market. The 16 member countries of APICTA include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. For the first time in the history of APICTA, annual APICTA awards were held in Islamabad, Pakistan in December 2022. Ignite and P@SHA utilized the opportunity to organize a Business Match Making and Networking Event between visiting APICTA delegates and startups from different National Incubation Centers. Speakers included CEO Ignite, Chairman APICTA, Additional Secretary, MoITT, and Chairman P@SHA. The event was attended by more than 50 startups and many visiting APICTA delegates.
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National Incubation Center (NIC) Program Startups & Digiskills.pk Freelancers Recognized at Pakistan-ITU Digital Inclusion Week
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December 2022: The Pakistan-ITU Digital Inclusion Week 2022 was held in Islamabad. The two-day event aimed to raise awareness about the importance of mainstreaming digital inclusion in Pakistan in addressing the digital divide particularly among people in vulnerable segments such as girls, children, and differently abled. On the occasion, awards were given to female-led startups of National Incubation Center (NIC) Program Startups and top performing and female freelancers trained through Digiskills.pk by Syed Amin Ul Haque, Federal Minister for IT & Telecom and Ms. Shaza Fatima Khawaja, SAPM. Female entrepreneurship awards were given to Dr. Sarah Qureshi (NICL), Ayesha Amin (NICH), Sehrish Raza (NICP), Maryam Iqbal (NICP), Uruba Ali (NICP), Hafsa Qadeer (NIC Islamabad). Awards for top earning freelancers trained through digiskills were given to Muhammad Rizwan (Kasur), Muhammad Ali Hasnain (Karor), Aroosa Amanat (Attock), and Sabeela Mumtaz (Rahimyar Khan).
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Ignite Conducts Consultative Session on Policy Recommendations for Ease of Doing Business for Pakistani Startups
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December 2022: A consultative session on draft Policy Recommendations for the promotion of startups in Pakistan was organized by Ignite - National Technology Fund at National Incubation Center Islamabad. The session was attended by officials from Ministry of IT and Ignite, representatives from SECP, SBP, FBR, Incubators, and founders of startups. These policy recommendations were drafted based on a comprehensive study conducted by iConsult (Pvt.) Ltd. in association with Arthur D Little. The policy recommendations were related to regulatory compliances, financing issues, and taxation issues for startups. It was decided that Ignite will circulate policy recommendations to each of the regulators including SBP, FBR, SECP, and IPO separately for a way forward which was done in end of December.
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Digiskills.pk Trainee Emerges as a Top-Rated Freelancer on Upwork
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December 2022: Muhammad Umer Haleem, is a hardworking and dedicated trainee of DigiSkills.pk from Lahore. After completing his Freelancing and AutoCAD courses from DigiSkills.pk, Umer quickly put his newfound skills to use on Upwork. Despite facing many obstacles and challenges along the way, Umer persisted and ultimately emerged as a Top-Rated freelancer on Upwork. Within the short duration of a year, Umer has earned more than USD 8000 from Upwork so far.
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STAR STARTUPS OF NIC PROGRAM
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NIC Islamabad Startup ‘5 Hazar’ Recognized by Google South Asia
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5 Hazar was recognized by Google South Asia and featured globally by Google Android. 5 Hazar is the first to be recognized by Google Android global page. The startup uses digital image processing and deep learning algorithms to determine if the money is genuine or counterfeit.
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NIC Lahore Startup ‘InstaCare’ Bags the Innovation Award from The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi
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InstaCare is raising the standards of healthcare systems in Pakistan and beyond with its AI Driven smart HealthTech Solutions for patients and businesses. The startup received the award for the most innovative healthcare startup by The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, and has bagged some of the most prestigious awards from organizations such as The Commonwealth, P@SHA, Microsoft, and APAC Insider. InstaCare also gained attention from potential investors and successfully closed a few of its funding rounds, including winning a fund of PKR 15 million from Karandaaz, backed by the Melinda & Gates Foundation. Instacare had also exhibited at GITEX 2022 in Ignite’s Pakistan Pavilion with nine other startups.
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6 NIC Karachi Startups win at P@SHA ICT Awards 2022
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Six startups from NIC Karachi, received awards at the P@SHA ICT Awards 2022 in November 2022, bringing pride to the NIC Program. The startups competed in various categories and won in the fields of research and development, junior and tertiary students, media and entertainment, community services, and the Internet of Things. These startups included iParhai, Earthwarriorz, Zeenatai, Koyalpk, LearningPitch, and Crop2x.
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NIC Peshawar Startup ‘EyeSmarty’ Revolutionizes Work from Home
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EyeSmarty was an idea that took shape in the closed down world of Covid-19, when the need for employee’s productivity monitoring, project management, employees’ management, time tracking and monitoring was needed to monitor and improve productivity of employees working from home. EyeSmarty pitched their SaaS product during APICTA Awards ceremony and impressed prospective investors who are in the process of locking in investments and implementing EyeSmarty in their company. At Future Fest Expo Lahore, EyeSmarty caught the attention of international angel investors and VCs, who were intrigued with the comprehensive homegrown tool. After participation in LEAP 2023, EyeSmarty has signed deals worth $6 million.
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NIC Hyderabad Startup AgriDunya wins Agripreneurship Challenge 2022
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AgriDunya won the Pakistan Agripreneurship Challenge (PAC) 2022 held in December by Maersk Pakistan Private Limited (Maersk) and SEED Ventures. PAC is an Agri-value chain intervention challenge that aims to improve the quality of Pakistan’s agricultural produce and to explore new global markets for Pakistan’s agricultural exporters.
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NIC Faisalabad startup ‘Royal Trade Company’ Wins the Date Palm Young Pioneer Entrepreneurial Prize
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Royal Trade Company (RTC) won the Date Palm Young Pioneer Entrepreneurial Prize at the International Dates Conference and Exhibition organized by the National Center for Palms & Dates International Prize, Saudi Arabia in December 2022. Industry leaders, academia, delegates, and officials from all over the world participated in the exhibition. Raees ur Rehman, Founder of RTC is the first Pakistani to win the global competition. The NIC Faisalabad startup develops healthy and nutritious value-added date candies.
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3rd Floor, Telecom Foundation Complex, 7 Mauve Area, G-9/4, Islamabad
Tel : 051-9107441-6 | web : www.ignite.org.pk | Email : [email protected]
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