Aitizaz Hassan

China’s Zhongguancun Belt and Road Industrial Promotion Association (ZBRA) and Pakistan’s Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA) have joined hands to establish China-Pakistan Science and Technology Cooperation Centre in Beijing. Talking to WealthPK, Aamir Hashmi, a well-known technologist and former chairman of STZA, welcomed the establishment of the Pak-China technology centre. He said this is the time that Pakistan should enable technology zones to start two-side cooperation with Beijing practically.

He said that the emergence of knowledge clusters across the globe, such as Silicon Valley (United States), Tsukuba Science City (Japan), Z-Park (China) and Daedeok (South Korea), triggered countries across the globe to initiate special legislations and regimes to enable and protect the growth of knowledge and innovation ecosystem.

Aamir Hashmi said the IT sector in the world is following the path of wealth creation through knowledge-driven solutions and services. One of the most effective policy tools in this regard was to enable the development of technology parks/zones/clusters. Consequently, the growth in such innovation and knowledge clusters has accelerated since the 80s.

“To put things into perspective, China with 169 is at the top in tech clusters, the United States hosts 115 clusters, while the UK is hosting 63, India 23, Iran 16, Egypt three, Malaysia five, and Pakistan stands at zero. In 2001, India had $1 billion in IT exports with zero knowledge clusters. In 2022, India hosts 23 clusters with more than 100 technology parks and $150 billion IT exports,” he mentioned.

According to the STZA, the inauguration of the China-Pakistan Science and Technology Cooperation Centre was held at the Embassy of Pakistan in Beijing. More than 3,000 Chinese technology companies attended the inauguration event virtually.

Terming the centre as a “liaison office for Chinese enterprises, ” the STZA Director Strategic Planning and Regulatory Affairs Hamza Saeed Orakzai noted that apart from boosting technology centre innovations, people-to-people, and student-to-student cooperation networks, the centre will be designed to build a business-to-business platform for the transfer of technology and boosting cross-border investments.

The centre will focus on cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, robotics, fintech, biotechnology, and blockchain. It will also serve as a platform for Chinese technology companies to conduct and relocate their business in special technology zones (STZs) of Pakistan and foster a cooperation base for developing production capacity.

The ZBRA is an independent organisation providing an international cooperation platform for the integration of sci-tech enterprises into the Belt and Road Initiative. Members of the ZBRA include technology enterprises, scientific research institutions, universities, and organisations based within and outside China. Headquartered in Beijing, the ZBRA has its liaison offices in North Africa, ASEAN countries, and North America.

To support the development of Pakistan’s tech ecosystem and knowledge economy, the STZA is committed to supporting international partnerships through engagements with tech innovation leaders in China, the United States, the Middle East, Europe, Turkey, etc.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk