Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan has been in the highlights for quite some time now. The province is on the track to become digitally inclusive for which various initiatives have already been taken. Building Pakistan’s first innovation Park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is another step in the same direction where offices will be set up for the players from IT, innovation and technology. Establishing the innovation park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is part of KP 4.0 digital policy.
KP’s First-ever Innovation Park
An innovation park is not exactly a park rather it is a facility or a building, often affiliated with an academic institution, that focuses on technological research and development (R&D). The idea behind establishing an innovation park is to attract a big number of tech firms and locate them together, particularly so that they can exchange knowledge and skills and get into mutually beneficial partnerships. This forms an ecosystem of innovation, technical advancement, digitization and partnerships through which the entire world can benefit.
The first-ever innovation park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will provide office spaces for interconnected businesses in the tech and IT industry to share knowledge and skills so that the province, as well as the entire country, can flourish through digital innovations. Since a cluster of closely related startups have already been collaborating and growing together in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it would be right to say that KP Province is on its way to becoming the Silicon Valley of Pakistan.
In 2020, the provincial government had launched the “Digital KP” policy which was expected to create 30,000 jobs for youth in the upcoming digital economy. The innovation park that will be established in Peshawar is a part of this digital policy. KP 4.0 “Connecting The Dots” is a ten-year-long vision to develop the science and technology sector in Peshawar which will serve as a platform for groundbreaking tech, innovation and research.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Digital Policy
The Digital Policy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a whole framework for regulations, operations and financial challenges linked directly with the growth of the information and technology sector of the province. Moreover, the Digital Policy also has a complete set of recommendations on how to uplift the sector and what the government can do in this regard.
The Digital Policy is a 10-year long implementation of a framework in the province by leveraging the IT sector for more jobs, empowerment and economic growth. The Goal of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB) is to lead the digital transformation of Pakistan and make KP the national technology hub.
Here are some of the expected outcomes of KP Digital Policy:
- Improved connectivity through the provision of affordable internet
- Increase financial inclusion from 14% to 50% by enabling digital payments throughout the province
- Expand and enable e-commerce and online marketplaces
- Reduce cash transaction and encourage online and digital transactions
- The improved personal privacy of citizens and private and government institutions operating in cyberspace
- Improve digital skills among people through vocational learning
- Effective public-private partnerships
- Increase the number of women in the technology sector to 50%
The KP government’s latest policies will not only help contribute to the advancement of technology but also create jobs.
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