Lahore: As many as 10 Pakistani students, representing four different Pakistani universities, have been selected as finalists for a prestigious innovation challenge organized by the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program of the Asian Development Bank.
The CAREC University Startup Generator is a competitive innovation contest for university students in the Central Asian region which seeks to develop practical, entrepreneurial and soft skills among university students. “This initiative intends to support the development of talent…and foster innovative approaches to addressing local challenges,” reads the official description of the competition on the CAREC website.
The Pakistani teams selected as finalists are enrolled with Isra University Hyderabad, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore College For Women University and University of Engineering and Technology Lahore.
Of these 10 Pakistani finalists, five are female students enrolled in diverse programs like computer sciences, electrical engineering, English linguistics and software engineering.
One of the projects in the running is Goddard-Discovery in the domain of mobility tech; its team includes two Pakistani female students, Nimra Naeem and Unzila Khan. The other two members are Muhammad Ali from Pakistan and Nihat Abbasov, from Azerbaijan. This project is automating the process of literature review for researchers by developing an AI-driven assistant to make tasks more efficient and productive while providing several collaborative tools and a space for remote workers.
Another project selected as a finalist is named RideEase and is composed entirely of Pakistani students from Isra University Hyderabad. The team members are: Muhammad Saood Khan, Muhammad Shehzore Hashmi and Bibi Alisha Sanam Talpur. They are developing a cutting-edge self-driving car system, incorporating advanced AI technologies and computer vision algorithms for safe and efficient transportation.
The third project by Pakistani students is also in the domain of clean tech is Inovo, a cycle ride sharing solution. It is developed by students from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, namely Maimoon Ahmad, Uswah Saeed, Muhammad Awais and Moizza Azhar.
These students are competing against teams from China, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The teams will present their projects to a panel of judges on March 29, (today) and four winners will be announced later in April.
Overall, the contest attracted a total of 168 teams representing 580 students from 10 CAREC countries, of which 10 teams were selected as finalists.