Unleashing innovation to help Pakistan progress in online market

Karachi
There is a great potential in the online market which is allowing young entrepreneurs to kick off their own businesses and earn enormous money through a unique and effective idea.
“It’s all about an idea. If you can come up with an innovative thought and have the ability to execute it online, you can be the next millionaire,” said Muhammad Mubashir, a final-year student of the Department of Computer Information & Systems of the NED University and the group head of the Axon team which won the 'Sabeen Mahmud most innovative civic hack award', on Sunday.
Talking to The News at a three-day hackathon ‘the I Am Karachi Innovation Challenge’ organised by the Pakistan Innovation Foundation and the I AM Karachi Consortium in collaboration with the Karachi Youth Initiative at the Habib Universtiy, he said future belonged to the online market and it had already showed its immeasurable potentials.
“Mark Zuckerberg has pushed the world into a new era through a simple but magical idea of Facebook,” he said. “He was a co-founder of the social networking website which was launched officially in 2004, the time when he was just 20 years old.”
Mubashir, who is also the Microsoft Student Partner in the Ned University, said Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy had also proved their skills at young ages by introducing Snapchat, a video messaging application, in 2011 and it broke the online the market.
“There are several examples which show that the world is moving at a very rapid pace to grab the latest technology but our society has been unfortunate to realise the backward era we are living in,” he said. “Our developers have been successful in hitting the online market but we cannot prosperous in a real sense unless we mark our signature by introducing innovative online platforms.”
He said it was a great experience to contest with the best brains in the town and the learning process had more worth than winning the award.
Talking about the app which won the special prize in the category of law and security, he said it allowed users to check information about crimes by using online maps on run time.
“It also allows users to report any crime or accident by taking picture on their gadgets and the server of the concerned department will receive it digitally with necessary details of time and location.”
Mubashir said the organisers deserved appreciations and there was a dire need to arrange such competitions which could help Pakistani youth polish their skills to hunt for inventive ideas.
Jameel Yusuf, the president of the I AM Karachi consortium said there was a dearth of spaces and opportunities for the people of Karachi, particularly the youth, where they could come together to solve some of the most pressing issues of Karachi innovatively.
“This activity fits perfectly with our objective of reclaiming public spaces and bringing people together under one platform. Our aim is to create a peaceful and vibrant city which can only be made possible through activities like these.”
He said the contest helped create innovative solutions in 5 key areas – education, health, law and security, transportation and environment, and arts, culture and sports.
A total of 396 teams and 958 individuals participated in the competition, and the winners of each category would have an opportunity to be incubated at the Nest I/O.
“The theme partner groups will sponsor and work with the winning teams to help transform their idea into real impact of Karachi.”
Athar Osama, the founder and CEO of the Pakistan Innovation Foundation, said citizens’ innovation was critical to the development and progress of nations.
“Pakistan, as a country, and Karachi, as a city, is in dire need for innovation to solve the myriad of problems it finds itself in today.”