ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood today said strong interventions were needed for utilising IT to revitalize the education sector.
He was addressing the closing ceremony of 16th international conference on ‘Frontiers of Information Technology’ (FIT-2018) arranged by COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) at COMSTECH Secretariat. The federal minister said the country has a serious issue of growing population and a huge bulk of youth but with the help of IT, this huge bulk of youth will actually become an asset for the country. He said IT is the area and field where the possibility of change and innovation are there and of course international revolution is also the result of usage of this technology.
Shafqat Mahmood said, “I have no doubt in my mind that as we move forward in this particular area, we have the potential to bring billions of dollars to the country. Our software products now at this stage are more reflective of the potential and talent we have.” He stressed the need to put more and more efforts to enhance the capabilities of our youth , enabling them to excel in the field of IT. Shafqat Mahmood appreciated the efforts of CUI for arranging this important conference and giving a platform to the researchers at the national and international level to share their innovations and learn from each others experiences.
He assured his ministry is taking strong measures to bring innovation in the education sector through utilising IT. CUI Rector Prof Dr. Raheel Qamar, in his closing remarks, thanked the researchers from all over the world who shared their research with participants. He also acknowledged the organizers for successfully hosting the international event. Cash prizes were awarded to undergraduate students in the category of computer science and electrical engineering for the best projects. In computer science COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus secured first and Islamabad Campus secured the second position respectively, while KICSIT secured the third position.
In electrical engineering category, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus secured first and second position while COMSATS University Islamabad Campus secured the third position. During the three-day conference, international speakers from Canada, France, Germany, Macao, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, UAE, UK and USA participated in the FIT-2018 and shared their views on the theme of this year’s conference which is “Innovation-The Way Forward”. Different scholars highlighted the importance of innovation, with the help of technology and skills and presented novel solutions to IT specialists to learn and fly in the present era. A series of talks were organized as part of technical sessions and world renowned scholars and researchers participated in these talks.
PhD symposia held during the conference provided a forum to the PhD students to present their ongoing research; these symposia were conducted by elite academicians from the arena of Information Technology. Tutorial sessions were also a part of FIT-2018 in which various topics of interest for IT community are being organized and delivered.
The “Best IT Innovation Award” with prize money for commercialization was also awarded to the best innovative idea. The panel discussion on “Innovation-The Way Forward” held on concluding day focused on the scope of innovations in universities.
A focus group discussion on converting a dream into reality raising Pakistan’s IT exports to $10 billion per year was also held during the conference. This discussion was led by Pakistan’s most intellectual brains in various fields including IT, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The conference was inaugurated by Federal Minister, Ministry of Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Asad Umar on Monday who highlighted the importance of Information Technology in the economic development of Pakistan.
