President Dr Arif Alvi has called for bridging gap between science and legislators, the promotion of virtual education and positive use of social media tools to jump the bandwagon of technologically developed nations.
“There is a gap between science and politicians. There is a gap between the decision makers and the beneficiaries of those decisions. There is a gap between the social media users and decisions makers on the matter,” the president said.
Addressing the Pakistan Innovate Conference and National Idea Bank Grand Finale, the president urged the universities to multiply the number of their enrolment to feed the local as well as the international market.
Referring to the available modern tools like Zoom and others, the president said in modern era, the massive knowledge and data existed in clouds accessible to all even beyond human consumption.
The president said the development in this hi-tech era did not require any huge investment rather small startups could outshine the giants.
He said though Pakistan had lagged behind the race of technology, however, the country could join the league by nurturing ideas coming through the National Ideas Bank.President Alvi earlier distributed cash prizes and shields among 18 toppers of the competition who were shortlisted from 21,000 aspirants in six categories including education, e-commerce, agriculture, natural resources, and construction. Referring to Pakistan’s success story of handling the COVID-19, the president said the country maintained balance between lives and livelihood on the basis of data analysis and compassion towards the needy.
Calling fake news a threat to the society, the president urged the youth to ignore fake social media messages to help build a mature society. Appreciating the efforts of the National Idea Bank, the president said no one could deter a nation from progress if it foresaw the future trends and needs.
Chief Architect of National Idea Bank Dr Azam Arastu appreciated President Alvi for taking the initiative of the Ideas Bank as the first phase had reached completion.