ISLAMABAD, June 20: Information Technology Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Monday urged local software industry to be innovative in its products and services to strike strategic partnerships with global IT companies.
“Local IT companies have the potential and expertise to produce competitive products that could place them in good stead in the IT world,” he said in a meeting with a delegation of six Pakistani IT companies that left for South Korea here on Monday.
The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has been working with South Korean government for some time to introduce Pakistani companies to their Korean counterparts. A delegation comprising eight companies that work in graphics and animation went to South Korea last year.
That particular visit resulted in a few commercial contracts being awarded to Pakistani companies. The present visit, hence, builds upon the success of that trip, Mr Leghari said.
He said embedded software — a technology chosen by local companies — was of particular relevance to Pakistan.
“We have a large pool of highly trained engineers with educational backgrounds that will be of immediate interest to South Korean companies that do research and development in embedded software,” he observed.
Embedded software is a built-in programme in an electronic product to control its operation. Such products include consumer items such as video recorders, cameras, sound systems and electronic warfare devices.
There is probably no electronic product today that does not use embedded software. Some of these devices, such as navigational equipment aboard aircraft and monitors used during medical operations, are used to perform critical functions, the minister said.
The concept of taking business delegations to potential markets abroad is obviously nothing new, however concentrating on areas that are in the high end technologies such as embedded software is very exciting, said Dr Aamir Matin, managing director of the PSEB which is sponsoring the delegation’s visit.
“There are world class companies in Pakistan working in the embedded software and we are hopeful that this visit will be fruitful and our companies would strike deals with their counterparts in South Korea,” Dr Matin observed.