ISLAMABAD – Dr Umar Saif is undisputedly the most talented tech genius inthe history of Pakistan.
Saif was given the charge of PITB chairmanship in November 2011 by thegovernment of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N); he was made responsiblefor all public-sector information technology projects in the province.
Winner of Sitar-e-Imtiaz Award, Dr Saif is the first Pakistani to be namedas one of the top 35 innovators in the world by MIT Technology Review(TR35) in 2011, and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in2010.
During his tenure as the PITB chairman, Dr Saif launched severalinitiatives aimed at improving citizen services for police, high-court,city district government, health and education, especially usingsmartphones.
He led the development of Punjab Innovation Policy in collaboration withGoogle and launched Plan-9, Pakistan’s first and largest public-sectorstartup incubator. He is largely credited with revamping the intermediateand matric exam system in Punjab, after a complete failure of the examsystem in the previous year.
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Saif is also the only Pakistani who has received the Google FacultyResearch Award, Mark Weiser Award, MIT Technovator Award, and MicrosoftResearch Digital Inclusion Award. He was also awarded the British CouncilOutstanding Alumni Award in 2017.
He was named among the most influential Muslims in the world in 2014-2018.
