Mr. Muhammad Usman Dar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs chaired a meeting with the representatives of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft to discuss collaboration with Prime Minister’s Kmyab Jawan Programme on the launch of Microsoft Imagine Cup and Prime Minister’s Innovation League under the umbrella of Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme.
Microsoft team briefed Mr. Usman Dar that Microsoft Imagine Cup is the largest international innovation competition, as over 2 Million young innovators across more than 100 countries worldwide have participated in it so far. Participation is highly competitive. Annually, around 40 best of the best IT-based innovation projects, out of around 350 projects developed by university final year students across Pakistan, are selected and showcased by Higher Education Commission (HEC) after competing at provincial and national levels. National level winners compete at Regional level in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and finally at international level in Microsoft headquarters, USA to win a hefty cash award of USD 100,000.
It was agreed in the meeting that Microsoft would collaborate with Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme to connect the national level winners and runner ups of Microsoft Imagine Cup with Prime Minister’s Startup Pakistan Programme, Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES), HEC Technology Fund, and other investors in the industry to develop business prototypes based on their research projects in order to contribute aggressively to the national economic growth. Moreover, it was agreed that Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme would join hands with Microsoft to launch Prime Minister’s Innovation League in September 2020 for the promotion of startup culture in the country.
Mr. Muhammad Usman Dar appreciated the efforts of Higher Education Commitment (HEC) and Microsoft for the promotion of innovation and IT startups in Pakistan.
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