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Umar Saif | |
|---|---|
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| Federal Minister for Science & Technology, and Information Technology & Telecommunication | |
| In office 17 August 2023 – 4 March 2024 | |
| President | Arif Alvi |
| Prime Minister | Anwaar ul Haq Kakar |
| Preceded by | Syed Aminul Haque |
| Succeeded by | Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui (Science and Technology) |
| Chairman of Punjab Information Technology Board | |
| Preceded by | Agha Hassan Baloch |
| Succeeded by | Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Alma mater | Lahore University of Management Sciences University of Cambridge Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Website | umarsaif |
Umar Saif (Urdu: عمر سیف; born 1979) is a Pakistani computer scientist and academic. He is the founder and CEO of aiSight.ai (formerly SurveyAuto Inc.),[1] Chief Digital Officer of the Jang Group and CEO of Khudi Ventures. He served as interim Federal Minister For Science and Technology, as well as Minister of IT from August 2023 to March 2024.[2][3] He is also serving as an advisor to the United Nations Development Programme in Pakistan.
After studying computer science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Saif received his doctorate from the University of Cambridge at the age of 22. He then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he did his postdoc. He returned to Pakistan in 2005 and joined LUMS where he taught as an associate professor of computer science between 2006 and 2013.
In 2011, Saif was appointed as chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) and also became a cabinet member in Government of Punjab. During his tenure as a chair of the PITB between 2011 and 2018, he founded Pakistan's first technology incubator, Plan 9 and carried out more than 300 projects. Simultaneously, he served as the founding vice-chancellor of the Information Technology University from 2013 to 2018.
For his research, entrepreneurial ventures, and for being the brains behind digital governance of Punjab and one of the main driving forces behind the IT ecosystem in the country, he was awarded numerous notable awards and titles such as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, Google's Faculty Research Award, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, UNESCO Chair for using ICT for Development, and was named as one of the top 35 young innovators in the world by the MIT Technology Review (TR35). He was named among The 500 Most Influential Muslims consecutively between 2015 and 2023.
- ^ "How aiSight Helped The World's Biggest Consumer Companies Find Their Way In Emerging Markets". Forbes. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
- ^ Amin, Tahir (19 August 2023). "Umar Saif assumes charge as caretaker IT & Telecom minister". Brecorder. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ Guramani, Dawn com | Nadir (17 August 2023). "Ministers of Interim PM Kakar's cabinet take oath". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 19 August 2023.