Pakistan on the Innovation Journalism track

Pakistan Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan, announces that Pakistan is joining the Innovation Journalism Program.


I’m at the Competitiveness Institute 8th annual conference in Hong Kong, speaking about innovation journalism and stuff. Today the Pakistan Minister of State for Finance, Omar Ayub Khan, in his keynote address announced that Pakistan is joining the Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford University. Innovation Journalism Fellows from Pakistan will be participating in the program as from 2006.

Two years ago Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, Vinnova, initiated and developed the concept. Today it is run from Stanford University and inanced by Vinnova.

“As an integral part of our competitiveness initiative, Pakistan has become one of the participating countries in the Innovation Journalism Fellowship programme at Stanford University to increase public focus on innovation and competitiveness, business and technology through news and improving communication within the sectors and clusters.” Mr. Omar Ayub Khan said.

“The Government of Pakistan’s wish is to build networks between leading Pakistani innovation journalists and their peer from other countries, in order to strengthen the Pakistani overview of innovation in other countries, as well as make the other countries more aware of Pakistan.”

“Stanford, being the heart of Silicon Valley, is clearly the right place for journalists from all parts of the world to meet in order to learn and exchange thoughts on the best practice of innovation journalism.”

The Pakistani Innovation Journalism program will be run by the Pakistan Competitiveness Support Fund, which is being set up and headed by Mr Arthur Bayhan, a former OECD director. It will receive initial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Competitiveness Support Fund organizes Pakistan’s competitiveness initiatives, improving the overall competitiveness of the Pakistani economy. The government of Pakistan and the Fund has established a national innovation and Competitiveness Council with relevant ministries, leading private sector representatives and key universities.

The Stanford Innovation Journalism fellows will work with some of the world’s best news rooms in covering innovation stories, and participate in international workshops and present papers at the Third Conference on Innovation Journalism at Stanford, April 5-7 2006.