The magical Prof. Rosling forecasts health and prosperity for the developing world

For many hundreds of years, the West has symbolized development, prosperity and riches, while the rest of the world - the horrendously named, “Third World” in particular - has been synonymous with backwardness, disease and hunger. Let us, for the moment, forget that much of this disparity was actually a result of exploitation by colonialists from the West, and let us also ignore the fact that to this day, all too frequently, Western influence is exerted in most developing countries to the detriment of the local society. Despite the miserable history behind the exploitative abuse of the Rest of the World, the good news is that in the 21st century almost all countries will catch up with the wellness, HDI and wealth indicators of the West.

We’ve covered the case of Pakistan numerous times in the past. As the seventh largest country in the world, blessed with trillions of dollars of natural resources, there is no question that Pakistan will emerge as a power on the global stage. This will happen despite shortcomings in political leadership. The fundamental trends propelling Pakistan toward a developed future are far more powerful and basic than temporary considerations such as who occupies the Prime Minister’s house in a given term. 

For much of the rest of the world, while perhaps not to the same extent as Pakistan, development and a general uplift of HDI indicators is nonetheless inevitable. How is this happening? Is it because of increased mobility between populations? Better communication? The democratization of technology? The rise of alternate power centers like China, which have very different goals than the West? The growing sense of self-identity and desire for freedom in erstwhile underpopulated and easily exploited resource rich countries? Perhaps the answer is “all of the above”.

Prof. Hans Rosling, statistician, friend to the Third World, TED fellow and marvelous story teller, shows us how this empowerment is unfolding and when China, as a reference point, will reach the per-capita GDP of the US. While China’s rise is praise worthy and phenomenal, the reality is that as long as we are able to avoid major wars, over the medium-term, much of the world will achieve high standards of living and wealth. Development and prosperity can no longer remain the exclusive domain of the post-colonial West. Good news all around. And here it is from Prof. Rosling himself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjVHvC9EeB4

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Will Newt Gingrich's dream of a moon base by 2020 come true? Will it be American or Chinese? (Image credit: Dynamic Science)

The Republican primaries have certainly ejected a lot of muck into the political atmosphere, much like a large, destructive asteroid would throw up debris and dust for miles if it were to strike terra firma. For what is to follow, the space analogy seems particularly appropriate. Mr. Gingrich, who is hoping to unseat Mitt Romney as the Republican favourite, recently visited Florida, home of the NASA Shuttle Program, where he declared that by the end of his second term, he would establish a permanent US base on the Moon. Further, once there is a large enough number of people occupying such a Moon base complex, the Moon could then be “ceded” to the US as its 51st state.

Ridiculous or not, you be the judge of that. Perhaps today it is, but maybe in 20 or 50 years it won’t be. The fact that the major powers will rekindle a space race is almost a certain proposition. China has announced that it will be launching a large number of satellites in the next 2 years and its plans for a permanent space station have also been made public. Private companies, such as SpaceX in the US, have been working diligently on making launches less expensive. There will certainly be a push to tap into the vast riches of space at some point in the not too distant future. Whether it will be as soon as Newt promises, or whether private enterprise will even be the catalyst, remains to be seen.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, scientist and prominent TV personality, was interviewed by MSNBC on just this subject. Dr. Tyson believes that it is not for private enterprise, but for government to lead the way back to the moon and back into deep space. At the end of the day, Newt and his Republican comrades cannot expect government to be cut back and NASA budgets to shrink, while also predicting bold possibilities that require R&D funding and government investments.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rQn37WTjc0

Do you think Newt is on to something? Or is he just on something? Do you agree with Dr. Tyson? Take a look at the interview video and join us in the comments section.

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MIT's famed dome... coming to a PC, laptop or tablet near you! (Image credit: Bustachange.com)

Someday, someone in an appropriately empowered government position in Pakistan needs to take a bold step forward and break through the bureaucracy and red tape government is despised for. There are so many incredibly high value, low cost initiatives to take up in areas as diverse as agriculture, education, energy and information technology that the shortage is not one of ideas, but simply that of initiative and vision.

Here at TechLahore, we’ve discussed some of these ideas before. Today, an announcement made by MIT compels us to talk of another…

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as one of the world’s foremost technology and engineering schools, needs no introduction. It is nothing less than one of America’s greatest strategic assets. MIT has produced graduates who have gone on to conduct pioneering research in defence, space technology, IT, material sciences, genetics and numerous other areas, advancing the state of the art for their country and the world at large. By some estimates, MIT graduates have contributed almost one trillion dollars worth of market capitalization to the US bourses. But as you may have heard, it’s not easy to get into MIT. Seats are limited, competition is tough and most of all, it’s expensive and remote for most of the citizens of the world. But what if the MIT experience could be bottled up and shipped across the internet to anyone who wanted to benefit from it? While it wouldn’t be exactly akin to attending classes at MIT physically – certainly the environment and some measure of interactivity would be lacking – it would, nonetheless, be a giant step forward.

MIT took this very step, in fact, some years ago, by launching their OpenCourseWare initiative. In a variety of formats, ranging from audio, slides to fully taped video lectures, a select group of courses were put online for anyone in the world to access without charge. You can learn more about OCW by visiting this MIT website. Now, MIT is taking this program to the next level. M.I.T.x as the new online learning initiative will be called, will expand the amount of content available and will also offer completion certificates to candidates who test well at the end of the self-paced “term”. This certificate will not be an MIT degree, nor will it bear the name of MIT, but will be granted by a non-profit set-up specifically for this purpose as an MIT affiliate. Nice as that might be, certificates and degrees are essentially pieces of paper. The real value is in the learning process and the acquired knowledge. Exposing oneself to a well designed, cutting edge curriculum, the added benefit of virtual presence in MIT classrooms through the magic of internet video, interaction with other learners via online discussion boards and finally, being “tested” without spending a single cent or leaving the comfort of home, is truly a revolutionary development!

Can this program be embraced by the Provincial or Federal governments in Pakistan? Can we deliver the MIT curriculum in classrooms at our institutions and use local teachers in a supportive role, making up for any loss of interactivity? Can we launch programs where, like the 100,000 free laptop distribution made by the Gov. of the Punjab, laptops and tablets can be gifted to any student that shows a completion certificate for some number of MIT engineering classes? Could we augment our virtual university curricula with this MIT content? What about providing free DVDs with all of this content to anyone in Pakistan who is interested and may not yet have the broadband connection to easily access the video component? How about selecting a few of the MIT freshmen courses and broadcasting them on TV – not only to teach, but also to spread awareness about this great resource? How about translating the videos into Urdu and even regional languages? There’s so much that can be done with this content… and with not much investment!

But with that said, even if the Government, as usual, doesn’t do anything, you and I can at least spread awareness about this great resource. To the extent we interact with learners, college students, those who are curious about science and engineering, folks that are not happy with the quality of education they might be receiving at a local institution – anyone with an interest – we can tell them about this resource. We can share MIT OCW videos with our friends on Facebook so they know this resource exists and can tell others. We can, when we have a few moments to spare, invest an hour or two to perhaps translate a video in Urdu. Anything we can do to spread news of this great resource and enhance its value will be of tremendous benefit to Pakistan.

This is a great step towards democratizing access to the world’s best education. And it’s not the only earth shattering, historically unparalleled change we’re seeing enabled through IT. It’s practically a new world out there, with more potential than has been available at any time in human history. Soon, location, geography and to a great extent – money – will no longer matter in very important ways. And with all of this magnificent change unfolding around us, it’s our job to go out and make something of these fabulous new opportunities. Let’s make it happen!

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The best startup ideas from 2011 (Image credit: Blogsaays.com)

Rafe Needleman at C|net just published an interesting piece on the best startup ideas from 2011. Net-net, he says the following trends made it big through a variety of startups:

1) A focus on bringing technology to the physical world: Products that reach outside the digital realm and enable interactions with the physical world in interesting ways. Augmented reality anyone? Location awareness to tie the information experience with the physical? What about devices like medical monitors and other real world sensors that augment the digital experience?

2) Excellent design: This one is a no brainer. If Apple and Steve Jobs taught us anything it is that well designed trumps not well designed even if the more aesthetically appealing product lags behind on speeds and feeds. In 2012, we remain excited to see how some of Apple’s design philosophy gets “embraced and extended” with PC Ultrabooks. But Rafe’s point is not just about computer hardware. He makes a broader and completely accurate point about design now being super important for the success of a product – hardware or software.

3) Mining data: Both in the consumer and enterprise worlds, data is growing at unfathomable rates. On the consumer end, we have things like photographs, notes, documents, music and videos all moving into the cloud, needing to be searched and organized. And on the business side we have ever-increasing digitization of records and transactions, a larger number of surveillance cameras providing higher quality digital footage than ever before, automated supply chains, enterprise application integration, ERP implementations moving down the chain and into the cloud and so on. There is LOTS of opportunity to mine data and make sense of it.

4) Platforms: True, the platform concept is a tough sell as either a new idea or something that too many people can get off the ground. But if you can build a platform and make it succesful by developing a consumption and supply ecosystem around it, it sure as heck makes for a killer business model with lots of inherent barriers to competitive entry. Facebook, after all, is not necessarily the finest implementation of a social network – just the most powerful and adopted platform of all social networking properties. That’s why Google and others can’t unseat it so easily. Building platforms is IN fo’ sho’.

5) Putting people/consumers in touch with each other: A central theme in the information revolution is breaking down barriers to communication. Theoretically, the Internet puts everyone on earth in touch with any other fellow earthling. In reality, the contact needs to be brokered within a particular context (i.e. education, social networking, commerce and so on). Properties that put people in touch with others and create some value from that contact – whether by enabling consumer to consumer commerce, or learner to learner education – are hot.

What do you think are some additional hot idea memes that took off in 2011? What do you think will stay hot through 2012? We’d love to hear your views.

For more on this, directly from the horse’s mouth, visit C|Net.

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Ally China is pursuing a number of UCAV projects. So is Pakistan...

Since the war on terror started in Afghanistan back in 2001, the United States Air Force has employed various different UAV platforms to target insurgents and the Taliban. Both on Afghan soil as well as in Pakistani territory, with the covert approval of the Pakistan government. Observing the efficacy of UAV platforms like the Predator, the Pakistani military establishment requested the United States to equip it with UAVs so that the war on terror could be prosecuted with more efficacy on the part of the Pakistani military. However these requests were denied repeatedly and America cited the potential use of these UAV platforms in military theaters outside the Afghan Pakistan border (i.e. India) as a flimsy excuse. Faced with these denials, but unwavering in its resolve to achieve its objectives, Pakistan undertook a domestic UAV development program. Even prior to Predator requisition requests being turned down, the Pakistani military had already invested in various autonomous target drones, built both by the private and public sectors. Here at TechLahore, we covered Pakistani drone developments a couple of years ago. In fact, we pointed out that the level of sophistication was such that – in a rather ironic twist -private Pakistani drone  manufacturers were exporting UAVs even to the United States homeland security department for oversight applications on the US-Mexico border.

Since then, much has happened. Pakistan entered into a deal with the Italian firm, Selex-Galileo, for the licensed production of fairly capable UAV aircraft at the Kamra Aeronautical facilities. In addition, the Pakistan Navy also acquired rotorcraft drones from foreign sources. Separately, the Pakistan Army has pursued partnerships with China and has incented local manufacturers to continue to develop more advanced platforms within the country. One of the more promising UCAV projects currently in progress in Pakistan is the Burraq armed drone. Burraq is envisioned as a high endurance, long-range, over the horizon, armed UAV aircraft. For the last four years it has been under development and rumors are now surfacing that it may be ready for deployment. At the recent Zhuhai airshow in China, in which the Pakistan Air Force participated with its JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, Chinese manufacturers also displayed miniaturized lightweight missiles that were particularly suited for carriage on a drone. Various parts of this sprawling Pakistani drone development program are coming together, in partnership with China – weapons development, control systems development, propulsion, airframe, ground stations and much else. The Burraq will only the first in a line of capable, armed Pakistani drones.

And soon. The Burraq, it seems, will be flying in early 2012.

Pakistan's locally produced Falco UAV was built in collaboration with Italy's Selex-Galileo. The Air Force is now looking to arm it with miniaturized missiles.

The Pakistani UAV program is a wonderful example of the breadth of technological capability that exists in the country, its ability to collaborate internationally without relying on problem-ridden dealings with America, and the benefits of investing in local development and local manufacturing as opposed to wiring a ton of money to a foreign country and importing somebody else’s equipment (Saudi Arabia style). As with the JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, Pakistan will discover that the flexibility of owning and running a domestically developed military platform allows unending customization, full control of capabilities, and absolutely no worries with regards to security or someone else knowing its true performance, or even inhibiting the capabilities by doctoring the IFF system or other internal electronics. Not only that, but for private technological firms based in Pakistan a program of this nature creates tremendous economic opportunity. A variety of different inputs, ranging from materials to software to optics to electronics and propulsion technologies are required to build a high-tech UAV. A sophisticated military program such as the Burraq will lead not only to an improvement in Pakistan’s defensive and offensive military capabilities, but also in significant benefits for the economy and local industry.

We hope that in future, with military programs such as Burraq, the continued development of the spectacularly successful JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft and its various space technology ventures, Pakistan will continue to create domestic research and development capabilities which will ensure a brighter future for its people and a credible defense against any would-be aggressor.

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Wheat fields in Haripur Hazara. Pakistan can be an agricultural powerhouse with just a little strategic thinking on the part of its government. (Photo credit: Daniyal Gilani, Flickr)

For 5,000 years, the economic well being of the people of what is now Pakistan has been secured through agriculture. Even as Pakistan has rapidly modernized over the last 6 decades since independence, a very large component of the economy is still agriculture based. And in these days of population pressure globally, shortfalls of cultivable land, food security issues and rising food prices, this can be a tremendous asset for the country. Our strength in agriculture and farming is borne out by the numbers. We are the world’s 4th largest producer of milk, we export more than $24B worth of textiles annually based on the strength of our cotton production, we have one of the largest populations of farm animals – over 50M – in the country, and our wheat production stands at number 6 in the world. There are many other areas where Pakistan has unassailable competitive advantages, for example, in the fact that the variety of citrus produced in Pakistan is far more diverse than in any other country of the world, or that the mangoes grown in Pakistan are – without doubt – the richest and best on the globe.

Yet, so much more can be done. I have always been of the strong belief that Pakistan actually has no economic problems beyond mismanagement and poor planning. There are no inherent, structural reasons why Pakistan cannot rapidly develop to the levels of a first-world economy, and take its population of 180M along with it. There are very simple and – in the grand scheme of things – tiny steps that we can take to completely alter our economic picture. Let’s take a part of our agricultural sector; wheat production, as an example. We produce 24M tonnes of wheat per year, which is quite a bit. Yet, our per acre yield, at between 23-25 Maunds per acre, is the lowest in the world amongst major agri economies. If we increased yield to Australian or European levels (as high as 70 Maunds per acre), we would have an excess of between 30-40M tonnes of exportable wheat per year, from the existing land under cultivation. This would mean a minimum of an extra $10B of exports annually, given current international wheat prices. The reality is that these prices have been increasing over the past few years and with the world population expected to hit close to 10B in 2050, they won’t be going in the other direction any time soon.

Our own domestic consumption is in the neighbourhood of 20M tonnes per year. So the difference between 24M tonnes, and 70M tonnes is massive from an economic perspective. It is the difference between merely fulfilling our own needs and reaping a windfall by exporting a precious commodity, and one of strategic importance for almost the entire agri-poor middle east; a region which is not only close to us geographically, but with which we also share strong cultural and diplomatic ties. To put things in perspective, just this one change alone – with all other things staying the same – would mean an immediate increase of 5.2% in our per-capita income. Not only this, the fact that this would be $10B in foreign exchange, the need for IMF programmes would simply not exist. Which further means that the conditionalities and high-interest rate debt servicing also goes away. So the net-positive effects of just this one small thing would be tremendous and would result in immeasurable benefits by freeing up what is spent in debt servicing today, so that it can be redirected to high-yield infrastructure and human resource development investments.

The reason I used the example of wheat was just to illustrate how simple it is for Pakistan to make a quantum leap forward, developmentally and economically. With nothing other than basic technology – which we are in possession of – the adoption of best practices, but most importantly, the political will, we could revolutionize our agricultural sector, and hence our economy. If a new government were elected to power tomorrow and all it did was focus on a three point agenda of 1) Bringing wheat yields to Australian levels 2) Implementing drip irrigation – which saves up to 60% of the water used in flood irrigation and 3) Investing in export-quality food processing industries, this alone would make Pakistan the world’s fastest growing economy. It would free us of all water woes, as 70+% of our water usage is for agriculture, and 60% of that is wasted due to our use of ancient flood techniques. Drip irrigation is far more efficient, and could reduce our national water consumption by up to a staggering 50%! If we could export the excellent halal meat, mangoes, citrus, flowers and other agricultural products we produce, not as bargain basement prices, but in processed, high-quality forms (by transforming our milk into branded cheese products, for example), it would bring revenue streams we have never had and connect them to the poorest Pakistanis, while earning mountains of foreign exchange for the country.

This is a small example of how incredibly small, inexpensive programs can have a massive impact on the national economy, our growth rates and the future of Pakistan. We hope those in power, and those with influence, will finally pay heed and stop artificially quelling Pakistan’s natural growth rate; a number which will approach or exceed 10% with even the smallest of strategic investments in promising sectors like agriculture.

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Karachi's beautiful Sheraton hotel was the venue for P@SHA's 2011 Information Technology Awards

A big shout out to Jehanara, President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), and her management team for organizing a brilliant event last night at Karachi’s gorgeous Sheraton Hotel.

The 8th Annual P@SHA’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) awards were wonderfully organized, fairly judged and brilliantly presented. The tremendous momentum and growth of Pakistan’s IT industry is plain for all to see and this Awards ceremony is a great showcase. Each year, the entries have been getting more and more sophisticated and wide ranging. A fair number of new companies have been recognized in the 2011 Awards which bodes well for the industry’s future.

If you’d like to check out the list of winners and learn more about the awards, you should click on over to the official P@SHA Awards website.

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Pakistani social gaming startup, White Rabbit, is about to launch Baby World - a social, virtual world experience.

Islamabad based social media gaming company, White Rabbit, has been covered here on TechLahore numerous times. We’ve even included guest posts from their Founder and CEO, Hassan Baig. Well, we wanted to revisit our past coverage and get you the latest that’s happening at White Rabbit. Hassan gave us a great update and caught us up with a lot of the exciting developments the company has seen in recent days.

First up, White Rabbit has secured investment from US-based investors to continue the development of its vividly imagined, top-tier social games. Hassan tells us that the company is continuing to look for additional investment from folks that can provide not just dumb money, but smart connections too.

Secondly, White Rabbit is working hard on developing a social enabled virtual world called, “Baby World”. This will be their flagship product for the international market and from the sound of it, targets an interesting demographic. If it’s well executed, it could be a huge success for the company. Simultaneously, the company is also working on other products more targeted to the preferences of the South Asian market. In this, they are also looking for partnerships; primarily in the form of a joint venture where interested parties can contribute capital and bring this product to market in collaboration with White Rabbit. Hassan’s preference is to structure these deals so that the investor is compensated via a revenue sharing arrangement, rather than outright ownership in White Rabbit.

So if you’re an investor looking to wet your toes in the Pakistan IT industry and social media gaming opportunities sound compelling to you, let us know, we’d be happy to put you in touch with the White Rabbit team.

Meanwhile, we wish Hassan and his venture great success. They are slugging it out just like any honest to goodness hi-tech startup should, and we are convinced that with the IQ and determination they bring to bear, they will exceed our expectations.

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Redefining Identity: A wonderful documentary about software and technology in Lahore, Pakistan

I just received a message from the folks over at FiveRivers who have produced this wonderful documentary on innovation & entrepreneurship in Pakistan. It’s really worth watching, and I love the underlying message: the notion that we can redefine our perceived identity with our hard work and achievements. I can certainly sign up for that, and I’m sure so would you!

Here’s a bit more about the documentary:

“Redefining Identity takes a look at the amazing entrepreneurship and creativity that is being unleashed in Pakistan, where young technologists are coming together to lead a very real revolution that has powerful social, economic and technological implications. In doing so, these young Pakistanis are also transforming Pakistan’s perception in the minds of millions of people all around the world who use their products and appreciate their creativity. This 10 minute film is a rare glimpse into the reality of today’s Pakistan. Anyone with an interest in technology and startups in general, or Pakistan specifically, will find it a very worthwhile watch.”

There are quite a few subtleties to catch in this video… listen for that line about not going by obviously assumed western names when fielding support calls. Sound familiar Plenty of other one liners embedded in here that make this a fairly engrossing and exciting watch. If you want to discuss the documentary, you are welcome to do so here, and also at the “Redefining Identity” facebook page, here.

If you are a software entrepreneur or involved in the tech industry in Pakistan, this video would be a great asset to share with partners, potential customers and others who might not have a clear view about what tech companies in Pakistan are truly like, and the quantum of innovation now being unleashed in Pakistan. I really see this film as a resource that everyone involved with tech in Pakistan should use actively, and hope there will be many more similar efforts in future.

Without further ado, here is the courtesy YouTube - be SURE to watch this in full screen mode - it’s definitely worth it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhynv21jSkI

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The iconic Cray 1 Supercomputer seen here in all its glory (Photo credit: photofunblog)

Seymour Cray’s name is legend. It adorns some of the fastest, most striking computers ever built. It is synonymous with supercomputing and evokes unparalleled architectural notions that are impossible to ignore for any student of high performance computing. He is perhaps the greatest computer architect ever, and while his area of focus was on the high end and unconcerned with popular computing, many of his innovations have allowed modern day computers to be what they are. Cray, in fact, beyond his statute as a legend is also an example that young engineers and computer scientists should aspire to emulate. He so routinely pushed the edge and expanded the realm of the possible, that he provides an undying illustration of the adage, “Nothing is impossible”.

Seymour Cray is important for another reason. He represents what made America great. He is the quintessential American engineer who came of age in the second world war and then powered America’s rise through the 50s and 60s to become the most powerful nation on earth. He embodies a mix of brilliance, practicality and a roll-up-your-sleeves-get-it-done attitude that is uniquely American. You can lean more about this great visionary and computer architect by reading about him on Wikipedia. But for now, let’s watch him deliver a talk that was thankfully recorded for posterity. Here he is, the man himself, Mr Seymour Cray:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG63r4e6eb8

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