The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has officially appointed Dr. Muhammad Zahid Latif, Rector of NUST, as the National Chair on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Furthermore, this strategic initiative will operate directly from the NUST Islamabad campus. Dr. Latif will work alongside a dedicated panel of experts to spearhead this platform.
Primarily, the National Chair will serve as the central platform for policy direction, governance, and strategic alignment. The expert panel will thoroughly assess Pakistan’s current AI and robotics ecosystem. Specifically, they will focus on evaluating HEC-supported centers. These include the National Centre of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) and the National Centre of Robotics and Automation (NCRA).
Additionally, the initiative aims to identify structural gaps and operational challenges. The panel will actively resolve systemic inefficiencies that threaten the long-term sustainability of the tech sector.
HEC Bridging Gaps & Global Benchmarking
To achieve these ambitious goals, the team will benchmark local systems against international best practices. Consequently, this benchmarking will help build a highly integrated national framework. This robust framework guarantees coordinated progress across all relevant institutions and stakeholders.
Ultimately, the National Chair will recommend transformative pathways. These strategic steps aim to help Pakistan emerge as a competitive knowledge economy driven by advanced automation, intelligent systems, and innovation.
Dr. Latif views this appointment as a crucial national opportunity. He noted that it recognizes NUST’s solid research contributions. Moreover, it creates essential strategic coherence in emerging technologies. However, he heavily emphasized that success requires deep synergy. Therefore, academia, industry leaders, the government, and innovators must collaborate closely to drive Pakistan’s technological future forward.
