LAHORE - Information Technology University (ITU) Vice Chancellor Dr Umar Saif on Saturday inaugurated Lahore’s first and Pakistan’s second “MakerFest-17”.
The event is being organised by the ITU in collaboration with PlanX and DIY Geeks.
The MakerFest-Lahore-17 is in continuation of the internationally renowned Maker Faire previously hosted across America, Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It celebrates grassroots innovation and invention to encourage creativity and invent solutions to problems through the use of technology, gadgets and electronics at young age.
Dr Saif said that Makers movement was picking up the steam in the world and contributing to new inventions, innovations and economies. The US economy was built on Makers activity and recent examples were Facebook and Google initiated by a couple of students, he stated.
He said the event would help the youth lay hands on applications, hardware and startups and commoditise innovations in science, technology and engineering. The platform enabled the youth to invent solutions to problems by using tools, learn use of technology to create their own products, automate farmers’ lives, regulate water flow and farmland and filter contaminated water, he said. Dr Saif stated that such activities infused love for science and technology. A large number of students from schools and universities across Pakistan displayed their inventions at the event. More than 85 companies and investors attended the event, which provided an opportunity to makers from arts and technology to showcase locally developed projects that drew inspiration from STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics).
