Reflecting on the March 2023 expo at PNCA in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of U.S.-Pakistan diplomatic relations.
Spatialox was in March 2023 invited to the U.S.-Pakistan Innovation Expo held in Islamabad. Invited as a guest, our team was represented at the event by Mr Ibrar Hussain of Spatialox. We are documenting it here, some time after the event itself, so our company news archive gives a picture of the occasions that have molded how we view Pakistan's technology community.
What the expo was
The U.S.-Pakistan Innovation Expo was inaugurated on 18 March 2023 at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad and ran for two days. As described by The Asia Foundation, the event was convened by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad in partnership with The Asia Foundation and National Incubation Center Islamabad.
So what was it for? The statement released by the U.S. Embassy states that the expo aimed to highlight success stories of Pakistani startups supported by U.S. government programmes and to encourage further investment in them. The event featured startups presenting their ideas and prototypes, and a speaker session for venture capitalists and angel investors. The same release notes that business leaders and investors from Pakistan, the Middle East and the United States took part.
The presentations we saw on stage covered subjects such as how startups can read the funding climate, and how incubation centres in Pakistan can advance gender equity. Press coverage of the opening remarks, such as this report in The News, also reported that the U.S. Embassy had funded more than 181 entrepreneurship-related projects in Pakistan since 2012, with a combined value of $14.7 million.
Why the 75th anniversary mattered
The expo was held in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Those ties date back to 1947, just after Pakistan's independence, which is when President Truman wrote a letter to Governor-General Jinnah. The U.S. State Department described the relationship as being in its 75th year, and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad hosted a reception in September 2022 to mark it. The expo carried the same theme on stage, with signage celebrating 75 years of U.S.-Pakistan relations.
That context is useful to understand. The expo was not only a startup showcase. It was part of a wider year of events looking back at what the two countries have built together, in areas such as education, infrastructure and enterprise.
Spatialox at the expo
Spatialox is a geospatial company based in Islamabad. We started out as freelancers in 2017 and have now completed over 370 projects for clients based in the USA and Europe across GIS, drone imaging, topographic survey, cartography, remote sensing and 3D reality capture. You can find work like that in our Portfolio and more about the company on our About Us page.
Why does an event about startups matter to a GIS company? Because location data underpins so much of what young tech companies build, from logistics and agriculture to property and utilities. A practical sense of how Pakistan's technology ecosystem is evolving, and at what points geospatial technology can come in handy, came from being with the founders, investors and the organisations supporting them in the room.
Just to clarify: Spatialox attended as a guest, by invitation, with Mr Ibrar Hussain representing the team. This post just documents that visit. It does not suggest any partnership with, or endorsement by, the organisers, the U.S. Embassy or the U.S. Government.
We have continued cultivating our relationships with the local business community since then, most recently by partnering with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Looking ahead
We are also glad to be part of the conversations on innovation in Pakistan, and as practitioners we commit ourselves to continue producing actionable geospatial solutions for our clients and communities.
