[Pakistan] SMEDA to establish Industrial Information Network

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

'Industrial Information Network' (IIN) by SMEDA
Badar Khushnood & Noaman Saeed

Lahore, Pakistan - June 6, 2003: Ministry of Information Technology & 
Telecom (MoITT) has sanctioned development of an online ‘Industrial 
Information Network’ (IIN) proposed by Small & Medium Enterprise 
Development Authority (SMEDA) in consultation with UNIDO Pakistan. 
The project was earlier approved in the Departmental Development 
Working Party (DDWP) meeting, which was held in MoITT Islamabad on 
April 28, 2003.

Small & medium enterprises of Pakistan today face a severe challenge 
of sustaining their international market competitiveness if they do 
not jump on the band wagon of IT & eCommerce. The risk of 
obsolescence is staring them in their eyes if drastic measures in 
this regard are not taken immediately. IT can revolutionize the way 
businesses operate by automating their value chains & financial 
systems, accessing real time market information, enabling online 
buyer seller interactive exchanges, etc.

MoITT has already laid down the cornerstone of IT infrastructure & 
the regulatory framework creating a conducive environment for 
eCommerce applications to be launched. IIN will act as a catalyst to 
trigger a ripple effect and ignite a paradigm shift in the way 
businesses are operated today.

The idea of an Industrial Information Network (IIN) was 
prognosticated by UNIDO & SMEDA to develop a B2B portal to cater to 
the needs of SMEs from various industrial sectors in Pakistan. It 
entails establishment of a sustainable web-based development project 
designed to become the largest source of information generation, 
exchange and dissemination towards providing value-added support and 
services to SMEs in Pakistan.

Those SMEs that cannot use the Internet will have access to IIN’s 
Business Information Centers (BICs). These purposefully franchised 
physical offices will be able to provide assistance through human 
interface to those SMEs with all the resources that IIN can offer on 
the net and SMEs will be able to get all their requirements met 
through them. In short, IIN is designed to become an online one-stop-
shop for SMEs for all their Information and eCommerce needs.

The IIN portal is intended to serve the SMEs while using the Bottom-
Up approach and therefore, it would focus on the cluster-related 
information, which is the grass root level of an industrial sector. 
It has therefore, been envisioned that IIN will be used as a tool to 
increase the eReadiness of Pakistani SMEs. In this regard, IIN would 
conduct aggressive awareness and training campaigns specific to its 
targeted sectors in the country.

To take this portal information data-bank to the target audience, an 
extensive out-reach program is absolutely essential. Given the 
nascency of eCommerce awareness in our local industry, an aggressive 
marketing campaign backed by a comprehensive awareness drive to 
create the necessary critical mass for a product like IIN is planned.

IIN being an eCommerce initiative would contribute towards the 
overall impact of eCommerce on Pakistan’s economy, which is estimated 
to be increase in $2 bn [Source AERC and PIDE research (Estimates 
based on full-scale implementation of eCommerce in Pakistan)].

For further information, content & technical collaborations, 
comments, suggestions & feedback kindly contact Badar Khushnood 
<badar@smeda.org.pk>, Project Director IIN.

source: http://www.smeda.org.pk/fiin_press.html