Pakistan’s AI innovation hubs are moving from policy paper to physical reality. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has announced the National Artificial Intelligence Advancement Initiative, a plan to build seven AI innovation hubs across the country and incubate 560 AI startups within two years. For students, founders, and investors, this represents the most concrete government action on artificial intelligence Pakistan has seen so far, moving beyond the more abstract framing typical of earlier policy announcements.
The initiative aims to incubate 560 AI startups, distribute non-dilutive seed grants to 150 startups, and position the country as a regional hub for AI-driven innovation. The distinction of non-dilutive matters considerably, since founders who receive these grants do not give up any ownership stake in their company, a meaningful difference from conventional venture capital funding that typically requires equity in exchange for capital. The initiative is launched as part of the implementation of Pakistan’s National AI Policy, bringing together academia, industry, startups, researchers, investors, and the public sector under a single national framework. MoITT has already issued a Request for Proposals for the establishment and operation of the facilities, with the ministry set to appoint a single company or consortium to design, develop, operate, and sustain the innovation centers, with bidders also permitted to apply as joint ventures, opening the door to international partners teaming up with local firms.
The AI hubs will be set up in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Muzaffarabad, and Gilgit, a spread that carries particular significance given that most government tech programmes have historically concentrated on Islamabad and Lahore alone. Including Muzaffarabad and Gilgit means young people in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan gain direct access to structured AI support for the first time without having to relocate to a larger city. The two-year programme structure has each hub hosting 20 startups per cohort across two cohorts annually, enabling a total of 280 startups each year across the seven centres, giving each hub a manageable batch size that makes proper mentorship realistic rather than merely a bullet point in a policy document. Each hub will feature dedicated startup workspaces, modern office infrastructure, high-speed internet connectivity, collaboration areas, multimedia facilities, mentorship rooms, and hybrid meeting spaces.
Accepted founders will access AI bootcamps, accelerator programmes, mentoring networks, and thematic hackathons, with the operator required to connect founders with venture capital firms, incubators, accelerators, and technology companies to improve investment readiness. For the seed grants specifically, the appointed operator will oversee outreach, application processing, technical evaluations, grant administration, and post-award monitoring through a transparent, merit-based framework, with disbursement linked to clearly defined milestones and performance indicators. The initiative also includes plans to organise two national AI hackathons and four AI awareness sessions aimed at promoting innovation, collaboration, and public understanding of artificial intelligence, with the hubs focused specifically on developing AI solutions for healthcare, agriculture, education, fintech, and smart cities, sectors where Pakistan has both pressing domestic need and a large pool of potential users.
The project makes the inclusion of women and people from underserved regions a mandatory component rather than optional language, with diversity targets directly affecting the operator’s contract renewal if unmet. The NAAI complements AI Seekho, which aims to deliver 20,000 trainings, creating a pipeline where students can learn through AI Seekho before building a company inside an NAAI hub, connecting to the National AI Policy’s fifth pillar, which envisions a national compute grid, centralised datasets, AI hubs, and cloud-based resources supporting scalable innovation. With the RFP now issued, founders in the five target sectors are encouraged to start preparing their ideas, while investors focused on early-stage AI should note that the 150 seed grants will create a new batch of de-risked startups potentially ready for a follow-on funding round within 12 to 18 months, though delivery will ultimately depend on which operator wins the bid and how quickly hubs can become operational in cities like Quetta and Gilgit, where digital infrastructure remains comparatively underdeveloped.
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