To anyone watching the Chinese Spring Festival Gala this year, the sight of humanoid robots performing on stage was not just entertainment, but a strategic signal by China.
Over the last ten years, China has focused on robotics and artificial intelligence at the forefront of its national development agenda. Formerly known as the ‘factory of the world’, it is undergoing a transformation towards engineering excellence and has now emerged as the largest market for industrial robots and one of the largest producers by volume, gradually indigenising key components such as chips, actuators and control systems.
With research and development spending over 2.6 per cent of GDP and enterprises contributing to over 75 per cent of the total R&D expenditure, China is positioning itself not merely as a tech hub of the world and a major designer of next-generation intelligent systems. The critical factor is knowledge intensity reflected by sustained national R&D investment, talent retention and the integration of research with advanced manufacturing.
We have seen that countries that invest above 2.0 per cent of GDP in R&D, such as China, have successfully transitioned from middle-income status to advanced technological powers. The Chinese development model clearly reflects that an effective innovation ecosystem needs continuity of policies, pragmatic long-term planning, academia–industry linkages, venture capital development, reliable infrastructure and merit-based institutional governance.
For countries like Pakistan, surrounded by geopolitical uncertainty and technological disruption, underinvestment in science is becoming a form of dependency, as technology-related talent continues to migrate to greener pastures abroad. On top of the economic uncertainty, Pakistan’s R&D expenditure is around 0.16 per cent of GDP, far below global averages and regional peers. Most R&D spending remains through the public sector, with minimal private-sector contribution. Also, patenting and the generation of intellectual property are extremely low.
Although we have a young population and a developing IT services industry, our low R&D expenditure and institutional weaknesses make long-term technological planning difficult. In the scenario, talent retention will remain a challenge as it is not only about salaries but also about certainty and hope. The question our youth ask is where Pakistan will position itself in the future value chain and what opportunities it will create for them.
Although the government of Pakistan, through the URAAN Pakistan initiative, is working towards integrating AI and robotics to modernise its economy, targeting a ‘trillion-dollar’ status by 2035, the transition to an export-oriented, technology-driven economy cannot be left to the government alone. While the government has to ensure policy stability, regulatory changes, and funding commitments, it is also the responsibility of academia and the business community to take the lead. It is a ‘now or never’ situation where public-private partnerships are the need of the hour. Pakistan is not beginning from scratch.
We have the natural ingredients, but what is lacking is the structural and technological overlay. We must realise that industrial ecosystems mature through layering from assembly to eventually indigenous system innovation. Rather than attempting an immediate leap into frontier technologies, Pakistan must enter the value chain incrementally but strategically. Participation can begin with component manufacturing, precision-engineered parts, electronics assembly, sensor calibration and industrial-automation retrofitting, as well as applied engineering services within special technology zones.
Through well-structured government-supported joint ventures under CPEC Phase II and other initiatives, local firms can plug into regional supply chains and steadily absorb technology, managerial know-how and design capabilities. Whether in robotics subcomponents, drone assemblies, electric vehicle modules or smart agriculture and manufacturing systems, each incremental step must help build cumulative technological depth. That may require enhancing structured capability accumulation supported by both domestic public and private investments and strengthened by near-shoring and friendly-shoring of FDI.
If these initiatives are strategically harmonised with university research institutes, vocational training sector reform and disciplined private sector co-investment, Pakistan can transition from a passive beneficiary of infrastructure to an active hub of the global manufacturing network.
Similarly, Pakistan’s higher and tertiary education must evolve towards AI research hubs, robotics labs and green energy technologies. Universities must become research engines rather than degree factories. The recent initiative of the Higher Education Commission to make artificial intelligence compulsory in every degree programme at universities reflects the realisation of the global change taking place and is a step in the right direction.
History shows that when nations align leadership, academia, business and youth around a shared technological vision, structural change becomes possible. Remaining dependent on imported technology will constrain our economic and strategic autonomy. Investing in knowledge through coordinated public and private commitment offers a pathway to durable sovereignty in the age of intelligent machines. This also demands that we strategically leverage every asset Pakistan possesses.
Lastly, the robotic choreography we have seen in Beijing is not merely a display; it is a glimpse of a future that is rapidly being realised. Pakistan cannot afford to be a mere spectator; it has to seize this moment. Within the triple helix framework, we need to see a coordinated national effort. The applied research has to lead to marketable products, and the industry has to provide the capital and capacity to commercialise innovation.
The challenge for us in academia is to develop talent not only to fill jobs but also to design, lead, innovate and do business within emerging technology ecosystems. Curriculum, research and industry partnerships must be tightly aligned with sectors that define the future. And preparing the right leadership of the future must be the prime task. This demands that the HEC purposefully engage with the government and the private sector to create enabling policies and funding instruments that ensure research translates into economic and strategic outcomes.
The challenge before Pakistan is therefore unmistakable: will we watch the rise of intelligent systems from the sidelines or will we participate, compete and help shape the future?
The writer is a project management specialist and is a faculty member at various institutes/universities, while also having served as a diplomat in China and Vietnam. He can be reached at: [email protected]
