The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES  (P@SHA) organised its 14th annual ICT Awards Ceremony during a grand gala dinner on October 27, 2017, at Serena Hotel Islamabad. UBL remained the main sponsor of the event the second time in a row.
The annual event brings together the stars of Pakistan’s technology sector on a common platform to celebrate innovation and excellence. Their aim is to recognize the efforts of outstanding achievers that have been making waves both locally and internationally.

The event was attended by a mix of industry leaders and fresh entrepreneurs innovating in the tech sector. There were also representatives from the government, the business sector, professionals, academia and students.

Entries for the P@SHA ICT Awards were received from all over the country and judging was held in all three major cities of Pakistan to evaluate the applicants and their products. Companies and individuals were asked to pitch their products in front of a panel of esteemed industry experts who came up with the list of winners and runners up.

Chairman P@SHA, Barkan Saeed, said on this occasion that “As a community, P@SHA is growing and becoming stronger each day and much of the credit goes to the talented professionals and companies that have been a part of the tech industry. The P@SHA ICT Awards are one of the many ways we bring the community together to network, collaborate, and encourage innovative ways of solving problems”.

“The idea behind organizing the P@SHA ICT Awards every year is to celebrate homegrown Pakistani innovators and to promote technology culture in the country”, said Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA. “We want to celebrate innovation in the Pakistan IT industry and encourage young innovators in the country to work hard on their dream ideas and turn them into products and services that change business as we know it not only in Pakistan but around the globe”.

The application process for the awards kicked off in July, and companies and individuals applied in 17 Product categories, 15 Service categories and 3 in special categories of Fintech Innovation, winners of which received PKR 500,000 cash prize from UBL’s Head of Innovation Hamayun Sajjad. P@SHA ICT Awards also open doors to international exposure for local companies working on innovative ideas, as the winners from the Product categories get a chance to represent Pakistan and benchmark their products against those from 17 countries at the APICTA (Asia Pacific ICT Alliance) Awards 2017 that is being held in Bangladesh in December this year.

As part of the event this year, there was also a panel discussion moderated by Shehryar Hydri the newly appointed Secretary-General of P@SHA. Panellists included Chairman Barkan Saeed, Immediate Past Chairman Syed Ahmad, Dr Shoab Khan Founder & CEO of CARE and Jehan Ara. The discussions were wide-ranging and included industry-government and industry-academia collaboration, the effort required to enable policy change and the growing startup landscape. There were also questions and feedback from the audience.

P@SHA ICT Awards 2017 – Complete List of Winners

Product Categories
 
Best in Application Tools & Platforms
Runner Up: 7Vals – EZ Enterprises
Winner: Appricot Studio – ConsoliAds
 
Best in Communications
Winner: Contegris (Pvt) Ltd – Intellicon

Best in E-Learning
Runner Up: Netsol Technologies Ltd. – ICAN’s Training Portal
Winner: Knowledge Platform – Learn Smart Classroom

Best in Financial Industry Application
Runner Up: E-Processing Systems Private Ltd. – One Load
Runner Up: Netsol Technologies Ltd. – NFS Ascent
Winner: Avanza Solutions – Cipher

Best in Government & Public Sector
Winner: LMKT (Private) Limited – VO8
Runner Up: National Radio & Telecom Corporation – CIS
Runner Up: RAR Multibiz Services Pvt. Ltd. – Lady Health Worker LHW

Best in E-inclusion and Community
Winner: Transparent Hands – Crowdfunding Platform in Healthcare

Best in Media & Entertainment Technologies
Runner Up: Snapture.pk
Winner: Cricingif

Best in Research & Development
Runner Up: NUST College of E & ME – OphthaHelp
Winner: NUST College of E & ME – IntelliHealth

Best in Retail and Supply Chain Management
Winner: Bramerz – FISHERY

Best in Security Application
Runner Up: LMKT Pvt. Ltd – Map View
Winner: Trillium Information Security Systems – T-Eye™ Threat Intelligence Platform

Best in Tourism & Hospitality
Winner: Fetch Sky – PeekabooGuru

Best Startup
Runner Up: Consumer Facilitation Technologies
Runner Up: Cricingif
Winner: Neurostic Pvt. Limited

Best Tertiary Student Project
Runner Up: NUST – PNEC ENENT – LV THREE PHASE AUTOMATIC LOAD BALANCING
Runner Up: NUST College of E & ME, Smart Health Monitoring of the Elderly using Smart Sensors
Winner: Institute of Integrative Biosciences, CECOS University, Peshawar NoColi

Innovation in Fintech (Special Category Sponsored by UBL):
 
Beat Fintech of the Year
 Winner: CreditFix

Payments Innovation
 Winner: Oscar

Data Analytics
 Winner: Love for Data

Service Categories

Best in Service Innovation
Runner Up: QuickStart Pvt. Ltd
Winner: EfroTech Services

Best in Mobile Application
Runner Up: WeRplay – Run Sheeda Run
Runner Up: 10Pearls Pvt. Ltd – Spyd
Winner: Fetch Sky – PeekabooGuru

Best in Animation
Winner: WeRplay

Best in Project Management
Runner Up: 10Pearls Pvt. Ltd.
Winner: Systems Limited
 
Best in BPO
Runner Up: Systems Limited
Winner: Ovex Technologies Pvt Limited

Best in Managed Services
Runner Up: Trillium Information Security Systems
Winner: Systems Limited

Best in Gender Diversity
Runner Up: WeRplay
Winner: Xgrid, Co.

Best in Brand Development
Runner Up: Xgrid, Co.
Winner: Cricingif
 
Best in HR Excellence
Runner Up: Systems Limited
Runner Up: 10Pearls Pvt. Ltd.
Winner: WeRplay

Best in Social Media (Non-IT Company)
Winner: COMPETITIVE EDGE DIGITAL

Best in Social Media (IT Company)
 Winner: Bramerz

Best in CSR
Winner: Maison Consulting & Solutions

Best in Application Tools & Platform
Runner Up: 7Vals – EZ Enterprises
Winner: Appricot Studio – ConsoliAds