LAHORE – Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), Dr Umar Saif, is a young innovator and leading computer scientist, who is known for his work on using ICT solutions for developing-world problems.
In August last year, the American Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had named Umar Saif as one of the world’s top young innovators for 2011. Umar brought glory to Pakistan on several occasion in the past as well.
Technologies developed by Dr. Saif’s research group and start-ups are used by Millions of people in the developing-world, especially BitMate, that enhances the speed of Internet in the developing-world using peer-to-peer technology, and SMSall.pk, Pakistan’s largest SMS Social Network which has sent close to 4 Billion SMS for users in Pakistan.  Saif attended Aitchison College, Lahore, Pakistan. This was followed by three years at Lahore University of Management Sciences where he studied for his BSc. in Computer Science. He received his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge when he was only 22 years old. Saif also worked and taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001–2005) before moving back to Pakistan.