Innovation Incubators in Pakistan — Part 10 of 12 · By Sameer Sami, Founder & Principal Attorney, SAMI & SAMI (Attorneys-at-Law)
“Pakistan already has an incubation model that works — the task now is to extend it beyond tech startups.”
Pakistan is not starting from zero. Ignite’s National Incubation Centers already operate in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, and Hyderabad, plus specialized centers in Faisalabad (agritech) and Rawalpindi (aerospace) — with a ninth NIC now being established in Sialkot itself, directly targeting its sports-goods and surgical-instrument cluster.
Plan9 in Lahore, founded in 2012, remains one of the country’s oldest and most respected incubators.
The opportunity is to extend that same public-private model — largely built for IT and tech startups — into the sectors covered in this series, with support from partners such as WIPO Green, UNDP, and the World Bank, and a deliberate push into rural and agricultural areas the tech-incubator wave has largely bypassed.
A phased roadmap:
Years 1–3: Extend the NIC/Plan9 model into industrial clusters; pilot licensing and royalty frameworks.
Years 3–7: Scale sector incubators; commercialize nationally and begin regional exports.
Years 7–10: Build recognition as a manufacturing and patent-filing hub.