Pakistani scholar nominated for “World Technology Network” award

KARACHI: Pakistani scholar Dr. Athar Osama has been nominated for the prestigious World Technology Network (WTN) award and has also been elected as a fellow of the WTN.

In a press briefing released on September 5, WTN recognised www.Muslim-Science.com as an agent of change founded by Dr. Athar Osama and has been named as a finalist for the Science and Innovation Media Journalism category.

The WTN will host this award at the World Technology Summit in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and MIT’s Technology Review.

The WTN awards are widely seen as “Oscars of Science and Technology.” The Previous WTN award winners include Al Gore (US former Vice President), Mohammad Yunus (founder of Grameen Bank), Mark Zuckurberg (Facebook founder), Larry Page (Google) and Tim Berners – Lee (Inventor of Internet), however, no Pakistani has won this award as yet.

The awards to be distributed in the World Technology Summit, to be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA on October 25 – 26, 2011.

WTN selects the finalists through a peer reviewed process and a well established criteria. On individual bases, the awards are distributed in 20 categories such as arts, biotechnology, education, energy, entertainment, health, media and journalism and information technology. WTN also awards to the companies and organisations in10 different categories. The WTN awards have been presented since 2000. Prominent advisors and professionals are included in the selection panel of WTN awards.

“This year we are more eager than ever to pay tribute to the talent and innovation of our individual and corporate honorees,” said James P. Clark, Founder and Chairman of the World Technology Network.

Dr. Athar Osama frequently writes about science, technology and innovation issues especially on Islamic countries. He is the director of Middle East and Asia for ANGLE Plc – a UK based firm for technology commercialisation and policy. He also works at RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA as a science and technology policy analyst.

Recently, he launched Muslim-Science.Com, an online journal discussing the issues of Science, Technology, Innovation and Policy mainly concerned with Muslim countries.

Osama did his Bachelors from the Pakistan Air force Academy and did his doctorate in public policy from Pardee RAND Graduate School.