DDR-045 RASTA · PIDE
Strategic Foresight Workshops · 2026

Pakistan's industrial future, decided in the room.

Three sector workshops — Textiles & Garments, Pharmaceuticals, and IT & Software Services — where the study's evidence is put to the people who can act on it, and turned into agreed, sequenced priorities for the Planning Commission.

Register for a workshop → What the evidence shows
Format
OnlineJoining link sent to registered participants
Timing
10:00 – 14:00Pakistan Standard Time
Places
~35 per sectorBy invitation · no fee
Method
Cambridge STIM mappingInstitute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
Dates & registration

Each sector gets its own working day.

Register for the session relevant to your sector by the closing date shown. Registration closes one week before each workshop, and confirmed places are balanced across ministries, large firms, SMEs, associations, academia and development partners.

Workshop 01

Textiles & Garments

Wednesday, 14 October 202610:00–14:00 PKT · Online

Value-chain upgrading, man-made fibre, CBAM readiness and export competitiveness.

Registration closes 7 October 2026

Register → Sector survey
Workshop 02

Pharmaceuticals

Wednesday, 21 October 202610:00–14:00 PKT · Online

API localisation, quality and cGMP readiness, regulatory reform and export markets.

Registration closes 14 October 2026

Register → Sector survey
Workshop 03

IT & Software Services

Wednesday, 28 October 202610:00–14:00 PKT · Online

Freelancer-to-firm transition, payments, talent, and the move up the services value chain.

Registration closes 21 October 2026

Register → Sector survey
Participation
By invitation, free of charge — approximately 30–40 participants per sector
Series close
An in-person dissemination workshop presents the combined findings — date to be announced
Where it goes
Straight into the sector strategy submitted to the Planning Commission
About the study

DDR-045 — a national strategic landscape study.

Pakistan's Industrial Sector: Constraints and Opportunities — A Strategic Landscape Road Mapping Study is funded under the RASTA Competitive Grants Programme of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), and was initiated on the direction of the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives.

The study runs over twenty-four weeks, from April to September 2026, and applies the Cambridge industrial-ecosystem (STIM) mapping methodology to three priority sectors. Its purpose is to convert a well-documented diagnosis — energy costs, cascading tariffs, regulatory fragmentation, skills mismatch, thin long-term finance — into sequenced roadmaps with named institutional owners across short (0–2 years), medium (2–5 years) and long (5–10 years) horizons.

The evidence base is deliberately triangulated: a systematic review of more than eighty sources, 25–30 key informant interviews across five respondent categories, and a structured survey of 80–100 establishments drawing on World Bank Enterprise Survey modules. Ethical approval for the fieldwork was granted by the National Textile University Ethics Committee.

Dr Arsalan GhaniPrincipal Investigator · Industrial Fellow, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge
Prof. Dr Zafar JavedCo-Principal Investigator · Dean, School of Arts & Design, National Textile University; Sector Lead — Textiles & Garments
Engr. Adeel Bin AhmedProject & Workshop Coordinator · PhD Scholar, NTU Faisalabad

Funder · RASTA Competitive Grants Programme, PIDE
Direction · Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives
Partners · National Textile University · University of Cambridge (IfM)
Reference · DDR-045

What the evidence already shows

You will not be starting from a blank sheet.

Each workshop opens with the findings for your sector. These are the emerging results from the literature review and the key informant interviews, to be tested and sharpened in the room — and validated against the establishment survey now in the field.

Textiles & Garments

1–2 of 5
CBAM readiness among interviewed firms — carbon-footprint measurement is not standard practice, and awareness of the reporting obligations is low.
25–30%
of textile and clothing exports go to the EU market that CBAM governs.
<15–20%
of output is design-intensive or man-made-fibre based; machinery age remains a material barrier.

Pharmaceuticals

85–90%
average API import dependence among interviewed firms; local production is seen as viable only with dedicated API-park infrastructure.
2–3 of 5
cGMP readiness for EU and US market entry; bioequivalence-testing capacity is scarce and costly.
DRAP
International accreditation of the regulator is named the single most impactful reform for African and Central Asian export expansion.

IT & Software Services

US$2.6 bn
in 2024 exports — the fastest-growing export sector, but weighted toward lower-value services.
3–4 of 5
difficulty of payment repatriation through formal banking, despite recent retention and digital-account measures.
Talent
Acute shortage of AI and data-science skills caps the move into higher-value contract work.

Constraints confirmed across all three sectors

EnergyRated 4–5 of 5 everywhere; frequently above 20–25% of production cost.
Trade & tariffsCascading duties on inputs raise costs relative to regional competitors.
RegulationMulti-tier NOCs and overlapping federal and provincial mandates.
SkillsThe TVET pipeline is seen as misaligned with what firms actually recruit for.
Long-term financeRated 4–5 of 5 for difficulty; collateral and tenor are the binding constraints.
LogisticsPort and freight inefficiency adds 15–20% to landed costs versus peers.

Emerging findings from the Week 12 interim report, pending full thematic analysis and survey validation.

Where the workshops sit

Phase four of five.

The workshops are the point where the assembled evidence becomes an agreed sector position — and the last opportunity to shape the roadmaps before they are written up.

Phase 1 Inception & desk research Complete
Phase 2 Key informant interviews Complete
Phase 3 Industrial survey — 80–100 establishments In the field
Phase 4 Strategic roadmapping workshops You are here
Phase 5 Final report & policy brief To follow
Why it matters

The workshops are where the evidence meets the people who can act on it.

Your experience shapes national strategy

The priorities agreed in each workshop flow directly into the sector roadmaps submitted to the RASTA programme and the Planning Commission, with named institutions against each intervention.

A structured method, not another talking shop

Sessions run on a purpose-built foresight canvas drawn from Cambridge ecosystem mapping. Participants work with real evidence cards and leave with a visible, agreed picture of the sector's direction.

The whole sector at one table

Ministries and regulators, leading firms of every size, trade associations, academia and development partners — deliberately mixed so no single voice dominates the outcome.

Format of the day

Four hours, four moves.

Every workshop follows the same sequence, so the three sector outputs can be read side by side.

10:00

Opening briefing — what the evidence says

Headline findings from the literature review, the sector interviews and the establishment survey, presented as the starting material for the day.

11:00

Working session 1 — the landscape

Validating the forces shaping the sector across social, technological, economic, environmental and political dimensions.

12:30

Working session 2 — the response

What the sector should offer, the capabilities it must build, and the resources it must secure — prioritised across short, medium and long term.

13:30

Closing plenary — priorities and owners

Agreeing the sector's top priorities and naming the institutions responsible for each.

Success criteria guiding every session

Export earnings Employment Alignment with government agreements Climate compliance

These criteria were published before stakeholder engagement began, and breakout groups deliberately mix large firms with SMEs, so that agreed priorities are not captured by any one class of participant.

Who should attend

Senior people who can carry a decision back.

Attendance is free of charge; places are limited to keep the online working sessions effective.

GovernmentFederal ministries and sector regulators
Large firmsOwners and executives of leading establishments
SMEsMedium and small firms in the sector
AssociationsAPTMA, PRGMEA, PPMA, P@SHA and chamber leadership
AcademiaResearchers with sector expertise
Development partnersSector specialists and programme leads
Study instruments

The sector interview & survey forms.

These are the live Phase 2–3 instruments. Part A ranks constraints numerically; Part B is the semi-structured interview. Responses are confidential and reported anonymously unless you agree otherwise — leave items that do not apply to you blank rather than guessing. Completing your sector's form before the workshop strengthens the evidence you will be working with on the day.

Textiles & Garments

Interview & survey instrument

Constraint ranking across energy, tariffs, regulation, skills, finance and logistics, plus MMF upgrading and CBAM readiness.

Open the form ↗
Pharmaceuticals

Interview & survey instrument

The same constraint core, plus API localisation, cGMP and bioequivalence capacity, price controls and export-market access.

Open the form ↗
IT & Software Services

Interview & survey instrument

The same constraint core, plus freelancer-to-firm transition, payment repatriation, connectivity and the AI/data-science talent gap.

Open the form ↗
Registration

Register for your sector's workshop.

Registration is by online form, one per sector. No Google account is needed — the form opens in a new tab and takes about three minutes.

Registration closes one week before each workshop. Places are capped at about forty per session and balanced across participant categories and firm sizes.

Textiles & Garments Wednesday, 14 October 2026 Registration closes 7 October Open the registration form Pharmaceuticals Wednesday, 21 October 2026 Registration closes 14 October Open the registration form IT & Software Services Wednesday, 28 October 2026 Registration closes 21 October Open the registration form

Unable to use the form? Email the Workshop Coordinator at adeelbinahmed@gmail.com with your name, designation, organisation, contact number and sector, and your place will be registered manually.

What happens next

Confirmation
The Workshop Coordinator confirms your place and sends the programme and joining link by email roughly one week before your workshop.
Reminders
Joining details are re-sent three days and one day before the session.
Places
Capped at about forty per workshop and balanced across participant categories and firm sizes. A waiting list applies beyond that.
Your data
Used solely for workshop administration, held by the research team under the study's ethics protocol. Workshop outputs are reported in aggregated, non-attributed form.

Questions before registering? Email the Coordinator — details below.

Workshop Coordinator
Engr. Adeel Bin AhmedRegistration, joining details and workshop logistics
Email
adeelbinahmed@gmail.comPlease name your sector in the subject line
Convening institutions
NTU & PIDE-RASTANational Textile University, Faisalabad · Pakistan Institute of Development Economics