Pakistani researcher wins SCO Tech Prize. QINGDAO, June 10 (Gwadar Pro) – Aidah Abdul Wahid, a Tech innovator from Pakistan, won a second prize at the 4th SCO Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, held on June 9 in Qingdao, China, Pakistani Scientist Claims SCO Innovation Award. attended by more than 300 delegates from the eight Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries.
Aidah, who is originally from Gwadar and is now a PhD scholar at China Ocean University, presented her artificial intelligence project Z-UP: The Foundational Infrastructure for AI-Internet and Agentic-Web. The project features a pathway that aims to connect currently independent and disparate AI systems into a single intelligent network, structure, and operational system.
Z-UP: A Leap in AI Infrastructure
Z-UP is designed to enable next-gen productivity and to create a B2B ecosystem with an exchange of enterprise class computing resources.
The heart of Z-UP is GPU virtualization, which allows sharing high performance computing for AI and metaverse platforms. As a result, start-ups and institutions can scale at comparatively low costs.
Global Collaboration Behind the Project
“I had the opportunity to access global innovation throughout my academic journey in China,” Aidah said as she thanked her team, including experts from AT&T Labs (previously Bell Labs).
The project also benefited from engagement with world-leading institutions including MIT, the University of British Columbia (UBC), University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).
Representing Pakistan on the Global Stage
“This prize is not just my prize, it represents Pakistan’s growing potential in technology,” said Aidah. She stressed how young people, especially girls from Gwadar and Balochistan, can be the world’s safe hands in science and technology.
Competition Highlights and International Impact
The contest received more than 200 submissions across AI, new materials, and smart technologies. More than 12 projects were selected as finalists. The unmanned airport project in China won the first prize.
Approximately 35% of the shortlisted projects included teams from multiple countries. This demonstrated the support of the SCO in encouraging cross-border collaboration and new-technology innovations.
Inspiring the Next Generation
The event took place on the backdrop of the SCO Year of Sustainable Development, gathering public officials, entrepreneurs and tech leaders from across Asia.
In her closing remarks, Aidah dedicated her award to the young people of Pakistan and, in particular, young scientists. As she said, “I want girls from Gwadar and Balochistan to see their future in global tech. Our ideas do matter. I want to encourage young people to pursue careers in STEM.”
