Dr. Adnan Abid — AI Strategist, Data Architect & Professor

About

Two careers, one discipline: making data useful.

My work sits at the intersection of AI strategy, big data architecture, and applied research. As Co-founder and Data & AI Architect at Techtics.ai (www.techtics.ai), I design intelligent systems in Generative AI, Agentic AI, NLP, and data analytics — multi-agent automation frameworks, domain-specific chatbots, and AI platforms for document processing, recruitment, and semantic search.

In parallel, I've served as a Professor for over a decade — currently at the University of the Punjab — publishing 100+ peer-reviewed papers, supervising 7 PhDs, and serving as academic editor for three international journals (IEEE Access, PeerJ Computer Science, PLOS ONE). I've held key roles as Executive Technology Officer and Enterprise Architect, and I lead corporate and public-sector training in AI and big data.

My principal areas of practice: AI project management, AI strategy & governance, big data solution architecture, multi-tiered distributed application architecture, agentic AI solution design, and AI strategy training.

Experience

A dual-track career.

Industry leadership and academic research have run side by side — each one sharpening the other.

Industry & Leadership

Mar 2022 — present

Co-Founder · Data & AI Architect

Techtics.ai — also Co-founder, Hyphen

Leading the design of GenAI, agentic AI, NLP, and analytics solutions from R&D to deployment; guiding a 60+ headcount across financial, administrative, strategic, and technical roles.

Key roles held

Executive Technology Officer · Enterprise Architect

Strategy formulation, planning, delivery & execution

Governance & accreditation

NCRC Member · NCEAC Program Evaluator

Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan

Reviewing national computing curricula and accrediting degree programs since 2018.

Academia & Research

2012 — present

Professor

University of the Punjab · Virtual University · UMT, Pakistan

Leading the Information Systems research group; Senate and Academic Council member; formerly Chairperson CS, Director Academics, and Director, Center for Advancement of Science & Technology.

2006 — present

Research & Faculty Fellowships

Global universities

Faculty Fellow, INTI International University, Malaysia (2023–) · Faculty Fellow, George Mason University, USA (2016–19) · Visiting Fellow, University of Derby, UK (2018) · Research Fellow, Politecnico di Milano (2009–12) · Research Fellow, EPFL, Switzerland (2006–07).

Areas of Practice

What I help organizations do.

AI Strategy & Governance

AI readiness assessment, roadmap formulation, and governance frameworks aligned to business goals.

Big Data Solution Architecture

Large-scale data infrastructure, analytics pipelines, and integration of structured and unstructured data.

Agentic AI Solution Design

Multi-agent automation frameworks, RAG systems, domain-specific chatbots, and semantic search.

AI Project Management

End-to-end delivery — from product conception and business analysis to technology roadmaps and execution.

Distributed Application Architecture

Multi-tiered, scalable enterprise systems designed for performance and maintainability.

Corporate & Public-Sector Training

AI strategy training for executives, civil service officers, and technical teams.

Major Projects

From Swiss supercomputing to Pakistani sign language.

Selected projects and products across research and industry.

EPFL · Switzerland

Blue Brain Project

Enhanced distributed scientific storage (SRB) with hybrid P2P, ontology-powered keyword indexing and search for neuroscientists simulating the neocortical column.

PoliMi · Italy

Search Computing

Optimized rank joins and top-k query processing for multi-source web search over the deep web, within the Search Computing engine.

GenAI Product

Simpla.ai

Designed the data and AI architecture for a RAG-based taxation and accounting advisor serving agents and customers.

AI Product

Talina.ai

Co-designed an end-to-end AI-augmented HR sourcing product — conception, business analysis, and technology roadmap.

ICT4D · Research

Sign Language Translation

Leading corpus development, machine translation models, and applications supporting the deaf community of Pakistan.

Computer Vision

Retail Viewlytics / DialTics

AI strategy for in-store video analytics — real-time footfall and traffic-flow metrics optimized for low-power edge deployment.

Data Analytics

MealTech

Procurement-optimization analytics that minimize cost through advanced data analysis.

AI Co-pilot

Unlayer

Architected a co-pilot for UI/UX design customization and a large-scale automated email manager.

Research

Selected publications, ranked top-k.

A nod to my PhD work on top-k query processing — a small ranked sample from 100+ peer-reviewed papers. Bars indicate journal impact factor.

A Multi-stack RNN-based Neural Machine Translation Model for English to Pakistan Sign Language

Neural Computing & Applications · 2023

IF 5.1 · W category

Stylometry-driven Framework for Urdu Intrinsic Plagiarism Detection: ML, DL, and LLMs

Neural Computing & Applications · 2025

IF 5.1 · W category

A Novel Rule-Based Machine Translation System for English to Pakistan Sign Language

Cognitive Computation · 2020

IF 4.28 · W category

A Survey on Search Results Diversification Techniques

Neural Computing & Applications · 2016

IF 4.2 · W category

An Evaluation Framework and Comparative Analysis of Widely Used Learning Management Systems

PLOS ONE · 2024

IF 2.9 · W category

Search Computing: An Approach for Managing Complex Search Queries

IEEE Internet Computing · 2010 · with S. Ceri et al.

IF 2.5 · W category

Google Scholar ↗ ORCID ↗ Scopus ↗

PhD Supervision — 7 completed

Dr. Nabeel Sabir — Bridging the communication barrier for the deaf in Pakistan using IT
Dr. Kashif Ishaq — Cultural tailoring of serious game design for language learning
Dr. Uzma Omer — Cognitive framework for learning analytics in programming courses
Dr. Rabia Tehseen — Earthquake prediction framework for the Western Himalayas
Dr. M. Ramzan — Multiclass unusual-activity recognition using deep learning
Dr. Imran Abbas — Ad-hoc collaborative space for mobile application development

Editorial & Service

Associate Editor — IEEE Access
Editor — PeerJ Computer Science
Editor — PLOS ONE
15+ keynote and invited talks at national and international conferences
HEC-approved PhD supervisor; external evaluator for ~10 PhD theses
Research areas — AI & data management · CS education · ICT4D

Executive & Government Training

Recent training engagements.

2025 · Government of Pakistan

Understanding AI in the Private & Public Sector

For civil service officers at the Pakistan Audit & Accounts Academy.

2025 · Auditor General of Pakistan

Data Analysis in Performance Auditing using AI

Performance Audit Wing, Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan.