‘Innovation key to economic development’

HEC establishes technology fund to encourage creativity among PhD students.

Innovation and entrepreneurship should be encouraged in universities to create job opportunities and economic empowerment in the country, participants of a Higher Education Commission (HEC) meeting agreed on Friday.

The HEC established an innovation steering committee in the meeting to strengthen activities that will ensure innovation in higher education institutes, said a press release.

The steering committee has decided to review and improve the parameters to assess the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) – research centres established in universities by HEC to provide strategic and operational support to the universities’ research programmes; establish a start-up academy; and encourage female entrepreneurs.

The meeting was chaired by HEC Executive Director, Dr Arshad Ali. It was attended by several industry representatives, entrepreneurs and the HEC team including Imtiaz Rastgar, chairman of the Rastgar Group, who was also selected as the steering committee’s chairman; Muhammad Murtaza Zaidi, CEO of Cyber vision International, and Assistant Professor Maajid Maqbool from NUST.

Dr Arshad Ali appreciated the continuous support of the industrial sector and invited their suggestions for improving ORICs so that they could help create a knowledge- based economy.

He said, “These graduates are a national asset and we need to work together to develop a road map linking our youth to the solution of rising national requirements.”

Ali said that HEC looked forward to the positive role the business community could play in strengthening the country’s economy.

He also apprised the participants that the HEC had planned to convene a meeting of ORIC Directors to listen to their problems, and to identify areas of improvement.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Muhammad Latif, adviser on research and development in HEC, briefed the forum about HEC’s new project on Technology Development Fund for PhD scholars. He said that the new project was specifically designed to support researchers for prototype development; and market their research projects so that the community and economy could benefit from them.

Dr Ali, the executive director of HEC, said that the establishment of the Committee would serve as a backbone to the newly approved Technology Fund, for which the government has approved a fund of Rs2.95 million.

The meeting will soon be followed by meeting of the ORIC directors with entrepreneurs and vice-chancellors of different universities.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2016.