Trade linkage: ‘Knowledge shops’ to be set up at PU, UET and FAST

The project aims to promote academic-industrial linkage to boost the economy, says education minister.

LAHORE:

“Knowledge shops” will be established at the Punjab University, University of Engineering and Technology and FAST University of Computer and Emerging Sciences as a pilot project to promote academia-industry linkage, Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan announced on Sunday at a cabinet committee meeting to discuss a sustainable economy roadmap.

He said the government will adopt the Chinese Suchu Industrial Parks Model to establish knowledge shops in various universities in the province. The project aims to boost the national economy by linking academic knowledge, marketing technology and the industrial sector.

Minister for Industries Chaudhry Muhammad Shafiq, Minister for Food Bilal Yasin, Prof Zafar Iqbal Qureshi and SME Consultant Siddiqur Rehman also attended the meeting.

Khan emphasised the need for preferential attention to promote academia-industry linkage. He said public universities had a pivotal role in kick-starting the economy through applied research.

He said a knowledge shop linked to Chinese industries had already been established at Sundar Industrial Estate. It had been funded by the Higher Education Commission at a cost of Rs80 million.

The project to establish knowledge shops at the Punjab University, the UET and the FAST University will supplement the government’s efforts to boost the economy, he said.

SME consultant Rehman briefed the participants of the meeting about the nature of Sino-Pak economic relations. He said that Pakistani firms had still not reached out to 70 per cent of China’s manufacturing industry, run by the private sector.

Rehman said the Chinese government had announced that they would set up 21 factories in the Punjab. They would include three chemical plants, he said.

The government could consider establishing linkages with the Chinese “Trillion Club” that comprises Shanghai, Jian Su, Guang Dong, Zu Jiang and Shan Dong provinces. SMEs could be relocated from the Trillion Club to the Punjab on a large scale, he said.

Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan appreciated the suggestion and said the economic zones in the province would supplement that. He said Pakistan’s chemical industry could also export chemicals to Chinese cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

The participants decided that heavy duty rigs to excavate 500 feet below ground should be imported so that coal mines could be explored.

There are 500 million tonnes of coal in the Punjab that cannot be explored via surface mining.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2013.