Out of the darkness: Govt should allocate 4% of GDP to technology: expert

Three-day symposium on light-based technologies begins


News Desk October 15, 2015
Comsats Institute of Information Technology. PHOTO: http://ciit-isb.

The country has initiated several research programmes in laser and photonics, including the National Institute of Lasers and Optronics, in addition to specialised courses and research activities at various universities.

Rana Tanveer Hussain, minister for science, technology and defence production, expressed these views while inaugurating a three-day ‘International Symposium on Light and Life’, at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) on Thursday.

The event is being organised to celebrate the UN’s International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL2015).

Organisers of the event include CIIT, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy and the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS).

“Considerably more needs to be done on the part of government, researchers and academics in this field,” the minister said.

He noted the wide-spread applications light-based technologies, including defence, energy, communication, medicine and research.

Organising committee chairman Prof Dr Aslam Khan said the event will comprise of 16 parallel technical sessions, 10 plenary talks, 13 invited talks, 25 contributed talks and 25 poster presentations.

Prof Dr Aslam Baig, Unesco IYL2015 focal person, urged the minister to advocate for a 4 per cent of national GDP allocation for education and investment in science and technology.

COMSATS Executive Director Dr Imtinan Elahi Qureshi said technologies that seemed impossible a few years ago are turning into reality.

Speakers at the event hailed from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2015.

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