DAILY NEWS MART

News: Workshop promotes knowledge enterprise in Pakistan
Name of the Newspaper: Daily News Mart
Date of publication: Thursday, February 01 , 2007

ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Competitiveness Support Fund jointly funded by US and Pakistan governments, today conducted the third of a series of interactive workshops on promoting the commercialization of research in Pakistan universities and research institutions. Part of the HES-CSF Matching Grant Program, the purpose of the workshop is to help business people, academics and researchers to identify and exploit potential commercial applications for innovations into research ad development (R&D) institutions, which are the engines of knowledgebased innovation in the world's leading economIes.

In the picture (left to right) Arthur Bayhan CEO-CSF, Dr Altaf Shaikh Advisor HEC and Mr. Mpohammad Nasir Khan, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The workshops encourage researchers to link up with Chambers of Commerce and other consortia of businesses to jointly develop knowledgebased technological innovations with the potential to COmpete indomestic and global markets.Speaking on the occasion, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Muhammad Nasir Khan, appreciated the initiative and urged CSF to create a research and development center at the Chamber.


He informed that ICCI was catering to four major clusters in through video conferencing facility. Addressing the workshop, Advisor to HEC, Dr. altaf Shaikh, observed that there was much untapped potential in the country for creating synergies.

Dr. Arthur Bayhan, CEO for the Competitiveness Support Fund, congratulated the participants for becoming part of a program bringing together Pakistani government, academia and industry to boost economic development.

This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that all three players academia, industry and the government-will will work together for economic development and competitiveness, said Dr. Bayhan. With the HEC-CSF Matching Grant Program scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2007, more workshops have been planned for Peshawar and Quetta next month.

HEC and CSF are also planning to hold trade fairs in Islamabad and Karachi in early 2007 to promote academia-based research projects with knowledge-based commercial potential.

Support for CSF is part of! the $1.5 billion in aid that the U.S Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health and governance.