Islamabad, January 31: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), jointly funded by US and Pakistan governments, today conducted the third of a series of interactive workshops on promoting the commercialization of research in Pakistani universities and research institutions.

Part of the HEC-CSF Matching Grant Program, the purpose of the workshops is to help business people, academics and researchers to identify and exploit potential commercial applications for innovations developed at academic institutions. Success would mean turning pure research institutions into research and development (R&D) institutions, which are the engines of knowledge-based innovation in the world’s leading economies.

The workshops encourage researchers to link up with Chambers of Commerce and other consortia of businesses to jointly develop knowledge-based technological innovations with the potential to compete in domestic 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 the capital territory, and it had plans to connect itself with all the major Chambers in Pakistan through video conferencing facility. “CSF can help us link ourselves with the academia to develop this solution,” he said.

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 be working 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. Organizers hope that these workshops will include strong participation by Government of Pakistan officials, establishing the basis for what economic competitiveness experts call a “triple-helix” of industry, academia and government collaborating in the development of knowledge-based innovation.

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.

CSF is a platform creating public-private partnership to promote cluster development, encourage the formation of an innovative business incubator program, promote knowledge-based enterprise development, and better jobs (more information available at www.competitiveness.org.pk).

It was established by the Ministry of Finance in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID contributed over $12 million to setting up CSF, while Pakistan contributed $10 million.

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.

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