ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that the government has launched an investment fund project at a cost of Rs10 billion, which is aimed to encourage innovation in the country, and urged the academia and industry to bring innovation to every field in order to get the desired results.
The minister expressed these views while addressing a Round Table Conference on Thursday organised by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on the “Innovation Support Project” with academia and industry experts.
The roundtable was attended by the additional secretary PD&SI, chief economist, chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC), vice chancellors from various universities and experts from academia and industry.
The minister emphasized the importance of innovation to get the desired results and urged the experts from academia and industry to play their role in bringing innovation in respective fields.
He said that the academia and industry experts must support the public sector in adopting innovation to strengthen the ecosystem of innovation in Pakistan.
He said that there is a need to adopt research, observation, and critical thinking in every field.
He said that his ministry is executing the project and the basic objective of the project is to identify factors that lead to positive and effective innovative regulatory processes. Furthermore, to create awareness among stakeholders on the importance of innovations for enhancement of quality and productivity in national development, he said.
He said that innovation depends on a country's socio-economic conditions, administrative system, culture and education system. He emphasised the importance of the performance of the academia/industry linkages as the HEC had given direction to make the Key Performance Indicator (KPI).
The minister also said that the HEC should also evaluate the performance of VCs. “There should be a mechanism in which performance could be judged of all the vice-chancellors (VCs) running the universities,'' the minister remarked.
During the roundtable, the participants from various fields shared their views which was appreciated by the minister. The participants also appreciated the minister for organising the roundtable and assured their full support to bring innovation in their respective fields.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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