‘NTU is making efforts to commercialise research, enhance exports’
FAISALABAD: National Textile University (NTU) is making serious efforts to commercialise modern research, including technical textiles, resolve industry-related problems and enhance Pakistan’s exports, said NTU Rector Prof Dr Rashid Masood.
He was speaking during a meeting with Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Arif Ehsan Malik and his team during his visit to the chamber.
Prof Dr Rashid Masood said that his primary focus was on value addition, adding that industries should also approach NTU to seek solutions to their technical and production-related problems. Talking about technical textiles, he said Korea had invested USD 7 million to establish a Technical Textile Centre at NTU. Earlier, a non-woven textile machine had been acquired at a cost of USD 3 million, which was now being upgraded. He said NTU also had advanced facilities for textile sample testing, which had been further improved through the Export Development Fund. These facilities would be made available to the industry within the next few months.
He said the Skill Development School was offering various short courses to meet the growing demand of the textile industry for skilled manpower. The rector said NTU could also provide technical support for the local production of bio-based and synthetic fibres in addition to cotton.
He said the university had increased student enrolment, while postgraduate students had also been assigned the responsibility of finding solutions to problems being faced by industries. He pointed out that research papers produced by students contained many innovative ideas and inventions with potential for commercialisation.
The relevant industries, he added, could further modify these innovations according to market requirements. He said the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) was also working for this purpose.
Earlier, FCCI President Arif Ehsan Malik welcomed the NTU rector and said the chamber was already in contact with the university, but other industrialists would also have to come forward and benefit from its expertise. He said the chamber wanted to make the meeting result-oriented by working with NTU to transform Faisalabad into Pakistan’s first textile circular city and promote the technical textile sector. He said around 60 to 70 units were already operating in Satiana, while achieving zero industrial waste was also essential to meet European Union compliance requirements.
The FCCI president expressed the desire that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should himself visit Faisalabad and formally announce the declaration of the city as a textile circular city.
He appreciated the proposed 10-year roadmap for the promotion of technical textiles and said that, besides the involvement of high-level institutions, a conducive environment needed to be created for the sector so that technical textile-related clusters could be established. He said facilities should be developed for the domestic supply of products manufactured by these clusters as well as for the export of surplus production. He also called for a comprehensive programme to provide loans to the SME sector on easy terms for establishing such units.
Arif Ehsan Malik said Pakistan would have to demonstrate its capabilities across a broad range of technical textiles in order to make the country’s exports competitive in international markets in the future. He stressed that all obstacles hindering the development of technical textiles should be removed on a priority basis.
FCCI Senior Vice President Mian Muhammad Saeed, Vice President Muhammad Yasin, NTU Department of Clothing Chairman Dr Qamar Khan, Executive Members Kashif Zia, Mughees Khokhar, Muhammad Umar Malik, Tanveer Riaz and Waheed Khaliq Raamay were also present on the occasion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026