Ahsan Iqbal urges academia, industry experts to bring innovation in all fields Planning Commission launches Innovation Support Project

Dated : 15 September 2022

Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday 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 made these remarks while addressing a round table organized by the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives on the ‘Innovation Support Project’ with academia and industry experts. The round table 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 Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives 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.

Speaking at the occasion, the Minister said that innovation depends on a country's socio-economic conditions, administrative system, culture and education system. The government has launched an investment fund project worth Rs 10 billion aimed to encourage innovation in the country, said the Minister while urging the academia and industry to bring innovation in every field in order to get the desired results. The Minister emphasized the importance of the performance of the academia/Industry linkages as HEC had given direction to make KPI.

The academia and industry experts must support the public sector in adopting innovation to strengthen the ecosystem of innovation in Pakistan, said the Minister, while stressing the participants to adopt research, observation and critical thinking in every field. During the round table, the participants from various fields shared their views which was appreciated by the Minister. The participants also appreciated the Minister for organizing the roundtable and assured their full support to bring innovation in their respective fields.

The Minister also said that HEC should also evaluate the performance of VCs. “There should be a mechanism in which performance could be judged of all the VCs running the universities, '' the minister remarked.