Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Rana Tanveer Hussain on Wednesday said that government was committed to fill the gap between centres of S&T and production sector for economic development of the country.
He was addressing a one-day consultative workshop organised by Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) in collaboration with the University of Manchester on “University-Industry Collaborative Interactions: Policy and Practical Implications for Pakistan”.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Rana Tanveer Hussain was the chief guest.
The ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries including heads of R&D organisations, vice chancellors, eminent scientists, representatives of private sector and industry, civil society and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Rana Tanveer Hussain said that one of the key challenges in the economic development of Pakistan was weak linkages between centres of science and technology and the production sector.
The government was well aware of this issue and was fully committed explore all potential areas that would harness economic development and prosperity for the future generation of the country, he said.
The minister also appreciated the role of PCST in organising this important workshop and providing a platform to the experts in identifying key challenges, and to build a way forward for the promotion of an enabling environment and demand oriented research culture in Pakistan.
Secretary Science and Technology, Fazal Abbas Maken emphasised upon the urgent need of academia collaboration as this phenomena is very common in other countries whereas in Pakistan this was not the case.
He further said the universities were widely viewed by the world as an economic engine that could positively contribute to a country’s growth in addition to its primary role as a centre for knowledge.
He said Pakistan had many world class universities, producing high-quality research but the challenge lies in how to transform this research into socio-economic factors which can be achieved by creating strong bonding between knowledge creator and knowledge consumers.
PCST Chairman Prof Dr Anwarul Hassan Gilani, Dr Khalil Malik and Dr Arshad Ali also spoke on the occasion.
The objective of this workshop would provide a basis to chalk out policy proposals and recommendations about different aspects of the issue dealing with weakness in academia-industrial linkages which would be presented to the Ministry of Science and Technology for consideration and implementation.
