ISLAMABAD: The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will hold a mega event next month to develop linkages between academia and industry, enabling the students to bring their research work into practice.
The innovation and creative work of the researchers will help them to seek entrepreneurship in the relevant industries. The students from the AIOU and other universities have been invited to take part in this career-making activity.
This will be in line with the university’s efforts in commercialising and marketing the research-based projects, said Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Shahid Siddiqui while addressing the concluding session of the five-day pre-expo training workshop.
According to details, the university is going to follow China’s model promoting students’ entrepreneurship to enable the youth to create earning opportunities through creativity and innovation.
Announcing the university’s plan to implement this model that was also practised by other countries, Dr Siddiqui said that this expo will also serve as a ‘start-up’ for the students to undertake their own small-scale business. He added that the training workshop was aimed at preparing the students to properly present their projects/models at the forthcoming expo so that those could attract the relevant industry.
The expo is being organised in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and other relevant institutions and it will act as a bridge between the students and the industrial sector for socio-economic uplift through innovative ideas. The university has also set up an office of Research Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) for marketing the research work through university-industries collaboration.
