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Innovation becomes Pakistan’s basic currency: Ahsan Iqbal
Innovation becomes Pakistan’s basic currency: Ahsan Iqbal


LAHORE: (Wednesday, March 8, 2017): Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Prof Ahsan Iqbal has said innovation has become basic currency of Pakistan and the country who would do better innovations would make better progress. He was addressing the 6th Invention to Innovation Summit organized by Punjab University Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization, Pakistan Science Academy, Institute for Research Promotion, UMT and others at Al Raazi Hall here on Wednesday.

PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir, UMT Rector Hassan Sohaib Murad, Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) Dr Muhammad Ashraf, CEO, IRP – DG, UMT Abid H. K. Shirwani, Director ORIC Prof Dr Tahir Jamil, researchers, scientists, faculty memerbs and a large number of students were present on the occasion.

Addressing the summit, the minister said that the incumbent government was using its location for economic cooperation instead using it for power game. He said that the Pakistan which was previously known for terrorism now was being recognized as emerging economy and centre of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. He said that many foreign countries had expressed their interest in becoming part of CPEC, which was a great change. He said that Gawadar would become model port city and centre of trade of the region in the next 20 years. He said that we must put our country on the road to wealth production with the participation of all the areas and segments of the country.

However, he said, it was possible only when we had competitiveness. He said that we must adopt the principal of survival of the fittest and our products and services must match international standards. He said that we could not compete international markets unless we had strong industry-academia linkage. He said research in our universities must be aligned with our industry. He said that our research agenda must focus on improving standard of life, products and fulfill the demands of the society. He said that productivity, quality and innovation were the three drivers of growth. He said that we must brand our quality products and there was no buyer for poor quality products. He said that our religious leadership had failed to play role in highlighting importance of invention and innovation. He said that there was 18-hour loadshedding three years ago but now electricity remained available 18 hours a day today. He said that unprecedented investment had been made in energy sector in the last three years and 10 thousand megawatt additional electricity would be added by 2018. He said the world was restoring confidence in Pakistan and foreign automobile giants would set up their factories in country. He said that the government would produce 20 thousand PhDs in the next ten years and 10 thousand PhDs would be produced under US-Pak Knowledge Corridor project in top-ranked US universities. He said that it was our responsibility to equip our youth with knowledge and skill. He urged the students to believe in Pakistan’s bright future and say good-bye to negative thinking. He congratulated Lahoris on successful PSL final in the city and said that we would completely defeat terrorism. Addressing the conference, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasir said that universities as creators of knowledge had to be linked with real economy to shape up true knowledge economy. He said that we need to provide latest technologies to add value in our raw materials and export high value products and services. He said that academia must also involve its best human resource on solving country’s problems. He said that under US-Pak Knowledge Corridor project, 10 thousand PhDs from USA would increase our research and technology capacity. He invited proposals on how to increase technology diffusion in Pakistan. He said that technology, presentation and poster awards would also be given to distinguished participants of the conference in order to encourage them. Pakistan Science Academy Chairman Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf said that PSA was striving for generating funds and currently executing 35 international projects. He said that modern countries were focusing on reverse engineering. University of Management and Technology Rector Hasan Sohaib Murad said that Pakistan was losing competitiveness in foreign markets due to which our exports were decreasing. He said that we needed to revamp our business schools and gap between academia and industry must be reduced. He said that our youth must be empowered to enter export market. Institute for Research Promotion CEO Abid Sherwani said that it’s a platform to buy and sell technologies and find solutions to technological problems. He said that there were some problems in commercialization of technologies which must be removed in order to market our products. He urged the government to give protection to local technologies. Lahore Chamber of Commerce’s Vice President Amjad Rajwana stressed the need to introduce policies and create environment to enhance country’s export volume. PU ORIC Director Prof Dr Tahir Jamil said that the summit was a big opportunity to bridge gap between academia and industry. He said that scientists, researchers and industrialists from all over the country would interact and benefit from each other in the summit. Later, Federal Minister Prof Ahsan Iqbal inaugurated technology exhibition and visited all the stalls. He also took special interest in various indigenous technologies for their commercialization. The summit would continue today.