HEC - CSF workshops promote knowledge enterprises in Pakistan
Asghar Ali Mubarak

The Higher Education Commission (HEC), in collaboration with the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), launched a series of workshops here today aimed at promoting the commercialization of research in Pakistani universities and R&D institutions. The HEC-CSF Matching Grant Program will hold other workshops in Quetta, Lahore and Karachi through end January.
The workshops will help business people, academics and researchers to identify and exploit potential commercial applications for innovations developed at academic institutions. Researchers will be encouraged to link up with Chambers of Commerce or other consortia of businesses to jointly develop knowledge-based technological innovations with the potential to compete in domestic and global markets.
Dr. Arthur Bayhan, CEO for the Competitiveness Support Fund, said that Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan had established the Fund in partnership with the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID contributed over $12 million, while Pakistan contributed $10 million. CSF, he added, was a platform creating public-private partnership to promote cluster development, establish linkages between academia and industry, encourage the formation of an innovative business incubator program, promote knowledge-based enterprise development, create better jobs, and boost economic growth.
Congratulating the stakeholders, for a program that was brining together Pakistani government, academia and industry to boost economic development.
The Program will be launched in the first quarter of 2007. Organizers hope that these workshops will also encourage participation by Government of Pakistan officials, thus creating in the country what economic competitiveness experts call, a “triple-helix” of industry, academia and government cooperation for the development of knowledge-based innovation.
“This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that all three players -- academia, industry and the government -- will be working together for economic development and competitiveness,” said Dr. Bayhan, who also emphasized the importance of media to become part of ‘triple helix’ and promote innovation and competitiveness in Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to HEC, Dr. Altaf Shaikh, observed that there was much untapped potential in the synergies that could be created when quality research received proper support from industry and government.
Dr. Arthur Bayhan in his presentation told the participants that this partnership benefited everyone involved. Universities and research institutions get investment and the latest expertise from the industrial world, while firms benefited from the constant evolution of ideas found in academia. “Government also plays an important role by providing a suitable environment for such innovation to take place, and of course benefits from the end result, which is a strong economy, providing more jobs of higher quality for its citizens,” he added.
HEC and CSF intend to hold smaller, follow-up workshops targeting groups that have brought promising research to a stage of development where they might seek additional support. The two organizations also plan to hold trade fairs in Islamabad and Karachi in early 2007 to promote academia-based research projects with knowledge-based commercial potential.
CSF, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance and USAID, has been tailored to the current Pakistani economic environment to strengthen and make the private sector competitive and to improve the policy framework needed for innovation-based competitiveness.