Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the Embassy of France and Hello Tomorrow organised a summit on “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” at HEC Secretariat, with an aim to enhance connectivity of local ICT talent to global opportunities.

Martine Dorance, Ambassador of France to Pakistan, was the chief guest on the occasion. HEC Chairman Mukhtar Ahmed, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Ismail Shah, HEC Executive Director Arshad Ali, and University of Gujrat Vice Chancellor Ziaul Qayyum were also present on the occasion. The event was attended by a number of students, entrepreneurs and academicians.

In her address, Dorance said that Hello Tomorrow was a French initiative promoting connectivity among young entrepreneurs from across the world, bringing experts closer to discuss future technological challenges, as it aims at developing links between academia and start-ups.

“Pakistan has talented people particularly youth, and the number of start-ups in the country is rapidly growing, and holding this event reflects the political will of both the governments to enhance collaboration in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship,” she said. HEC chairman shed light on how rapidly the technological innovations are changing the trends prevailing in different sectors and how they require masses to prepare themselves to welcome the future. “We need to work together with our friendly countries to make our future brighter,” he said.

The HEC is committed to promoting entrepreneurship and research activities in Pakistani universities, he added. He informed the audience that Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) has been established in the universities to make research work innovative and help researchers commercialise their work to increase its impact.

It is pertinent to mention here that in business as well as technology incubation centres established by HEC at different universities, over 225 companies have been incubated that have generated around Rs 480 million in annual revenue and have generated 940 direct employment opportunities.

NUST has incubated 53 companies that have generated annual revenue of Rs 300 million generating employment of over 150 people, he said.

“Similarly, COMSATS Institute has incubated 43 companies with annual revenue of Rs 60 million and creating 160 jobs. The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad has incubated 21 companies with annual revenue of Rs 40 million, generating employment for 215 people”, he added.

Meanwhile, IBA Sukkur has incubated 15 companies with annual revenue of Rs 15 million and job openings for 54 people, while other incubators at UET Peshawar, Veterinary University Lahore, Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), BUITEMS, NED Karachi, Institute of Space Technology, University of Gujrat and AJK University have also performed well during the last couple of years, the HEC chairman said.