Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) has invited project proposals from all the public and private sector degree awarding institutions for the award of Specialized Incubation Centre (IC) of Artificial Intelligence /Internet of Things (AI/IoT).
“The PSF intends to establish Specialized Incubation Centre (IC) of Artificial Intelligence/Internet-of-Things (AI/IoT) based in the campuses of universities to encourage entrepreneurship among the students and researchers”, an official of PSF told APP.
ICs will provide potential entrepreneurs, all the necessary infrastructure support, technology/prototype development support, research assistance, help in securing funding, business consultancy, marketing assistance and do whatever is necessary to make the start-up “A SUCCESS”. The official said that specialized incubators motivate and inspire students, researchers and more startups, equip them with necessary skills, provide necessary assistance and convert innovations into marketable products.
Academic institutes and research centres are the primary sources of many new ideas and turning those ideas into real and commercial products or services is the most challenging part in innovation cycle. An incubator enables start-up financiers ready to take risks of moving out of their comfort zone and provide an environment planned to maximise their probabilities of success. The official said that the main objective of (AI/IoT) incubator was to acquire the indigenous capacity for the establishment of a state of the art centre for the capacity building and applications of AI/IoT in various fields of sciences, which will serve the country and its people. The proposed incubator would include components of various AI/IoT technologies driven applications in the areas of not only science and technology, but allied sciences as well. The applications of this proposed AI/IoT centre will encompass the service to the scientific research, academic training, industries and as well as it serves as the local hub of the big data centre.
Specialized Incubation Centre (ICs) of Artificial Intelligence/Internet-of-Things (AI/IoT) will provide resources for start-ups such as networking services, office space, training programmes, consultancy and other essential services, but it also aims at promoting intranet and knowledge transfer among stakeholders. All public and private sector degree awarding institutions are eligible to apply while the project proposal submission guidelines are available at: www.psf.gov.pk.