Karachi
Lack of research culture, low quality research and shortage of funds are the prime causes of the downfall of research work in Pakistan, said Director Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC) Karachi University Dr Aliya Rehman on Wednesday.
“However, despite facing paramount challenges, Pakistan has successfully left India behind in the field of nuclear technology by becoming an associate member of CERN, the renowned European Organisation for Nuclear Research,” she reiterated.
Rehman lamented Pakistan has a sizable community of over 50,000 researchers but ironically no Pakistani university is listed in the region’s top ten institutions.
According to her, majority of the Pakistani publications and research work are in physical sciences. She informed that as many as 38 offices of ORIC were established in different universities of Pakistan to bridge the gap between the academia and industry and to boost the country’s economy, she mentioned.
She cited a survey report conducted by the ORIC which unveiled that hundreds of patents are registered of the KU researchers but none of them were commercialised. “Our researches often eventually end up in cupboards,” Rehman added.
The director ORIC pontificated, constraints faced by the developing world researchers are unimaginable for those who are researching in the developed world.