16 new start-ups graduate from NUST

Islamabad : The National Science &Technology Park at NUST held the graduation ceremony of the 3rd cohort of its Hatch 8 programme at the NUST main campus on Thursday. As many as 16 start-ups built upon disruptive ideas have graduated as part of the third cohort.

Hatch 8 is a pre-incubation programme of NSTP, which admits entrepreneurs at the idea stage of their product development and transforms them into viable businesses in due course of time.

Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, was the chief guest who felicitated the start-ups upon graduating from one of the most robust innovation ecosystems in the region.

He was all-praise for NUST for having come up with the game-changing initiative of NSTP, which truly is a breeding ground for innovation. He further said that creativity is the solution to each one of our problems and NSTP is nothing short of a creative powerhouse for innovation.

Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector RIC, expressed his utmost pleasure in seeing the increasing number of people stepping forward with their start-ups and paving the way for their own betterment and that of society. He said that owing to its outstanding accomplishments, NSTP has been making headlines internationally, which is a matter of great pride for the whole nation.

Our start-ups at NSTP, he maintained, are gaining attention from International Investors like Peter Theil and Adam Draper’. He also thanked Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning and Development who initially approved the project of NSTP.

During the course of the Hatch 8 Programme, entrepreneurs go through hands-on learning, aimed at inculcating in them entrepreneurial skills and relevant business acumen, all the while nurturing their business ideas. Expert mentorship and coaching are provided to start-ups during the programme. In addition, the programme offers an array of services, ranging from workshops to boot-camps, free co-working space and access to mentors and investor networks.