Ahsan Iqbal directs centres of excellence to generate revenue

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Friday reviewed the performance of six Centres of Excellence established in 2017 to meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution under the Vision-2025.

The centres include National Centre of Robotics and Automation (NCRA), National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) at NUST, National Center for Cyber Security (NCCS) at the Air University, National Center in Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC), which were established in 2017-18; National Center GIS Space Applications (NCGSA), which was established in March 2020 and National Center for Livestock Breeding, Genetics & Genomics (NCLBG&G) under the Vision-2025. While chairing the meeting, Ahsan Iqbal reviewed their four-year performance before their expiry in June 2026. The meeting was attended by respective directors of the centres and representatives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

A detailed briefing was given to the minister over their four-year performance. He said the centers should start generating revenues and move towards commercialization. “The centers should be self-sufficient and help the government as the spending of PSDP has already shrunk,” he said, directing the heads to start their certification process immediately and also establish a knowledge management system for better collaboration among the centres.

He Iqbal hoped the technology centres of excellence would make the country famous by creating platforms like Google and Facebook. “The Centers of Excellence will play a key role in preparing the country for digital revolution”, he said, directing the stakeholders to approach the Central Asian and Gulf states so that Pakistan would be able to get due space. The minister directed them to create a window for those who live in various parts of the world so that they could be engaged as well. Despite limited resources, the government was providing financial and administrative support to the centres, he added.