Role of academicians, researchers for socio-economic growth of country stressed

Islamabad
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday stressed the important role of academicians and researchers for socio-economic growth of the country.
The minister also inaugurated the website launched for enhancing interaction among industry and academia. This is a website of its kind, which is hosted on HEC portal and is the most convenient way of interaction between academia and industry.
He was addressing the opening ceremony of the National Symposium titled ‘How to Develop Strong Linkages between Business, Industry and Academia’ organised by Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the Institute of Space Technology and University of Gujrat, Pakistan Institute of Entrepreneurship.
The participants of the workshop included industrialists, vice chancellors, senior academicians and researchers from across the country. The symposium was aimed to provide a platform to both industry and academia to come under one roof to jointly propose the fit-for-purpose policy for transformation of invention into innovation (products and production processes) which will ultimately have an impact on knowledge-based economy as a whole, and create an environment of knowledge-based revolution in Pakistan by motivating people from both academia as well as industry to utilise state-of-the-art and high end technologies for rapid innovations.
The minister said that the government cannot achieve its intended economic targets unless all sections of the society play their defined roles and that the contribution of academicians and researchers is of paramount importance.
The minister said that country’s image has been changed altogether during the last couple of years. “This is a real change that a country synonymous with terrorism has attracted such a huge investment under China Pakistan Economic Corridor and is being regarded as a safe haven for huge Chinese investment,” he said. He stressed the importance of positive thinking and invited all sections of the society to unite for development and prosperity of the whole nation. “History of nations shows that progress cannot be achieved without democratic stability, strategic economic vision and positive thinking.”