HEC has registered 12,000 research papers

Islamabad
The number of research papers registered with Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2002 was 800 which reached 12,000 during the last year.
The fact was shared at a seminar organised by the HEC in collaboration with Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) of Pakistan on Intellectual Property Awareness on Monday.
The seminar, which was an opening event for a four-day training workshop on Intellectual Property Rights -- patent drafting, licensing and valuation -- being organized at the same venue, is funded by European Union with the support of Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA II) Programme, UNIDO, International Trade Centre and World Intellectual Property Organization. It highlighted the importance of awareness among researchers and innovators about their rights in addition to shedding light on the role of Intellectual Property Rights in development of a country’s economy.
Speaking on the occasion, IPO Chairman Shahid Rashid pointed out the lack of awareness as the weakest area in Intellectual Property regime in Pakistan. He lamented that only 1050 patents could be filed in the country during the last 50 years. He said that during the last five years, Pakistan could file only 117 patents. He noticed that the practice of registration of patents has been on a further decline since 2009. “We need to do a lot of work in this area,” he stressed.
The IPO chairman underlined the importance of coordination among different government institutions and ministries to work on filing of patents, as he said the lack of coordination has already caused a severe loss to the country not only economically but also academically.
He lauded the HEC initiative for establishment of offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation in more than 40 universities in order to promote a research culture in the country and provide the researchers with a platform and opportunity to market their work. He stressed the need for bridging the gap between academia and business entities for promotion as well as utilization of research.