The idea behind HEC’s initiative is to assist Pakistan’s productive minds in influencing the economy through the development of new and emerging technologies.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has requested research proposals from Pakistani faculty members at public and private universities for the HEC’s Technology Development Fund. The goal is to help higher education institutions serve as engines for Pakistan’s socioeconomic development.
According to a HEC official, the fund will finance completed interdisciplinary applied research proposals for prototype development and industrial value addition for technology-based product or process development. The idea behind HEC’s initiative is to assist Pakistan’s productive minds in influencing the economy through the development of new and emerging technologies.
This initiative enabled the research ecosystem centred on higher education institutions to provide financial and technical assistance (IP, licencing, and commercialization) to industry via academic scientists for the resolution of indigenous industrial problems.
This programme has already funded 200 joint academia-industry projects, with over 160 of those projects licenced to industry for mass scaling and commercialization. A significant number of such projects have already begun to generate revenue, which is shared by all stakeholders.
Given the facts stated above, the Central Development Working Party approved the project’s expanded scope in order to issue the 4th Call for Proposals.
As a result, PhD Faculty Members with ready research, lab-scale, or pre-prototype proposals in thematic areas such as climate change and its impact on Pakistan’s socioeconomics, Telecommunication, Information and Technology, Engineering Sciences, Micro Electronics, Water, Power, Energy, and Fleet Management, and related fields should submit proposals with consortiums of industry and academic partners.
Material Sciences and Man-Made Materials (Nanotechnology), Robotics, Defense and Military Needs, and any other applied discipline that is inductive or conducive to the success of products developed or upscales the process of industrial level manufacturing are among the other areas.
The proposed funded projects would be expected to develop a product or service which would positively impact, inter alia, the economy, solve a current problem, meet a market need, utilize local raw materials, move current products up the value chain, create large scale employment, and generate the revenue.