Academic Research Should Focus More On Industrial Issues: FPCCI

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Regional Chairman Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi said on Monday that academic research should focus more on industrial issues

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Aug, 2022 ) :Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Regional Chairman Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi said on Monday that academic research should focus more on industrial issues. All the countries whose research, academia and science are linked to industry, developed rapidly.

He added, "We believe that solid industry-academia linkage is an essential tool to tackle the key economic challenges of Pakistan. We have seen that the countries with effective industry-academia linkage have higher productivity and competitive economies." Talking to members of FPCCI regional standing committee on 'Industry-Academia Linkage' here, he said that they still needed to fully realize the fruit of developing such linkages. Several countries were working on formalizing diverse approaches to connect the university-industry links with the overall national policy framework to set up a conducive environment for research and innovation.

Qureshi said that industry-academia linkage was imperative for innovation and growth of the country. It could save expensive foreign exchange by substituting imports and reducing the import bill and it promised greater employment opportunities for the youth as well, he said, adding that varsities should also function as an entrepreneurial hub to engage directly in economic development through enterprise spin-off.

He said that falling productivity and stagnant exports also call for establishing such linkages effectively. Higher education Commission (HEC) would have to play a pivotal role in this connection in maintaining close liaison with FPCCI and leading chambers of commerce of the country.

Qureshi said that country's economic challenges needed workable solutions and it was possible only through solid academia and industry linkage.

He said, "There is no shortage of resources in Pakistan, but it is far behind in the economic race because we could not tap these resources properly."They said that in the developed economies, there was a strong linkage between academia and industry and Pakistan today also needed to adopt that pattern to overcome its multiple issues.

Umer Saleem, Convener Committee, Abrar Ahmed, Deputy Convener, Malik Ghulam Sarwar, Programme Coordinator (Research & Innovation Wing) of HEC, Prof. Dr. Farah Rauf Shakoori, Syeda Rozy Rizvi, Prof. Sajjad Haider, Prof. Kanwal Ameen, Dr. Samia Raheel Qazi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Prof. Dr. Nadeem Ahmed and others also attended the meeting.