Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry along with Malik Sohail Hussain, Chief Coordinator UBG FPCCI called on Lieutenant General Naweed Zaman, HI (M), (Retired) Rector, NUST University and discussed with him the importance of strong industry-academia linkages for commercialization of innovative business ideas of students in order to improve the industrial development and economic growth of the country. Admiral Dr. Nassar Ikram HI(M), (Retired) Pro-Rector (Research, Innovation and Commercialization) NUST was also present at the occasion.

Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that in this age of knowledge economy where technologies were growing rapidly, industries were increasingly relying on technology based solutions of their various problems. He said that universities being the hub of research & development activities should play enhanced role in finding out innovative solutions of the key issues of industry and the society at large. He emphasized that universities should focus on applied research to accelerate industrial development. He said that over 60 percent population of Pakistan was comprised of youth and universities should focus on fostering entrepreneurship in students to make them job creators instead of job seekers. He appreciated the efforts of NUST for providing quality education to students in various disciplines and hoped that close collaboration between ICCI and NUST would yield beneficial results for students and industry.

Speaking at the occasion, Lieutenant General Naweed Zaman, HI (M), (Retired) Rector and Admiral Dr. Nassar Ikram HI(M), (Retired) Pro-Rector NUST said that universities could help in improving the productivity, efficiency and competitiveness of industry with strong academia-industry linkages. They said that research departments of universities were conducting good research in various fields, but due to lack of coordination, local industry was not benefiting from such efforts. They urged that industry should share its problems with universities so that academia could find out their best solutions. They briefed the President ICCI about the initiatives of Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) of NUST that was working actively in different fields of research, design and development and facilitating the innovation and commercialization of research outputs.