The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with Bradford University of UK organized an event on the topic “Universities and Economic Development”. Prof. Brian Cantor, Vice Chancellor, Bradford University along with a delegation were present at the occasion. Dr. Muhammad Ali Vice Chancellor, Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr. Ali Ahmed Kharal Director General Directorate of Federal Education and faculty members of SZABIST, Quaid-e-Azam University, Bahria Uniiversity, Riphah International, NUST, FAST, International Islamic University and NUML were also attended the event.
 

Speaking at the occasion, Prof. Brian Cantor, Vice Chancellor, Bradford University said that economic success depended on generation & exploitation of knowledge and universities were the driver of knowledge economies in the modern world. He said there were approximately 40,000 universities in the world with world student population of 100 million having a world of $1.5 trillion and 6% annual growth. He said the world research market was also worth $1.5 trillion growing at 6% per annum. He said the countries were competing to build universities to drive their economies and added that Pakistan could leapfrog its economic growth by focusing on strengthening its universities. He said Bradford has produced 3 million students, contributed to £60billion to GDP & generated 100,000 businesses. He said that Pakistan should develop a framework for promoting universities and strengthening academia-industry linkages to transform itself into a knowledge economy. 
 

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that universities in Pakistan were playing good role in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation as many of them have established ORICS. He said ICCI has signed MoUs with many local universities to promote academia-industry linkages. He said industries identify their research needs that were pitched to universities to conduct research and provide solutions to improve industrial efficiency and productivity. He said ICCI would continue to promote university-industry linkages for facilitating industrial growth.
 

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI appreciated the role of Bradford University in promoting education and research in UK for the last over 50 years. They said ICCI would like to develop strong collaboration with Bradford University to take advantage from its research works for the benefit of local industry.
 

Dr. Muhammad Ali Vice Chancellor Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr. Ali Ahmed Kharal DG, FDE, Zubair Ahmed Malik Chairman Founder Group and faculty members  of various universities also spoke at the occasion and stressed for the need of strong academia-industry linkages to drive Pakistan on fast track of economic growth.