Universities, the Hubs of Innovative Ideas and Tech-driven Solutions, at the Centre of County’s Knowledge of Economy: Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman

Universities are the hubs for creative ideas and technology-driven solutions to economic problems being faced by the country. These innovative ideas and solutions are at the center of the country’s knowledge economy. This was stated by Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, the former Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Vice-Chairman of Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Technology-driven Knowledge-Economy while addressing participants in a webinar on “Research and Knowledge Economy Role of Universities: Challenges and Opportunities”.

The webinar was organized by Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) and was attended by vice-chancellors from more than 50 public and private sector universities of Punjab.

At this occasion, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman emphasized that universities should focus on improving their research and research applicability. “We are lagging behind the world in research and development; we need to model best practices of the advanced countries like China and USA” he added, “the only solution to the country’s plaguing economy is investing in research, science, and technology” he maintained.

Dr. Rahman further said, “Pakistani universities have huge potential in terms of talent and ideas but we need to streamline that talent and translate those ideas into sustainable solutions to economic problems”.

Addressing on this occasion, Chairman PHEC Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid said that Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) was contributing towards the knowledge economy by improving the capacity of faculty members, researchers, and senior management through ongoing training activities, funding for conferences, seminars, and international travel grants. He thanked Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman and the vice-chancellors for their active participation in the webinar.