As an institution offering premium education to all strata of society, NUST has embarked on an ambitious venture of building the nation through transformative higher education. The aim to bridge the gap between industry and academia thereby establishing an ecosystem where research, innovation, and invention become the pinnacle of our progress.
A research showcase of market-ready innovative projects developed by faculty and students of National University of Science and Technology (NUST) was held at Country and Golf Club, DHA Karachi on October 08, 2021. The event was an effort to bring industry and academia on one platform and to bridge the path for collaborative effort of developing market-ready products. The aim was to display capabilities of NUST with technologies and project developed to serve the national need in different sectors and making them accessible to all through strong industrial partnerships.
The event was graced by Rector NUST Engr Javed Mahmood Bukhari, DG Rangers Sindh, Maj Gen Iftikhar Hassan Chaudhary, and over 300 partners representing diverse industrial sectors followed by multiple stakeholders, including top management from corporate, business and industrial leadership of largest metropolitan of Pakistan, Karachi.
The research showcase was structured into different thematic areas including Health Tech, Auto Tech, Smart Tech, Energy Tech, Real Estate, Def Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Technology Park spread across stalls and setups covering the research, innovation, start-ups and a conference depicting the vision – mission and future perspective of NUST, essential for patching a meaningful industrial partnership.
Speaking on the occasion, Rector NUST Engr Javed Mahmood Bukhari, commented that technology, in this era, is the defining factor for productive outcomes. The challenge is to use it rationally aligned with contemporary needs to reap farfetched results including socio-economic growth. He also mentioned that there is a need for Academia and Industry to work in liaison, and university produces applied research customized to the industrial needs.
Dr. Rizwan Riaz, Pro Rector Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (RIC), and Vice President of National Science and Technology Park (NSTP), in his address, highlighted the university’s vision to be a 4th generation centre of higher learning in terms of building the nation through transformative higher education. He maintained that the basic nodes of this ecosystem are education, research and utilisation of knowledge, emphasising it is this last component that inspired the idea of research showcase as a means to bridge the gap between industry and academia.
The guest of honour, DG Rangers Sindh, Maj Gen Iftikhar Hassan Chaudhary applaud the efforts of NUST for organizing the exceptional showcase and for developing close coordination between academia and industry. He also mentioned that through such fruitful collaborations will pave the path for sustainable socio-economic growth of the country. He further appreciated NUST for portraying high-impact and applied research projects.
Eleven Institutions from NUST including different labs and incubation centre participated displaying a total of 66 market-ready projects in multiple categories. Some of the projects include Formula Electric Car, Aerial Spraying Drone, Tele-Operated Decontamination Robot, Bare-metal stent, Powered Air Purifying Respirator, Multi-Agent Robot for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, MindQuil, Handheld device for Building Resilience and Coping with Anxiety, Virtual Reality Training Simulator, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for Energy Harvesting, Prosthetic Upper Limb, CO2 Inhaling Bio Healable Earth Bricks, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and many more. The event concluded with appreciating remarks of guests, industrialists and academicians applauding the hard work and effort NUST team has laid in making this event success and initiative of portraying a positive image of Pakistan through locally developed technologies.
The author works at Research Directorate (NUST) as Manager (Research & Innovation Promotion) and is a curator at NUST Research & Innovation Blog. He can be reached at mgr.pubpro@nust.edu.pk.
