The
55th Board of Directors Meeting of Ignite - National Technology Fund
(formerly National ICT R&D Fund) was held under the chairmanship of Mrs.
Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for IT & Telecom here at Islamabad
today.The board especially reviewed and extensively discussed the progress of
launching DigiSkills initiative for technology enabled training of 1 Million
youth.The Board approved the floating of Request for Proposal (RFP) with an aim
to promote excellence in technology and innovation, building a workforce for a
future, driven by the 4th Industrial Wave.
The board also reviewed and endorsed
the funding of 11 high value technical R&D projects against the research
proposals submitted by Project Investigators (PI) both from industry and
academia. Moreover a training and mentorship program for capacity building of
funded research teams for commercialization (a process that converts research,
ideas, or prototypes into viable products and services also came under
discussion.
Minister said that These endeavors
will not only enhance the rate of successful commercialization of output of
funded projects but also further improve Pakistan’s innovation eco-system in general.
In order to promote a research
culture at the grassroots level Ignite under the auspices of Ministry of IT
& Telecom have been providing funding to ICT graduates under its
National Grassroots ICT Research Initiative (NGIRI) since 2012. The Board
approved the budget for NGIRI Program for the FY 2017-18, including holding of
National Competition amongst the top funded projects under this initiative.
Federal secretary IT Mr.Rizwan
Bashir Khan, Member Telecom Mudasar Hussain, Member IT Syed Raza Shah, Member
HR, Dr Shahid Qureshi PD IBA kch, Mr Akbar Jamal Shaukat PD CNS Group of
Companies, khawaja Saad Saleem, Nyatel, CEO Ignite and other board members were
also present in the meeting.
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