FAISALABAD: Expeditious exchange of information through reliable linkages between chambers is imperative to survive in this age of rapid inventions and cutting edge technologies, said Muhammad Akram Sheikh Director General PASTIC.
He was addressing an online meeting between Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) and Sargodha Chamber. He said that Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Centre (PASTIC) are ready to play their key role in this connection. PASTIC has expertise to compute and provide much needed information to the concerned quarters. The focus of the current Government was also on enhancing industrial production and exports with a special emphasis on value addition. A workable relation between different chambers is necessary and this project has been launched to encourage development of a joint database of different trade bodies. He hoped that this project would provide an opportunity to the collaborating chambers to share their knowledge, database and experience for the benefit of each other.
Muhammad Hasnain Deputy Director PASTIC Faisalabad said that this centre was making continuous efforts to convince students to adopt productive science subjects for their future studies. “We are also providing necessary information to the PhD scholars for their research projects,” he said and added that due to our efforts, a large number of students have switched over from arts subjects to science subjects. He said that now girls are studying science subjects and have excelled in their relevant fields.
Engineer Ahmad Hassan, Chairman FCCI Standing Committee on Research and Development, said that full throttled scientific development has posed new challenges particularly for the developing countries to compete with the developed countries. He lamented that our industrial sector is still using obsolete versions of machinery and technologies which are neither cost effective nor efficient. We must exploit Information Technology (IT) and artificial intelligence by replacing our old with hi-tech machinery. He underlined the importance of linkages between industry-academia and chambers so that we must utilize locally produced raw material to the manufacturing of value added products and thus help Pakistan to earn sizable foreign exchange by exporting the same. FCCI was the first chamber that had launched different research projects in collaboration with the University of Engineering & Technology (UET) to develop a module to identify the wastage of electricity in industrial and commercial units. He said that utilizing this system, we could not only cut down our cost of production but also provide surplus electricity to the new industrial units.
“Similarly, it also helps the agriculture sector to save maximum energy by using energy efficient motors,” he said and added that the major problem is our behaviour as most of our industrialists are reluctant to use the new technologies. We must educate, convince and continuously sensitize them to remain vigilant and start using new technologies for their own benefits. He also appreciated the efforts of Dr Habib Aslam Gaba for industrial-academia linkages and said that this process should continue with the same spirit in the near future.
Faisal Razak Khawaja Chairman Research & Development Committee of the Sargodha Chamber also addressed the meeting and underlined the importance of developing the linkages between regional chambers. Later Engineer Ahmad Hassan offered a vote of thanks and assured that such meetings would also be arranged with other chambers.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
