KIET Centre for Innovation and Enterprise?: Some thoughts and Questions Hasan A. Rizvi February 1, 2012

Motivations Great emphasis on projects in almost all engineering courses Some of these outputs are good and need to be carried forward, especially SDPs Could be developed into useful products – industry, government, global market

Motivations Lack of entrepreneurial culture, even though Technology Entrepreneurship is offered as a course Students are focused on getting jobs Risk averse attitude – parental pressure and socio-cultural norms Brave and adventurous souls have no support mechanisms

Motivations The whole concept of entrepreneurship is now infused with a new meaning – Along with knowledge, the 4 th factor of production – Not a heartless capitalist, but a passionate, creative individual with an idea – Willing to take risks to actualize the idea – Brings about change in the world, especially through new technology or technology products – Role models – Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

Motivations Worldwide trend originating in the US Most of the US universities now have incubation centres – supported by US Government at different levels MIT: Sloan Center for Entrepreneurship – 28,500 companies – 3.3 million jobs – Annual turnover in excess of $ 3 trillion (equivalent to 11 th biggest economy)

Motivations Truly believe that promoting entrepreneurship is one of the necessary conditions to make Pakistan more competitive, bring it out of its low growth economic trap, provide conditions for the well being of its people Institutions like KIET need to play a leadership role

Where are we in Pakistan? Some small but pioneering steps have been taken – Technology Innovation Centre, NUST – Business Incubation Centres at LUMS and UAF – CASE/CARE – SEECS, NUST Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) – Mandatory requirement by HEC for all public sector universities – British Council assisted training for 5 universities

What does it involve? Seeding an eco-system – Does not give dividends in the short term – A sustained vision by the leadership to carry it through – Needs dedicated time from the faculty – Needs resources – No magic formula: not even a single model – one learns as one goes along – One needs to improvise, be adaptive and opportunistic

What can we do at KIET? Seed the process – Young Entrepreneurs Club – Product Development orientation through the course on Technology Entrepreneurship and custom seminars and workshops – Participation in Business Plan competitions – Proposal to National ICT R&D Fund Functions and output Roles and responsibilities

Let’s dream about KRIEC (KIET Research, Innovation and Enterprise Centre)!