1. Telecom Research Panel Discussion: Is there any value of doing (telecom) research in Pakistan? By: Syed Ismail Shah Iqra University Islamabad Campus

2. Industry-University Collaboration: The North American Model Industry look towards the universities for solution to their problems Universities are given grants by the industry Graduate Student work on industry related projects/problems. Problems/projects are such that these students and their professors get their research published or patents. Students are hired by the industry after graduation. Professors go on sabbaticals to the industry.

3. Situation in Pakistan Industry mainly interested in buying equipment and providing services The industry is not looking towards the universities for solution of their problems University professors are very busy in administrative and teaching activities

4. Situation in Pakistan Contd. Research mainly for the sake of publications Lack of trust between the industry and the universities Some success by some individuals and universities but still not significant enough

5. Collaboration with the industry internationally Again a difficult proposition To have some in-sight, a few points from Dr. Ahmad Tantawy, IBM, Egypt in the next slide

6. Country Selection and Specifications of Investment 1. State Support 2. Political and Economic Stability 3. Security and Safety 4. Past experience 5. Salary levels of programmer and engineers 6. Level of graduates: supply vs demand 7. Experienced Resources: supply vs demand 8. Technical Infrastructure 9. Business Environment (laws, taxes, etc) 10. Business Support services 11. Significance/Potential of local market

7. What Approach should be used?  Should we do or support any kind of research at all, given that a big segment of the society do not have access to clean drinking water?  If yes, how?  Should we just do research for the sake of publishing papers?  If no, how do we get the industry involved? Should we start from trainings?

8. Potential Challenges Challenges faced  Earning the trust of the industry  To bring in engineers who are more interested in doing foreign courses  Vendor community more focused on equipment training than technology  Individuals interested but are not supported by companies.  Resource pool, given the following constraints:  Administrative responsibilities  Evaluation based on research

9. Way forward  Going beyond trainings and getting projects from the industry  Introducing some element of research into the work (may not have publications immediately).  Changes in the Evaluation policy at the university level.  Indigenous development (but not one time): should lead to products.  Government Policy to force the industry to establish research centers  Using institutional (University, BC, HEC) as well as personal contacts to establish collaboration with universities and industry abroad.