The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore has announced this Friday, the establishment of a cutting-edge Livestock Technology Park. The technology park will be established at its Ravi Campus under the Public Sector Development Program.
University officials, group of stakeholders and interested parties met at the UVAS on Friday to discuss opportunities for the development of the technology park. The basic approach has been finalized by UVAS and the project is now getting into the early planning and development phases.
The session was jointly chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha and famed industrialist Syed Yawar Ali. The Vice-Chancellor held discussions with representatives of industry bodies, stakeholder groups and sought suggestions for improving project implementation, execution, outcomes and its financial implications.
“The current era is about knowledge-based economy and planning the park is a step by the UVAS towards this direction. The facility will contribute enormously to the development of livestock, dairy and related sectors.”
– Dr. Talat Naseer Pasha, Vice-Chancellor, UVAS
The Role of Science and Technology Parks
Science and Technology parks (STPs) generally represent a public–private partnership that are designed to stimulate knowledge flows, mainly among park firms, as well as between these firms and external R&D institutions, and thus boost regional economic growth.
STPs facilitate access for firms to key factors such as R&D, human resource, innovation infrastructures, venture capitalists, technological innovations, and social capital. These factors are related to the capacity to adapt to technological, economic, and social changes in markets. STPs facilitate interactive relations between universities, industry and government.
Unfortunately Pakistan is lagging behind the regional peers in the following parameters: capacity for innovation, higher education training, availability of scientists and engineers, university and industry linkages, spending on R&D and quality of scientific institutions.
In such circumstances, it becomes hard to enjoy the fruits of the new economic opportunities. However, over the course of past few years, high emphasis on university education in Pakistan has generated a chance to leverage science for knowledge economy.
NUST is the first institution of higher learning in the country which has taken an initiative for science park development in Pakistan. The park is under-construction at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad. With UVAS and other universities joining the club, we can hope the research and innovation programs will help boost a sustainable economic growth in the country.
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