Special Discussion on World Science Day for Peace and Development

Guest Prof. Dr. Shahid Mahmood Baig, Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation and Engr. Farid Bakhtiyar, Senior Research Officer, Pakistan Council for Science & Technology. Listen Here

First Industrial National Innovation Survey (FINIS) Launched in Pakistan (Read More.......)

Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST); an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Science and Technology mandated to advice the government on science, technology and innovation policy issues, has launched the First Industrial National Innovation Survey (FINIS) in the country.



6th Meeting of Executive Committee of National Commission for Science and Technology (ECNCST)
Wednesday, March 9th, 2016, Islamabad.

The 6th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Commission for Science and Technology (ECNCST) was held at the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST). Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) chaired the meeting while Prof. Ahsan Iqbal Federal Minister for the Ministry of Planning Development and Reforms was the co-chair.

In his opening remarks, the Federal Minister S & T, welcome and thanked the participants and showed his confidence that valuable inputs of the members will help a lot in achieving the objectives for which ECNCST were established. Further as a result of this meeting the forum will be able to put up concrete proposals for the meeting National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) to be chaired by the Prime Minister in the near future. Prof. Ahsan Iqbal in his welcome comments highlighted the value of Science and Technology in the current era of knowledge based economy and assured that despite of some odds the Government is committed to promote S & T activities, provided the efforts are directed to market driven research with potential of application and entrepreneurship.

Prof. Anwar H. Gilani, Chairman, PCST in his capacity as Secretary, ECNCST while presenting the Agenda informed that the Agenda has been prepared in consultation with the relevant stakeholders. Out of a total of 29 members including Secretaries of different Federal Ministries, Chief Secretaries of Provinces, Heads of different R & D Organizations, eminent scientists, representatives of industry and HEC and Rector, 27 members participated in the meeting. After a brief introduction of NCST and ECNCST the Agenda items were discussed at length. A brief summary of the various items discussed is given as under:

The participants were informed that Research and Development (R&D) spending is considered as an important indicator of competitiveness of a country's economy. Realizing the importance of R&D, fast growing countries are either spending or have set targets of investing between 1% to 4 % of their GDPs on R&D. In contrast to this, Pakistan’s R&D spending, as percentage of GDP, is consistently declining since 2006-07 and at present it is only 0.29% of its GDP. It was therefore proposed that the Government should gradually raise the national R&D spending up to 2% of the GDP by the year 2023 and provide appropriate tax incentives for enhancing R&D activities in the Industry.

Pakistan’s R&D System that is mostly in the public sector has poor linkages with the public and private sector industry/firms. Therefore, it was proposed that measures be taken for ensuring that the R&D activities are planned and executed in consultation and collaboration with the industrial sector. Thus engaging private sector to share R&D funds as practiced in developed countries was also proposed. Furthermore, the government was requested to consider incentives to promote R&D at the industrial level and adopt different approaches to encourage and engage industry and civil society in patronage of R&D activities in the country.
To overcome the problem of brain drain and retain competent manpower, in S&T /R&D organizations of the country, a Uniform Salary Structure for Scientists, Engineers and Technicians of R&D Organizations was proposed along with service structure ensuring merit and performance based promotions.

Pakistan’s needs as a strong, stable, prosperous 21st century Islamic Republic include a world class S&T culture. Such a culture cannot be cultivated without significantly visible political will for a stable S&T agenda with strong and sustained allocation of resources required to make substantive improvements in the societal and cultural importance given to science & technology. In order to fulfill its role, secretary MoST, Mr Fazal Abbas Maken proposed a short-term communication strategy (based on Political ownership/leadership, Media exposure, Community building, Robust monitoring of science & technology performance) for the immediate improvement in the level of priority afforded to science & technology at the national level.

Science & technology and research & development can play an important role to realize almost all the goals and targets of the Vision 2025, while some of the goals require direct interventions of science and technology. A  National Research Agenda was shared with the aim to align the national R&D and innovation activities with the Vision 2025 and to provide a direction to the national R&D efforts so that they adequately support achievement of the goals under the seven pillars set in the Vision 2025.

It is pertinent to mention that the proposals approved by ECNCST will form the basis for Agenda of the next meeting of National Commission for Science and Technology (NCST) to be chaired by the Prime Minister in the near future.

The Federal Minister, MoST in his closing remarks congratulated PCST and MoST for holding the meeting of ECNCST and appreciated the active participation and keen interest of members.

 

News and Events
National R&D Statistics Survey, 2023 (Questionnaire)

37th International Khawarazmi Award (KIA) Call for Participation

Observance & Implementation of 2% Disbility Quota

Need Assessment of S&T Human Resources for Driving Innovation and Achieving Vision 2025 (N.A.H.R)......

PRODUCTS / TECHNOLOGIES Developed by the Organizations of Ministry of Science and Technology

STI Voice Newsletter

Science, Technology, Innovation,STI Voice, Volume 3, 2017 is now available for our readers. Click this link for further details and to download Newsletter.

Establishment of Pensioner's Cell at PCST

PCST has established Pensioner's Cell under the supervision of Dr. Muhammad Aslam Tahir, CRO (PCST) for dealing with issues of pension. Click here for further details.

Important Publications

Important Links