ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday reviewed the performance of six Centres of Excellence established in 2017 to meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution under the vision of 2025.

The minister, while chairing the meeting, reviewed their four-year performance before their expiry in June 2026. The meeting was attended by the respective directors of the centres and representatives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). During the meeting, a detailed briefing was given to the minister over their four-year performance.

The centres include the National Centre of Robotics and Automation (NCRA), the National Centre of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) at NUST, the National Centre for Cyber Security (NCCS) at the Air University, the National Centre in Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC) were established in 2017-18; National Centre GIS Space Applications (NCGSA) was established in March 2020 and National Centre for Livestock Breeding, Genetics and Genomics (NCLBG&G) under the Vision of 2025.

The minister said that now these centres should start generating revenues and move towards the commercialisation. They s should be self-sufficient and help the government as the spending of PSDP has already shrunk, said the minister, while directing heads of the centres to start their certification process immediately and also establish a knowledge management system for better collaboration among the centres.

Prof Iqbal hoped that technology centres of excellence will make the country famous by creating platforms like Google and Facebook. “Centres of Excellence will play a key role in preparing the country for the digital revolution”, said the minister, while directing the stakeholders to approach the Central Asian and Gulf states so that Pakistan would be able to get the space.

Furthermore, the minister directed them to create a window for those who are residing in various parts of the world so that they can be engaged, as well.

The minister further added that despite limited resources, the government is providing financial and administrative support to these centres.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023