Telecom Research Panel Discussion: Is there any value of doing ( telecom ) research in Pakistan?

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 • State Support • Political and Economic Stability • Security and Safety • Past experience • Salary levels of programmer and engineers • Level of graduates: supply vs demand • Experienced Resources: supply vs demand • Technical Infrastructure • Business Environment (laws, taxes, etc) • Business Support services • 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.