LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has declared 2017 The Year of Industry-Academia Linkage. The decision was taken by LCCI President Abdul Basit, Senior Vice-President Amjad Ali Jawa and Vice-President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan while a special Standing Committee on Industry-Academia linkage has also been formed that would be headed by Omer Saleem.
The LCCI office-bearers said that purpose of this initiative is to enhance interaction between the industrial sector and educational institutions. It would help producer skilled human resources as per requirement of the industry. They said the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry is focusing on development of research activities and capacity building.
The LCCI would collaborate with academia and undertake projects to help the industry compete with the challenges faced in the 21st century. They said workshops, conferences, symposia and seminars would also be organized. They said that declaring 2017 the year of Industry-Academia linkage is a significant step in bringing the institutions/academia and trade and industry together. They said the economic challenges being faced by the country need tailormade and workable solutions which is only possible through strong academia and industry linkage.
They said there is no dearth of resources in Pakistan but it is far behind in the economic race because we have failed to properly tap these resources. They said that in the developed economies there is a strong linkage between the academia and industry and Pakistan today also needs to adopt that pattern to overcome its multiple issues.