DHAKA, Nov 14, 2017 (BSS) – Access to Information (a2i) programme of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is going to launch innovation hubs at all public and private universities of the country soon to inspire students to innovate new ideas to resolve civic problems.
The information was revealed today at a vice-chancellors’ conference organized by the a2i at the International Mother Language Institute auditorium in the city’s Segunbagicha area.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid addressed the conference over phone. PMO Director General (administration) Kabir Bin Anwar presided over the function.
Addressing the conference, the minister urged the country’s all public and private universities to work together to discover new technologies for turning the country into a middle income one by 2021.
University Grants Commission Chairman Professor Abdul Mannan, PMO Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury and Secondary and Higher Education Secretary Sohrab Hossain addressed the function.
A2i Policy Adviser Anir Chowdhury presented a keynote paper in the conference highlighting formation and functions of the innovation hubs.
In his keynote paper, Chowdhury said innovation hub will be launched at each university to expedite the innovative culture in the country. The hub will be run under an executive committee that will be comprised of a hub focal person, an advisory council and some mentors, he added.
Chowdhury also said an online portal -http://ilab.gov.bd- has already been launched to interconnect all the hubs.
The innovators, teachers, students and educational institutions under the hubs could be registered in the portal easily and they could collect and use research papers and journals from the portal, he said, adding that the portal will also preserve the profiles of its members and intellectual property rights.
Later, an open discussion session was held. Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Akhtaruzzaman, National University VC Professor Harun-Or-Rashid and Jessore University of Science and Technology Professor M Anwar Hossain took part in the discussion, among others.
The a2i programme has been working with innovators and students to speed up the culture of innovation across the country since 2013. So far, more than 6000 young innovators worked with the programnme.
The a2i programme has already funded 170 innovative projects and more than 30 of them have already been completed.