ISLAMABAD: The Competitive Support Fund (CSF) a body established to reposition country’s economy on a more competitive global footing will send two journalists to Stanford University under its Innovation Journalism Programme. CSF-sponsored fellows will refine their expertise in reporting on innovation and build international collegial networks. The itinerary of the fellowship is divided between working with top tier US-based newsrooms on covering innovation and participating in group activities at Stanford. According to the Competitive Support Fund CSF plan-2006, the CSF and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) are joining hands to promote knowledge-based enterprise development and business professionalism.

One of their first collaborations is a series of workshops to generate and identify science and technology-based projects in universities across the country that pose prospects for commercialisation. Additionally, they will conduct workshops to promote the concept of business incubator programmes and will jointly undertake an initiative to develop a pilot project to establish a business incubator at a selected university in Pakistan. The CSF and the HEC also continue to work together on the development of a Pakistan Competitiveness Learning Platform. The platform will become a repository of important documents relating to Pakistan’s economy and relevant issues. The CSF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The USAID will contribute approximately $12 million for the fund’s initial three years while the government of Pakistan has indicated that it will match contributions made to the Fund. Several additional donors have also expressed a strong interest in the project. APP
Source: Daily Times
Date:10/14/2006