Islamabad - Pakistani-American attorney and patent expert Haris Bajwa Friday said that Pakistan has highly talented engineers and entrepreneurs.
In a statement issued here by the United States Embassy, Bajwa said Pakistan’s highly talented engineers and entrepreneurs need strong intellectual property rights to build the knowledge economy of the future.
He added, “It’s exciting to learn about the tremendous potential of Pakistan’s tech sector, which will grow rapidly as the government adopts policies that support an effective intellectual property regime.”
Emphasizing the link between protecting intellectual property and economic growth, Bajwa met this week with students and entrepreneurs in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi.
His visit, which is part of the US Embassy’s 2017 Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, coincided with ‘World Intellectual Property Day’, April 26.
Bajwa, who has spent more than a decade developing and defending patents for companies such as Google and Samsung, advised early stage Pakistani entrepreneurs, small business owners, and engineering students on protecting their innovations from theft by competitors, and building market value through development of new products and industrial processes.
He also participated in panel discussions that highlighted the important role of intellectual property rights to the innovation process, highlighting the success of export oriented firms in Sialkot.
During his visit, Bajwa spoke to audiences at venues including the National Incubation Centre, the National University of Sciences and Technology Islamabad, The NUST in Karachi, and the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore.
In the coming months, the US Embassy Entrepreneurship Speaker Series will sponsor additional programs to support Pakistani entrepreneurs focused on topics such as marketing and curriculum development, the statement said.
Various US embassy programs assist Pakistani entrepreneurs by increasing their access to financial resources, supporting opportunities for entrepreneurship education, and nurturing an entrepreneurial culture, including the United States Agency for International Development’s Pakistan Private Investment Initiative, which will make over $ 100 million in equity capital available to Pakistan’s dynamic and fast-growing small-and medium-sized businesses, it added.
Meanwhile, 10 American sports experts associated with the Women Win Foundation visited Islamabad and Karachi April 17 to 28 to conduct workshops and activities promoting girls’ participation in sports, the US embassy said.
During their visit, which was funded by the US embassy and organized by Right to Play Pakistan, the American experts collaborated with Pakistani sports officials on how to use sports as a tool to advance adolescent girls’ rights and gender equity.
“The ultimate goal of this program is that adolescent girls in Pakistan are empowered to exercise their rights to and through sport,” said Sarah Murray, US Director of Women Win.
“Research shows that investing in females produces effects far beyond the individual. An empowered girl or woman builds a better life for her family, a stronger community, a more stable nation, and eventually – collectively – a more equal world,” Murray said.
The visitors also organised sports activities for Pakistani students, such as a sports clinic for English Access Micro-scholarship Program students from Sir Syed Public School in Rawalpindi.
The US embassy will continue to partner with Women Win Foundation to carry out additional activities supporting girls’ rights and gender equity. During the next phase of this program, Women Win will manage a leadership camp for Pakistani coaches and athletes, said the embassy statement.
The US embassy also supports Pakistani women’s empowerment through other initiatives, such as the Summer Sisters exchange program and the US Agency for International Development’s Gender Equity Program.
our staff reporter