Islamabad - Capital University of Science and Technology in collaboration with Higher Education Commission and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers held an international conference on emerging technologies.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, chairman HEC, was chief guest on the occasion while Dr Mansoor Ahmed, vice chancellor of CUST, and a large number of faculty members and students were also present. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mukhtar stressed the need for translating the opportunities created by new technologies into reality while ensuring positive use of advanced gadgets. He said that the HEC was committed to facilitating universities and encouraging research activities. “We need to conduct research that casts positive impact on society and mitigates the miseries of humanity,” he said.

The chairman HEC pointed out that water and food security would become vital issues to be dealt in the near future. He said that education was a solution to social ills including terrorism, poverty and unemployment.

“It is era of knowledge economy and no nation can make progress without promoting education,” he stated. He said that the universities were responsible for imparting education, creating knowledge and integrating it with the society. He urged the faculty to pay attention to training of students, as training was imperative for a peaceful society, he said.

The HEC chairman also said that the commission had been putting strenuous efforts to promote ICT in the country. Pakistan has one of the best ICT setups of South Asia, he said, adding that the HEC was planning to establish centres of excellence in big data and artificial intelligence.

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