The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved the establishment of business incubation centers (BICs) in five more universities.
HEC officials revealed that the commission has approved the setting up of BICs at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Fatima Jinnah Woman University, Rawalpindi, Kinnaird College, Lahore, Lahore College for Women University, and the Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture Multan.
This will take the number of BICs to 34.
The officials added that the HEC supports the establishment of BICs in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of Pakistan to provide basic infrastructure and allied facilities for researchers and young entrepreneurs who are interested in developing early-stage business ventures.
Business incubators are companies that support new and startup companies in their initial development stage by providing an array of targeted resources and services. These services are developed or arranged by the business incubator and offered by it directly or through its network of contacts. A business incubator’s main goal is to produce successful firms that will leave the program financially viable and freestanding.
Graduates of the business incubator program create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, commercialize new technologies, and strengthen local and national economies.
“Instead of creating job seekers, we are turning new graduates into job providers,” an HEC official remarked.
The HEC introduced the policy on BICs in 2021, under which, it allows the establishment of BICs in public sector HEIs where the Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC) is already operating. The university may also partner with other HEIs (public as well as private) to take benefits associated with the business incubators.
Besides an independent incubation center, the HEIs may form a consortium of universities (preferably of four to five HEIs within a fair radius of each other) for the establishment of a BIC.
According to the HEC policy, funds for the establishment of BICs are arranged by the HEC and the HEI based on a 60:40 ratio for only two years. The funds are released to the HEI (or the leading HEI in the consortium) through the BIC Steering Committee on an installment basis and are dependent on the agreed-upon deliverables and output. The Business Incubator Manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the business incubator, including marketing the facility and recruiting new tenants, providing support to existing tenants, facilitating training for tenants and aspiring entrepreneurs, and developing infrastructure.
