All You Need to Know About HEC’s Technology Development Fund

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has invited applications for the fourth edition of the Technology Development Fund (TDF).

Under the TDF, HEC finances proposals of completed interdisciplinary applied research for prototype development and industrial value addition for a tech-based product or process development.

Introduction

TDF was approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in 2015 at a cost of Rs. 2.9 billion. In 2016, TDF received official administrative approval.

Between 2016 and 2019, TDF funded 200 joint academia-industry projects, of which over 160 have been licensed to the industry for mass scaling and commercialization. Most of the licensed projects are yielding revenue to all stakeholders.

Objectives

TDF has four main objectives which are:

Advancement of knowledge through interaction with the industry and researchers in an academically diverse range of disciplines
Achieve excellence by transforming knowledge for creativity and entrepreneurship to benefit students, industry, and communities
Value addition of goods and services by the use of new technologies to help business and industry
Application of knowledge through extension and exchange with society and entrepreneurs

Areas of Focus

Proposals are invited in the following thematic areas:

Climate Change and its impact on the socioeconomics of Pakistan (agriculture, food security, urban development, pollution, floods, biodiversity conservation, etc.)
Telecommunication, Information Technology, and Computer Science (applications in government services, health, textile, agriculture, dairy, etc.)
Engineering Sciences, Micro Electronics, Water, Power, Energy, and Fleet Management
Biotechnology and Allied fields (in health, agriculture, textile, leather & dairy, etc.)
Material Sciences/Man-Made Material (nanotechnology)
Robotics, Defence, and Military

Any other applied discipline which has the potential to yield successful products or enhance the process of industrial manufacturing.

Selection Criteria

Projects will be approved for funding under the following criteria:

University/industry joint proposal
Interdisciplinary research product/process
Problem-based solution
Identified customer/application
Business plan, marketing strategy, and competitive analysis
Award of TDF

Eligibility Criteria

Faculty members of public and private universities with relevant commercialization partners from industry/investor/private/public sector R&D institutes/spin-offs/startups at leading incubation centers or accelerators.

The proposals need to be joint academia-industry, multi-disciplinary, and multi-institutional leading to products or services which solve a current problem of industry/ society or identify a new opportunity of business that leads to positive cash-flows.

Project Duration

The life of each project under the TDF will be for a period of not exceeding two years.

How to Apply?

Interested applicants are required to submit their research proposals online using prescribed forms.

The Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC)/Research Office/Registrar Office of applicants’ respective universities will be required to initially scrutinize before endorsing the proposals to HEC for competitive consideration.