Pakistan to develop innovation-driven economy: Chinese scholar

Pakistan may learn from the experience of the development of China’s science and technology parks

BEIJING (APP) – Since took office, Prime Minister Imran Khan has given great importance to the development of education as it is the foundation for the development of science and technology.

Now, the prime minister has put forward two important concepts about Pakistan’s economic development, namely, “knowledge-driven economy” and “innovation-driven economy”. This shows that Prime Minister Imran Khan has great vision and specified the direction for Pakistan’s social and economic development in the future, Cheng Xizhong, special commentator of China Economic Net said on Thursday.

Higher education institutions such as universities are the gathering place of talents and knowledge. To develop science and technology parks is a very visionary approach. Teachers and students of higher education institutions will be able to develop technology independently in science and technology park, and the government can also assign scientific research projects to them, he said in an article.

At the same time, higher education institutions can establish cooperative relationship with industrial enterprises, transform scientific research results into scientific research products, which will generate economic benefits and further support the development of new technologies.

Definitely, the central government and local governments at all levels should constantly increase their investment in scientific research, especially in the annual budget of the central government, there should be reasonable ratio, and the ratio should be increased year by year according to the national financial situation.

Starting from early 1980s, China has developed a lot of science and technology parks all over the country. There are mainly three modes of Science and Technology Parks in China.

The first is the government-led mode, that is, the government invests, develops and operate the parks. The second is market-oriented mode, that is, enterprises and non-government research institutions play the leading role according to the requirement of the market. The third is the mixed mode, which is a kind of combination of government leading and market leading.

Pakistan may learn from the experience of the development of China’s science and technology parks, but due to the different national conditions in Pakistan, China’s practice should not be copied.

In the process of developing Science and Technology Parks in Pakistan, the governments, enterprises, universities and scientific research institutions of China and Pakistan can have cooperation. However, specific cooperation matters should be discussed by relevant enterprises and scientific research institutions of the two countries, especially non-government enterprises and scientific research institutions.

He emphasize that in the process of helping Pakistan, China hopes to see Pakistan’s capacity of independence would be enhanced. Therefore, whether it’s financial or technical issue, Pakistan should first try to rely on its own strength to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all sectors of Pakistani society.

It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Imran Khan at the inauguration of Pakistan’s first science and technology par in the National University of Science and Technology, said that the government was determined to turn Pakistan into a knowledge-driven economy by utilizing the energies of youth at proper platforms.