Role of Industry-Academia linkages for entrepreneurship development

Introduction:
The Round Table Conference on the Role of Industry-Academia Linkages for Entrepreneurship
Development was held to discuss the importance of creating and strengthening industry-
academia linkages for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. The conference gathered
representatives from industry and academia, including CEOs, professors, and entrepreneurs to
discuss the need for collaboration between the two sectors.
The participants discussed the need for industry-academia linkages to create an environment
conducive to developing innovative ideas and successful business ventures. They highlighted the
importance of open communication and knowledge sharing between the two sectors and the need
to create opportunities for students to gain practical experience in the field. The participants also
discussed the need to bridge the gap between industry and academia by creating initiatives such
as internships, joint research projects, and industry-specific courses.
The participants agreed that the establishment of industry-academia linkages is essential for the
successful development of entrepreneurship. They concluded that the development of such
linkages is essential for fostering innovation, providing students with real-world experience, and
supporting the growth of new and emerging businesses. The participants also highlighted the
need for governments to provide support in the form of funding, incentives, and other resources
to facilitate the development of such linkages.
Summary of the Round Table Conference:
The discussion was focused on the following points:
1. The importance of industry-academia linkages for the healthcare industry
2. Ways to strengthen the collaboration between industry and academia to support
innovation.
3. Encouragement of asking questions and bringing useful ideas
4. Lack of Exposure and Provision of Space for Practice
5. Focus on Indigenous Research
6. Need for a roadmap and entrepreneurial culture
7. Focus on Ecosystem and expertise
8. Focus the on Entrepreneurial operating system.
9. Provision of Freelance course
10. Focus on the right path of the map instead of just bookish knowledge
11. Provision of sessions to help students to be clear about the right direction
12. Focus on skills instead of GPAs
13. Focus on solutions instead of problems
14. Focus on skills
15. Creation of market-ready graduates
1. Dr. Sarah Alam – Co-Founder -Tibbi - The importance of industry-academia linkages
for the healthcare industry:
Industry-academia linkages are instrumental in facilitating the development of entrepreneurship.
By establishing connections between the academic and business world, industry-academia
linkages provide a platform for students and faculty to gain direct exposure to the realities of the
business environment and to develop a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities
involved in launching a healthcare business. Furthermore, these linkages provide access to
resources and expertise that can be of great value to aspiring entrepreneurs. For example,
academics may be able to teach and connect students with potential partners, mentors, investors,
or other business professionals who can help in the development of an entrepreneurial venture.
Additionally, she added that students after getting health education can be capable of finding the
needs and demands of patients and can prepare themselves for commercializing their ideas
accordingly. Companies should create internships for students to allow them to gain valuable
experience in their fields of study. Finally, these connections can also provide students with the
chance to gain valuable real-world experience and to understand the market dynamics and
industry trends that can be critical to the success of an entrepreneurial venture.

2. Mr. Hafiz Awais - Zarmahi-Rice fish Farmin - Ways to strengthen the collaboration
between industry and academia for innovation:
The agriculture sector in Pakistan is crucial to the country's economy due to the significant
employment of 42.3 percent of the workforce and 18.9 percent of GDP contribution. It is a
substantial source of foreign exchange revenues, and it encourages expansion in other industries.
Therefore, academia is focusing on formal collaborations with industry to identify areas of
mutual interest and support innovation through research projects and joint ventures. Companies
and universities should set up exchange programs for their employees and students to gain
experience and knowledge from each other for success.
3. Shehar Bano – Circle Women Association – Encouragement of asking questions and
bringing useful ideas:
Academia should encourage students to ask questions and teachers must facilitate them with an
environment where they feel comfortable with their teachers and bring foster ideas. It’s so
common in universities to discourage students from taking initiatives other than doing the study.
The fact is that GPAs do not matter in industry and those with high GPAs mostly work for those
who have fewer GPAs in the course work. Seniors and teachers must emphasize doing research
about the market and identifying the challenges faced by the industry or new initiatives. This
could help to create a culture of collaboration and allow students to identify problems to start
businesses.

4. Saira Mirza – Senior Manager – Finca Microfinance Bank – Lack of Exposure and
Provision of Space for Practice
Academia must focus on the entrepreneurial intentions of students as entrepreneurship is a
measure of youth inclusion in the market. For the benefit of students, academia should provide a
space to their students for practice and find out challenges for the completion of projects instead
of just focusing on study material. It could be effective if academia can partner with companies
to sponsor projects that tackle industry problems and develop innovative solutions. It would be a
great way to show students the practical application of their studies and to give them a taste of
entrepreneurship. Moreover, industry professionals have insightful ideas for students to become
entrepreneurs and provide encouragement to them to start businesses or to develop innovative
solutions to existing industry problems.

5. Dr. Muhammad Rafique – Associate Professor - Superior University – Focus on

Indigenous Research:
For the regulation of smooth operations, academia must focus on the indigenous research needed
to do by students for policymaking, and enterprise development. Students must study and write
case studies to explore the challenges and opportunities available in the industry. This could
include developing and implementing new educational, economic, and social initiatives that are
culturally sensitive and respectful of Indigenous knowledge and cultural practices. By studying
existing models of successful university-industry collaborations, students could explore the
opportunities for creating successful partnerships that benefit both parties. Additionally, students
could investigate the use of new technologies and entrepreneurial approaches that could be used
to develop solutions to Indigenous challenges. This could include researching the use of virtual
reality, blockchain, and other digital platforms that could enable Indigenous entrepreneurs to
access resources, develop new skills, and create new markets. Finally, students could research
the effectiveness of Indigenous-led initiatives in developing successful businesses and the impact
of such initiatives on the local economy.

6. Syed Mohsin Ali Kazmi – Assistant Professor Chemical Department – U.E.T - Need for a
roadmap and entrepreneurial culture:
In the present era, due to the importance of businesses, I am providing a roadmap for
entrepreneurial culture in U.E.T. Students of any course can be an entrepreneur.

7. Muhammad Jawad – Program Manager – ID92 (Superior University) – Focus on

Ecosystem and expertise
We are from different platforms. We are from industry. We are from academia and what industry
demands from us? We have an ecosystem where everyone has their expertise which must be
synergized. This is a way forward to share success stories to launch an entrepreneurial economy
and ecosystem in Pakistan. So, my suggestion is to share our expertise. We should collaborate
and go for success. In Sha Allah, we will do.

8. Mr. Muhammad Ali Tariq - Community Advocate at Friends of Figma Lahore –

Provision of Freelance course:
We are providing mentorship about UX-UI design to students so that they can start their jobs as a
freelancer and operate the freelance agency.

9. Mr. Hamid Mahmood - Founder @ top 10 digital agencies: - Focus on Entrepreneurship

operating system:
Academia must include an entrepreneurial operating system in a curriculum that included rules,
KPI models, numbers, etc., and ethical elements so that they can use shortcuts and move forward
in the industry. Students as entrepreneurs must have patience and complete know-how about
their journey. Moreover, academia in Pakistan makes the learning of programming compulsory,
i.e., HTML or CSS/PHP, and digital marketing just like foreign institutes to be successful in the
industry.

10. Khaleel Ahmed – Program Manager – Circle Circular Wide Quality – Focus on the
right path of the map instead of just bookish knowledge:
Academia plays a good role in educating the right bookish knowledge for entrepreneurship but
does not emphasize the practice. Always there must be a need of starting small steps to move and
come on the right path. The provision of the right map and the right knowledge to women can
help in the execution of the right ideas to fill the gap between academia and industry.

11. Akash– Ittefaq Galleria (need confirmation of company) - Provision of sessions to help
students to be clear about the right direction:
Students are not clear about what they want to do and will be in near future. There is a gap
between the right knowledge and execution. To eliminate the gap, academia must schedule
sessions for students so that they can move in the right direction.

12. No Name and Co. name is mentioned in the audio, but most of the articles published in
Dawn, Daily Times – Focus on skills instead of GPAs:
Academia is providing knowledge about entrepreneurship and students tried hard to get good
GPAs. In the real world, GPAs don’t matter and the thing which matters is skills. After, my
conclusion from many research and article publications in Dawn, Daily Times, The Nation, etc.,
I concluded that education and entrepreneurship is a matter of interning in a country.

13. Mr. Wajahat (no company name mentioned) – Focus on solutions instead of problems:
According to the requirements of academia, final-year students must work on a final project and
present it. But such projects do not contain the element of community and industry problems.
Every year five thousand graduates are passing out of university, but they did not get jobs just
because they had not had sufficient skills required by employers in the industry. Everyone is
thinking about the problems and wants to skip them, but no one is ready to think about solutions.
Academia must emphasize the skills and knowledge of the industry and collaborate with multiple
entrepreneurs so that students can visit different investors to pitch their ideas personally and get
guidance for improvements. Furthermore, a student can not be successful without having an
entrepreneurial mindset and intention in industry.

14. Fariha Iqbal – edX Learning – Focus on skills:

In this era of technology, there is a need in academia to focus on the life skills of 62% of youth
for entrepreneurship. They must prepare for leadership and must have dreams of a good life. Our
students have no self-knowledge and learning about the challenges of the industry. Moreover,
our students have no educational, or professional careers. Therefore, we must take the initiative
of onboarding the teachers, parents, and industry for improving communication skills,
confidence, decision-making skills, analytical skills, etc. for the success of youth by providing
internships and sessions.

15. Dr. Nizam Uddin – Former Chairman PHEC – Special Research Superior University –
Creation of market-ready graduates:

We are not delivering what we are expecting, and the university should focus on research,
quality of education, collaboration, and communication with the industry. Academia is just
teaching entrepreneurial course material but not providing knowledge about the challenges and
opportunities faced by the industry. One more fact is that the industry is not sincere with
academia and academia does not want any contribution of the industry to curriculum
development. Students are not loyal to their studies and have no mindset to be entrepreneurs.
Still, Superior University is playing the role of the development of an entrepreneurial mindset
and attitude of their students by facilitating the 3U1M Program for the creation of market-ready
graduates. Moreover, there is a need to provide personal, interpersonal, strategic, and
entrepreneurial skills by academia and establish community colleges of applied skills. For this
purpose, academics should collaborate with institutes like NEVTEC for the good learning of
youth. Such institutes have funds and faculty members who can easily train youth with the
expertise required to succeed in the industry.