The government, as part of building an innovative nation as envisaged in the 'Smart Bangladesh' vision, is going to set up Research and Innovation Centers (RICs) in the country's 10 public universities.
The World Bank (WB) financed Enhancing Digital Government and Economy (EDGE) Project of the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of the ICT Division in consultation with the universities has selected the 10 universities, including BUET and Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University, to finance setting up the RICs, said a media release on Tuesday.
Informing these at a workshop titled: "Designing Research and Innovation Center for Smart Bangladesh" held on Monday at the auditorium of the EDGE project at Mirpur with the Project Director Dr Muhammed Mehedi Hassan in the chair.
Co-Team Leader of the EDGE project Faruq Ahmed Jewel said the government is going to set up RICs, especially on frontier technologies, including nano, agro and biotechnologies.
"The RICs would make it possible for the youths to solve various problems of government and industry through Research and Development (R&D) as well as develop startups and generate Intellectual property of patents," he said, adding that these RICs will be used not only research and innovation but also provide training to the youths on advanced technologies.
Chairman of the Department of Metrology of Dhaka University (DU) Professor Dr Towhida Rashid, Prof and Director of IIT of DU Dr Mohammed Shaiful Alam Khan, Instructor of MIST Md Mokhlesur Rahman, Prof of Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman, Head of Corporate Affairs of Rana Group Aminur Rahman, CEO of Farming Future BD Arif Hossain spoke, among others, at the function. Dr Mehedi stressed changing the mindset of academia to develop a culture of research and innovation, saying that the government alone cannot develop this culture.
The academia and industry should come up with zeal to build an innovative nation by 2041 as described in the Smart Bangladesh vision, he said, adding: "More initiatives including establishing Smart Digital Leadership Academy (SDLA), Center for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) have been undertaken by the EDGE project to help carry forward Bangladesh's journey towards Smart Bangladesh."
