The National Science and Technology Park at NUST and The AKD Group of Companies UK have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement to jointly design, deliver, and fund Pakistan’s first globally connected Defense Technology Incubation and early stage Investment Platform. The agreement was signed by Engineer Amer Sheikh, Director of NSTP, and Allayar K Durrani, CEO of THE AKD GROUP UK, in the presence of Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector RIC NUST and VP NUST, marking a formal step toward building specialised incubation infrastructure specifically for Pakistan’s defence technology sector, an area that has historically operated somewhat separately from the country’s broader civilian startup ecosystem.
Under the partnership, AKD Group UK will serve as Funding and Investment Lead, connecting selected startups to its international network of OEMs, system integrators, and global investors, giving Pakistani defence tech founders access to commercial and investment relationships that would likely be difficult to build independently given the specialised and often relationship-driven nature of the global defence technology market. NSTP will serve as an Execution and Knowledge Partner, leading curriculum design, startup sourcing and selection, mentorship delivery, and Demo Day organisation, drawing on NUST’s research infrastructure and institutional network to provide the technical and academic grounding for the platform’s incubation work.
Engineer Amer Sheikh said this partnership positions NSTP at the centre of Pakistan’s technology innovation agenda, combining NUST’s research infrastructure and institutional credibility with a partner bringing real capital and international market access, a combination he described as capable of turning good ideas into companies capable of competing globally. This framing underscores a recurring challenge for deep tech and defence-adjacent startups in Pakistan, where strong technical foundations often exist within academic and research institutions but struggle to translate into commercially viable, globally competitive companies without dedicated capital and international market connections.
Allayar K Durrani, CEO of THE AKD GROUP UK, said Pakistan’s youth and its defence technology sector carry potential that the world has yet to discover, and that through this partnership, the company aims to change that by providing the investment, mentorship, and global connections needed to help indigenous startups succeed. He expressed optimism that the collaboration marks the beginning of a new era, one bringing meaningful investment and multi-billion-dollar opportunities to Pakistan’s innovators, a notably ambitious framing that positions the partnership as a potential turning point for the country’s defence technology commercialisation efforts specifically.
The partnership reflects NSTP’s continued focus on building global linkages to accelerate innovation-driven economic development, alongside The AKD Group’s vision to strengthen Pakistan’s position in defence, technology, and economic development. By pairing NSTP’s academic and research credibility with AKD Group UK’s international capital and market access, the platform is positioned to address a specific gap in Pakistan’s innovation ecosystem, giving defence technology startups a dedicated pathway toward global competitiveness that general-purpose incubation programmes have not been specifically designed to provide.
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