A delegation from IBA Center for Entrepreneurial Development, Innovation and Research visited National Science and Technology Park at NUST on 10 September 2026 to explore its research, startup, innovation, and commercialization ecosystem. The delegation included Lalarukh Ejaz, director of CEDIR, Muhammad Hassan Khan, associate director, and Nimra Kamran, senior manager, bringing IBA Karachi’s own entrepreneurship leadership into direct contact with one of Islamabad’s most established innovation infrastructure sites, one that has previously hosted delegations ranging from provincial youth groups to university leadership programs.
Engineer Amer Sheikh, director of NSTP, welcomed the delegation and shared insights into the park’s innovation ecosystem, drawing on his standard framing of NSTP as a hub where academia, industry, government, and entrepreneurs work together to transform ideas into market-ready solutions. The delegation was further briefed by Hassan Waqar Raja, director of ICON, and Muhammad Junaid, director of research, giving IBA CEDIR’s visiting team exposure to both the commercialization and research-facing sides of NSTP’s operations rather than a single generalized overview.
For two institutions that both operate at the intersection of academic research and startup development, though in different cities and under different university umbrellas, this kind of direct institutional visit offers a chance to compare notes on what has worked in each ecosystem’s approach to translating research into commercially viable ventures. IBA CEDIR has built its own track record supporting more than 400 graduated companies since 2009, giving its delegation a substantial base of comparative experience to draw on during the visit rather than approaching NSTP purely as observers.
The visit explored opportunities for knowledge exchange and stronger institutional collaboration across research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization, positioning the engagement as a starting point for potential future partnership rather than a one-off courtesy visit. Coming shortly after IBA CEDIR ran a hosted business incubation session on Tameer Awards outreach and other entrepreneurship programming this month, the NSTP visit adds an inter-institutional dimension to CEDIR’s broader activity, extending its engagement beyond IBA’s own students and founders into direct dialogue with one of Pakistan’s other major innovation ecosystem anchors.
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