National Science and Technology Park hosted Kelsey Ng, Innovation Ecosystem Development Manager from the Hong Kong Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, as part of NSTP’s ongoing programme of international collaboration engagements that have established it as one of Pakistan’s most internationally connected innovation hubs. The visit was welcomed by NSTP Director Engineer Amer Sheikh and included participation from HSITP alongside NSTP resident startup Kodifly, represented by its founder Muhammad Saad Shahid Anwel, creating a direct point of connection between the visiting delegation and the kind of venture that NSTP’s incubation ecosystem produces at its active frontier.
NSTP currently hosts more than 27 international companies alongside research-focused organisations, startups, and innovation-driven enterprises, a portfolio composition that distinguishes it from purely domestic incubation centres and positions it as a genuinely international innovation environment. The presence of international companies within the park creates a natural context for visits from overseas innovation ecosystem managers, who arrive in an environment that already speaks the language of cross-border collaboration and that has the institutional infrastructure to explore partnership pathways seriously rather than symbolically. Kelsey Ng’s role at HSITP, which sits within the Lok Ma Chau Loop development area on the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and is designed to facilitate innovation collaboration between Hong Kong’s financial and research ecosystem and Shenzhen’s manufacturing and technology production base, makes her a particularly relevant visitor for an institution like NSTP that is equally interested in connecting research capability to commercial application.
During the visit, NSTP team members Zayn N Qureshi and Yaruq Nadeem showcased the park’s ecosystem in detail, covering the incubation programmes including Hatch 8, NSTP’s pre-incubation programme for early-stage startups that focuses on the foundational development of entrepreneurs and their businesses before they are ready for the full incubation environment, alongside the resident startups, research-focused companies, laboratory infrastructure, and broader innovation facilities that define NSTP’s operational character. The showcase gave the HSITP delegation a grounded understanding of what NSTP has built rather than a high-level overview, creating the basis for informed conversation about where the two ecosystems could create genuine value for each other through collaboration.
The session concluded with a focused discussion on potential collaboration pathways spanning incubation linkages, research engagement, and pilot initiatives between the two ecosystems. Incubation linkages between NSTP and HSITP could create structured channels for startups from each ecosystem to access the resources, networks, and market opportunities available in the other, giving Pakistani ventures a pathway into the Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area ecosystem and potentially opening NSTP’s environment to ventures from that region looking to engage with Pakistan’s growing technology sector. Research engagement between the academic and scientific institutions connected to both parks could produce collaborative projects that draw on complementary strengths, while pilot initiatives could provide a low-risk mechanism for testing the practical dimensions of the partnership before committing to more formalised structures. The visit represents an early but substantive step in what could develop into one of NSTP’s more consequential international partnerships.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
