Kathmandu, Jan. 20
The Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) is
organising the first ever National Innovation Conference (NIC) on January 24,
2023 at the science body in Lalitpur.
The NAST is organising the conference in collaboration with
The Asia Foundation, Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN) and NAXA, while
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Federation of Nepalese Chambers
of Commerce and Industry and USAID are the partners of the event.
“The National Innovation Conference is necessary to boost research
and development (R&D), achieve the sustainable development goals, bring
together the innovation champions and maximise their role and understand and
identify ways to strengthen Nepal’s position in the Global Innovation Index,”
Head of Faculty of Technology at the NAST, Dr. Rabindra Dhakal who is also the
coordinator of the National Innovation Digital Network, said at a press
conference organised to inform about the conference.
This conference will act as a platform to highlight the
necessity to innovate in areas that are core to the development of a country's
economy. This will help bring together the technical minds and policy makers
and have a thorough gap analysis done to help align the innovation goals and
policy level bottlenecks with an intention to close these gaps, he said.
Since this conference is bringing together many experts to a
platform to discuss what our country needs in terms of innovation and the
policies to help it materialise - this amalgamation will, at the end, help
identify areas that could be crucial for inclusive economic growth, said Dr.
Dhakal.
According to the organisers, the conference aims to bring
together people of government, industry, innovators, and academia. The
conference provides an opportunity to share lessons learned, foster
discussions, and policy exchange among stakeholders for enabling inclusive innovations
that contribute towards social and economic development.
The one-day conference also aims to recognise the direction
of the country’s development in the field of science/technology and its
challenges. The conference will be run in hybrid mode incorporating virtual and
physical methods. There will be panel discussions, presentations, and
exhibitions. Likewise, innovators/innovation from all seven provinces will be
invited to be part of the conference opening – an opportunity for them to explore
and expand their innovation partnership opportunity with national leaders and government
representatives.
Dr. Dhakal said that the conference is important for
development and extension of research and development and maximisation of science,
technology and innovation and research in line with the federal structure and
maintaining the provincial balance as well as to create a conducive environment
for increased investment through cooperation and coordination among those
bodies.
He also said that it is important to connect the innovators
to the market and economy so there is a need to formulate policy that promotes
innovation in various areas including science and business. To motivate the
innovators, international experts and scientists will be invited to the
conference to share their ideas while business leaders will also be invited to
talk about connecting innovators with the business and industry.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 21 January 2023.
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