GUEST & SPEAKER STRUCTURE
Chair: Professor Dr. Mamun Ahmed - Chairman, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC)
Moderator: Dr. Md. Sabur Khan Chairperson of Daffodil International University
Participants: Vice-chancellors and senior academic leaders, incubator heads, industry R&D leaders, investors and development partners
CONTEXT & BACKGROUND
Bangladesh's more than 50 public and 100+ private universities (UGC) enrol millions of students and produce a growing volume of research, yet almost none of it reaches the market: university-originated patents, licenses and spin-off companies are rare, incubation capacity is limited to a handful of campuses, and faculty incentives reward publication over application. Global experience - from Stanford and MIT to the National University of Singapore - shows that universities become economic engines when incubators, industry problem-solving, technology transfer and entrepreneurial credit systems are built deliberately. Bangladesh's youth-heavy campuses are its most under-used innovation asset.
SYNOPSIS
Bangladesh's universities are major sources of knowledge, research, youth talent and early-stage innovation, yet many ideas remain locked in classrooms, competitions and papers with no route to industry or market. This high-level roundtable explores how universities can become active nodes of the national innovation ecosystem - connecting faculty research, students, laboratories, incubators, industry challenges, investors and public institutions. It focuses on applied research aligned with national priorities, student entrepreneurship, makerspaces, sponsored research, technology transfer and commercialization finance, with the proposed Innovation Hub linking campus-level innovation to national demand.
OBJECTIVE OF THE SESSION
Identify how Bangladesh's universities can convert knowledge, research and talent into economic value - through incubation, industry partnership, technology transfer and commercialization finance - connected nationally through the Innovation Hub.
