Islamabad: (Parliament Times) The stage 2 of finding innovative & creative solutions for society – FICS’18, a platform to foster social entrepreneurship and commercialization of students’ tech-based ideas, was held at National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) here on Tuesday. Closely aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, FICS’18 received a total of 328 project entries from across 18 constituent institutes, out of which 106 made their way to Stage 2, where teams present their projects to Industry judges, and compete for a place in the 3rd and final Stage – the Grand Finale, which will be held later this year.
Mr. Amer Hashmi, Chief Strategy Officer (CSTO) NUST & Secretary General NUST Corporate Advisory Council (CAC), welcomed the guests and judges, and congratulated the participants who qualified for Stage 2 of FICS’18. Mr. Atif Raees Khan, CEO LMKT & LMKR graced the occasion as chief guest and appreciated the students for playing their part in solving the most pressing problems of Pakistan through technological intervention. He also shared the LMKR success story, of how he built the company from scratch and took it to its present stature.
At the occasion, a start-up Shazday, which was a finalist at FICS’17, presented their journey from an idea to a successful business, having raised PKR 10 Million so far. Shazday is an entrepreneurial venture, which treats apricots from Gilgit-Baltistan region, through innovative drying and processing mechanism, to provide high quality processed fruit to national and international markets. FICS is NUST’s flagship programme, which delivers many such success stories every year, contributing to the socioeconomic development of the country.
