This program was conducted pursuant to an interagency agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and builds upon CLDP work dating back to June, 2010 which helped Pakistani universities establish campus-based technology transfer offices and incubators.  The delegation first met with USG agencies in DC that support innovation and entrepreneurship such as the State Department's Office of Science and Technology and the World Bank's InfoDev group.  The participants then traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Association of University Technology Manager's (AUTM) Eastern Region Meeting which had as its focus "Strengthening University/Industry Partnerships."    CLDP then led the group to Los Angeles, California for meetings with UCLA, Caltech and USC for meetings that focused on the importance of university/industry partnerships in the commercialization process.  The participants also paid a visit to the Pakistan Consulate General and met with Consul General Riffat Massood and U.S./Pakistani businessmen to discuss collaboration between U.S. and Pakistani researchers and companies in innovation initiatives for Pakistan. 

This program gave the participants a deeper understanding of the policies and tools used by US universities to foster industry-university relationships to solve industry problems and will help Pakistan as it moves forward in establishing an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem which will not only help spur domestic innovation but will also make it easier for innovating U.S. universities and businesses to introduce their new products and services to a market of 200 million people. The following are included in a “next steps” workplan prepared by the participants: HEC development of an entrepreneurship strategy for the universities, identification of “internal champion” for innovation within the universities and industry, creation of a national database for angel investors and mentors, creating electronic portals that will help pair industry problems with relevant university-based research and improving intellectual property education and awareness in the universities and legal and business communities.  At the end of the program, two industry representatives reached out to participating university officials and offered “seed capital” funds for startup university projects and collaboration on a robotics incubator.  CLDP will follow-up with the participants in six months to see what concrete actions have been taken.