The consultation featured sessions on intellectual property management and protection at the U.S. Patent Office and CLDP offices in Washington, D.C.; participation in the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) “TOOLs” and “Essentials” courses, and visits and intensive technology licensing and negotiation exercises at Oklahoma State University.

As a result of the consultation, participants formed partnerships with U.S. universities and consultancy groups working in technology commercialization, and resolved to conduct intellectual property awareness training programs for faculty and students in Pakistan.  Participants also developed key contacts in AUTM, and proposed to create an association of Pakistani Research, Innovation and Commercialization Managers, to interface with the U.S. association. 

Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, an all-women’s university in Rawalpindi, will use lessons-learned from D.C., Denver, and Oklahoma-based incubators to create a business incubation center for budding women entrepreneurs in web development and the textiles sector.  Also, through exposure to these incubator models, business schools in Sukkur and Baluchistan will enhance their designs for sustainable business incubation centers to reach student entrepreneurs in underserved areas with increased mentoring, networking services, and seed funding.

The consultation was held as a Phase I program to support the Government of Pakistan and Pakistani universities, as they work to build an innovation ecosystem in Pakistan, and to harness the value of Pakistani intellectual property and technologies through University-based commercialization.