Author: Muzammil Hassan
KICS has been highlighted as the pioneer initiative among the research organizations in Pakistan by a joint survey of Knowledge Platform and British Council.
KICS has been highlighted as the pioneering initiative among the research organizations in Pakistan by a joint survey of Knowledge Platform and British Council.
“Two pioneering itiatives, one led by a government-controlled university and the other by a government-controlled fund, are setting a paradigm for transformation not only for these disciplines but the entire university sector.
The Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) at UET and Ignite both owe their success to exceptional leadership, an autonomous and supportive governance arrangement, and a relentless focus on commercialisation and collaboration.”
Founded in 2002, KICS now has over 25 labs, focused on computing, telecommunications, energy and automation and has engaged in over 100 research collaborations with national and international universities, government agencies and businesses. The culture at KICS promotes practical innovation, collaboration and commercialisation. Its innovations include an Urdu language search engine, a grid control-and-monitoring system implemented by utilities in Pakistan and an acoustic surveillance system, which is used by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority.
Dr Waqar Mahmood, who has directed KICS for 10 years, states: “Our focus is to engage, and, if possible, engage commercially, and to innovate without too much regard to publication. For example, we developed a solar lighting system to enable underprivileged students to do their homework at night. It has had a very positive impact but didn’t generate anything worthy of publication. In one case, we worked with industry to develop an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, even though the customer did not have money to pay. At other times, we work with international companies and government agencies to deliver solutions that meet their needs, and we make money. Of our total annual PKR 150 million R&D funding, we secure roughly 40% from HEC and generate the rest from other sources. Sometimes, our work doesn’t even involve applied research. We manage a large training programme on behalf of Huawei—it is remunerative and it helps our faculty understand and speak to industry priorities. It is less important at this stage in our development to ask whether we are doing research, training or consultancy work: the important objective is to nourish a culture of commercially-oriented, collaborative and engaged problem-solving innovation.”
The University Research System in Pakistan, page 63-64
Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz Inaugurates IEEE 12th International Conference on Open Source System and Technologies in UET Lahore
“Modern technology is considered as backbone for socio- economic development of any country. Government is taking measures to promote technical and high education through many effective projects” It was expressed by Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfaraz while speaking to the participants at inaugural ceremony of IEEE 12th International Conference on Open Source System and Technologies ICOSST’18 arranged by Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore on 19th December, 2018. Later, he visited the exhibition of researchers of Al-Khawarizmi regarding inventions in the field of science and technology. Continue reading
Al-Khawarazmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), UET Lahore organizes IEEE 12th International Conference on Open Source Systems & Technologies (ICOSST) 2018
WEBSITE URL: icosst.kics.edu.pk
CONFERENCE DATE: Dec 19-21, 2018
CONFERENCE VENUE: Main Auditorium, UET Lahore
CONTACT NUMBER: +92-42-99029450
MAILING ADDRESS: icosst.secretariat@old.kics.edu.pk
CONFERENCE PROGRAM:
KICS UET Organizes a Seminar on How to Launch and Grow Startups
Business and Technology Incubation Center (BTIC), KICS-UET, Lahore in collaboration with National Incubation Center (NIC) LUMS organized a seminar on ‘How to Launch and Grow Startups’ taken place in Seminar Hall at Transportation Engineering Department in UET Lahore on 14th December. It was designed for entrepreneurs, researchers and final year students to give them overview of how to start and grow their own startups. Continue reading
Successful PSDF Trainees Awarded with Certificates in UET Lahore
A certificate distribution ceremony organized by Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) UET Lahore was held in UET Lahore on 3rd December 2018 to award the certificates to the passing out trainees of PSDF (Punjab Skills Development Fund) courses. 173 students were conferred with the certificates. These trainings were imparted in seven pass out classes including Solar Wind & UPS Assemble Training, Website Design and Development, Mobile Application, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Telecommunication Technologies (Huawei) and Networking Technologies (Huawei). Continue reading
CERAD UET Sign an MOU with AFCO Steal and FSK (Pvt) Ltd for Energy Efficiency Development
CERAD UET has signed an MOU with FSK (Pvt.) Ltd and AFCO Steal Pvt. Ltd for mutual collaboration for energy efficiency and conservation strategy development. The agreement signing ceremony took place at AFCO’s office in Sheikhupura on 1st December, 2018. At the ceremony, Vice Chancellor UET Prof. Fazal Ahmed Khalid, Director CERAD UET Prof. Dr. Waqar Mahmood, CEO FSK Rao Khalid and CEO AFCO Mian M Azhar were present who signed the MOU and put it into effect.
Opportunities to Get Free Solar Photovoltaic Installation & Pumping Training at UET Lahore with Monthly Stipend – APPLY NOW
A Technical Talk Held in KICS on Academics to Industry Architecture
KICS UET Lahore organized a talk on ‘Automation: Academics to Industry Architecture’ on 23rd November 2018 at Seminar Hall where students, officials and researchers were seen in good majority. The invited speaker at the occasion was Mr. Usman Alvi, who has a BSc degree in Mechanics and Control Engineering from UET Lahore. Presently he is working as a lead engineer with Yokogawa, which is one of world’s leading industrial automation groups. Continue reading
KICS UET and Cambridge University UK Organize an IFM Workshop on 15th and 16th November in UET
Al-Khawarazmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) UET Lahore in collaboration with Cambridge University, UK organized a road mapping workshop to strengthen industry and academia linkages. The conference took place at the conference room at Vice Chancellor’s Office on 15th and 16th November. Professors from Cambridge University along with many professors from UET and Pakistani universities attended it. Industrialists, researchers and people from other walks of life too participated in the conference. The opening ceremony happened on 15th November.
Brock University Canada’s Professor Delivers a Technical Talk on ‘Statistics for Data Science in AI’ in KICS UET
An invited talk was organized by KICS UET Lahore on the topic of ‘Statistics for Data Science in AI, ML and DL’ on 16th November 2018 at Seminar Hall of the institute. Dr. Syed Ejaz Ahmed was the invited speaker, who is the professor of Statistics and Dean of the Faculty of Math and Science at Brock University, Canada. Previously, he was a professor and the head of the mathematics and statistics department at the University of Windsor, Canada and University of Regina, Canada as well as assistant professor at the University of the Western Ontario, Canada. He holds adjunct professorship positions at many Canadian and International universities. He has supervised numerous PhD and organized several international workshops and conferences around the globe. His repertoire also includes the fellowship of the American Statistical Association and Royal Statistical Society in addition to many other distinctions. Besides, he is the editor and associate editor of many scientific journals. Dr. Syed has published more than 175 articles in influential journals and reviewed more than 100 books. Continue reading