Innovation Conference on Jan 24

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By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Jan. 21: The Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) is organising the first ever National Innovation Conference (NIC) on January 24, 2023 at the science body in Lalitpur.

The NAST is organising the conference in collaboration with The Asia Foundation, Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN) and NAXA, while Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and USAID are the partners of the event. 

“The National Innovation Conference is necessary to boost research and development (R&D), achieve the sustainable development goals, bring together the innovation champions and maximise their role and understand and identify ways to strengthen Nepal’s position in the Global Innovation Index,” Head of Faculty of Technology at the NAST, Dr. Rabindra Dhakal who is also the coordinator of the National Innovation Digital Network, said at a press conference organised to inform about the conference. 

This conference will act as a platform to highlight the necessity to innovate in areas that are core to the development of a country's economy. 

This will help bring together the technical minds and policy makers and have a thorough gap analysis done to help align the innovation goals and policy level bottlenecks with an intention to close these gaps, he said. 

Since this conference is bringing together many experts to a platform to discuss what our country needs in terms of innovation and the policies to help it materialise - this amalgamation will, at the end, help identify areas that could be crucial for inclusive economic growth, said Dr. Dhakal.

According to the organisers, the conference aims to bring together people of government, industry, innovators, and academia. The conference provides an opportunity to share lessons learned, foster discussions, and policy exchange among stakeholders for enabling inclusive innovations that contribute towards social and economic development. 

The one-day conference also aims to recognise the direction of the country’s development in the field of science/technology and its challenges. The conference will be run in hybrid mode incorporating virtual and physical methods. There will be panel discussions, presentations, and exhibitions. Likewise, innovators/innovation from all seven provinces will be invited to be part of the conference opening – an opportunity for them to explore and expand their innovation partnership opportunity with national leaders and government representatives.

Dr. Dhakal said that the conference is important for development and extension of research and development and maximisation of science, technology and innovation and research in line with the federal structure and maintaining the provincial balance as well as to create a conducive environment for increased investment through cooperation and coordination among those bodies.

He also said that it is important to connect the innovators to the market and economy so there is a need to formulate policy that promotes innovation in various areas including science and business. To motivate the innovators, international experts and scientists will be invited to the conference to share their ideas while business leaders will also be invited to talk about connecting innovators with the business and industry. 

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