ORIC’ Pre-Placement Industry Meeting

Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC) held a Faculty-Industry Engagement Meeting aimed at fostering strategic partnerships between academia and industry, enabling faculty members to align their research expertise with emerging market needs. The meeting was attended by senior leadership and faculty members from UCP, including Dr. Hammad Naveed, Pro-Rector, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akhyar Farrukh, Director, ORIC, Prof. Dr. Hafiza Rizwana Kausar, Dean, Faculty of Science & Technology, and Dr. Faiza Anum, Research Associate, ORIC. Distinguished industry representatives included Mr. Hameed K. Lateef, CEO, TTI Testing Laboratories, Mr. Rizwan Ahmad, COO, Unity Foods, and Mr. Faizan Ahmed, Chemical Engineer, Sky Power Limited. Additionally, Faculty representatives from the Faculty of Science & Technology (FOST) and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (FOPS) actively participated in the session.

The meeting covered challenges and opportunities in the industrial sector, including outreach barriers, biofertilizer research, climate-resilient crops, sustainable agriculture, flood-resistant infrastructure, and water retention techniques. It aligned academic skills with industry needs, paving the way for impactful collaborations and faculty-industry placements

Key topics included types of intellectual property rights, national and international patent filing procedures, commercialization strategies, and guidelines from IPO Pakistan and USPTO. Participants explored what qualifies as patentable, how to draft and structure patent applications, and how to respond to objections during the prosecution process.

The session also featured live demonstrations of online tools such as the USPTO Patent Center and the IPO Pakistan e-journal, enabling participants to track patent progress and access published applications.

By focusing on transforming academic research into tangible, commercial outcomes, the workshop encouraged faculty to pursue innovation, institutional consultancy, and long-term research impact—reinforcing ORIC-UCP’s mission to promote applied research and knowledge transfer.