Startups representing Business Incubation Centre (BIC), International Islamic university Islamabad have brought fame to the institution as 6 proposals of IIUI students were selected for the grand finale (highest no. of projects selected from any university in the country) of Higher Education Commission’s (HECs) flagship program Innovator seed fund (ISF), out of which 2 of IIUI projects stood winners and 4 were announced runners-up during the award ceremony.
According to details, Higher Education Commission’s (HECs) flagship program for Innovator seed fund (ISF) was launched in year 2021 to support startups and innovative ideas. A total of 186 concept notes were submitted to HEC, 144 concepts notes shortlisted and trained by HEC, 114 proposal submitted and 26 were shortlisted for the grand finale through HECs rigorous one year selection procedure. Out of 26, 15 projects were awarded a grant of up US$ 35,000 each. In order to have prominent visibility and participation of IIUI in this national level competition, IIU- BIC
collected 15 applications from IIUI startup and faculty. BIC team provided mentoring to all 15 and guided them to prepare the proposals and presentations to submit to HEC. 9 applications from IIU-BIC made it to the next stage. These 9 proposals went through HECs selection process over a period of 1 year and 6 were selected for the grand finale (highest no. of projects selected from any university in the country) out of which 2 stood winners and 4 runners-up announced during the award ceremony on 24th November 2022. This is a great achievement and shows the potential of the Research and Enterprise ecosystem developed in the university in recent years.
In this regard, a meeting was held at the office of Vice-President (Research & Enterprise), which was convened by Vice-President (R&E) and attended by Director (IIU-BIC), Assistant Director (IIU-BIC) and the 6 startup projects from IIUI. Vice-President (R&E) lauded the commitment of IIU-BIC team in supporting the growth of Entrepreneurship ecosystem at IIUI and also congratulated the winners and runners-up for their efforts, enthusiasm and vision to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. He said that it is an immense achievement for the IIUI Brand and sets an example for others to take initiative and kick-start their startup ventures.