Introduction 

University – Industry Technology Support Program of the Higher Education Commission is an important step towards fostering high level of tangible cooperation between academia and industry for capitalizing on emerging international demands for products and processes in discrete and continuous manufacturing that shall contribute to national economy. This program is focused on industrial sectors where the country is already a major contributor to world trade. It focuses on harnessing the potential of highly competitive sectors for international trade which need developments both for local and international consumption. The focused sector wise identification of products and processes in discrete and continuous as well as import and export trends is available from public domain local and international statistical data.

University – Industry Technology Support Program (UITSP) of the Higher Education Commission proposes that the researchers preferably with PhD degree and affiliation with international professional bodies collaborate with local industry involved in discrete and continuous manufacturing for tangible results in terms of improvement of product and processes leading to decreased import of raw material and increased export of the finished product and processes. The products and processes needing improvement should ideally be in priority areas relevant to national needs for socio-economic development of the country.

University – Industry Technology Support Program (UITSP) are awarded on competitive merit by HEC for high-level and promising industrial research projects of direct relevance to current needs of the industry to be carried out in Pakistan by creative scientists of public-sector universities and degree-awarding institutions in collaboration with professionals from local industry. The purpose of these grants is to promote scientific research in applied sciences in the country, to strengthen the indigenous capacity for industrial competition in the world market. The research grant will be provided for a maximum period of two years with a budget up to Rs. 6.0 Million.