NCAI, KICS collaborates with ICCBS, University of Karachi

“Centers of excellence are basically the brains of intellectual depth of any country, knowledge generates from these centers”, says Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, Director ICCBS, while speaking at the occasion of MOU signing ceremony between National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI KICS-UET) and The International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi. Collaboration between the two reputed research centers of the country is critical in solving research problems especially in the field of genomics, proteomics, medical imaging, drug discovery Artificial intelligence and to name a few. This collaboration is set to bring collaborative efforts in computer science and software development, High-end training by NCAI in the domain of Artificial Intelligence, sharing of omics data for research and development purposes and along with joint research publications and articles, submission of research projects/proposals to national and international funding agencies.

National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI KICS-UET) is designed to become the leading hub of innovation, scientific research, knowledge transfer to the local economy, and training in the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its closely affiliated fields. The central aim is to facilitate the researchers in the field of AI; help them establish and grow AI industry following international trends whereas, The ICCBS, a federally funded national research institute and national laboratory site managed by the University of Karachi, is known for its dedicated focus and research in primarily in organic chemistry and natural products but takes research in environmental cleanup and other fundamental branches of chemistry including the computational, green, medicinal, and protein chemistry.

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, Director ICCBS coming all the way from COMSTECH secretariat Islamabad was given a very warm welcome by Dr. Waqar Mehmood, Director KICS, along with his team members at AL Khwarizmi Institute of Computer Science UET Lahore. He was a given a very quick briefing by Dr. Usman Ghani Khan, Director Intelligent Criminology research lab, on multifold aspects and outcomes of the center working under his supervision. While having a look at the progress of NCAI and talking to the researchers Dr. Iqbal expressed his keen interest in future collaborations and he was of the view that “Centers of excellence are basically the brains of intellectual depth of any country, knowledge generates from these centers. KICS is a very high-quality center which can develop capacity in the frontier areas despite that it has great impact in Muslim world as well. These centers are the blessings should be supported and provided with a sustainable system which further strengthens their capacities and link them to the rest of the world”. Followed by the briefing and an interactive session memorandum of understanding between the two parties was duly endorsed with the signatures of Director NCAI, Dr. Usman Ghani and Director ICCBS, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhary.

At the end of the MOU Ceremony Dr. Waqar Mehmood, Director KICS, formally gave a thanking note and dedicated this collaboration as a beginning of a new journey that will open new avenues of innovative research in the field of AI as well as chemical and biological sciences. Giving away a souvenir to the distinguished guest the ceremony was concluded with a group photo.