KARACHI: The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and NUCES-FAST (Karachi Campus), one of Pakistan’s leading academic institutes in the field of computer science, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as part of the industry-academia collaboration drive, a statement said.

The objective behind this initiative is to bridge the gap between the academia and the industry, especially in the R&D domain.

The MoU signing ceremony was held at the SSGC’s head office on Tuesday, in which NUCES-FAST was represented by its director (Karachi Campus) Dr Atif Tahir along with other faculty members.

Imran Maniar, managing director and Dr Atif Tahir signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations.

SSGC’s Saeed A Larik, ADMD (UFG), and Saeed Rizvi, SGM (UFG), also inked the MoU as signatories, whereas Dr Zulfiqar Ali Memon and Dr Muhammad Saad signed on behalf of NUCES-FAST.

Maniar said that the MoU serves as a precursor for closer research collaboration among the industry and academia and will go a long way in bridging this gap.

Representatives from both organisations also discussed potential avenues and collaboration projects with each other after the signing ceremony.