Kanwal Naseer

A contract for the establishment of the first vertical incubator in aerospace technologies has been signed between Ignite and Aviation City Pakistan. The incubator will be known as National Incubation Center in Aerospace Technologies (NICAT) and it will be established at National Aerospace Science & Technology Park (NASTP), Rawalpindi. The contract was signed by CEO of Ignite Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO of ACPPL Air Commodore Dr Liaquat Ullah Iqbal SI(M), and CEO of NETSOL Salim Ghauri. NICAT will be established by the NETSOL Technologies Ltd., according to the contract.

Speaking at the ceremony, CEO of Ignite Asim Shehryar said that global aviation industry was worth about USD 3.5 trillion and it was high time that Pakistan also started to invest in the sector to unleash its creative potential. The incubation centre will be the eighth from Ignite, which is working to bring forward high-tech start-ups in aerospace technologies and futuristic engineering.

Asim Shehryar said that NASTP will be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to help in the production of both high-tech software and hardware. CEO of ACPPL Dr Liaquatullah Iqbal said, “ACPPL is establishing NASTP to develop small to large sized aviation and space related enterprises, laboratories, and R&D centers at national level. NICAT is an extension of the same objective to develop aerospace technologies indigenously in the country.”

CEO of NETSOL Technologies Ltd. Salim Ghauri said, “NICAT will transform aerospace and high-tech ICT ideas into reality in accordance with national and global needs and trends. We will leverage our experience of the past 26 years as well as our international linkages to make the new incubator successful for inducted start-ups.”  The existing seven NICs of Ignite have collectively incubated more than 1150 start-ups, creating around 117,000 jobs and raising a total funding of PKR 15.4 billion. The total revenues of the NICs have been PKR 9.1 billion.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk