15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: Engineers, technicians and researchers are not recognized for their contributions in promotion of science and technology in the country. "They are experts and professionals and form the backbone of the science and technology industry.

National Institute of Electronics (NIE) is one such organization that offers the best professionals in science and technology as well as the best equipment yet the results produced are not satisfactory," said Institute of Electrical Engineers (UK) Vice-Chairman Tazeem Akhtar Chaudhry.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Embedded Systems" jointly organized by the Pakistan Software Export Board, UK, Pakistan Science Foundation and Creative Technologies here on Thursday.

Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor Khan was the chief guest. Mr Chaudhry said it was disappointing to see the pathetic state of affairs in labs in polytechnic institutions, especially the private education establishments he had visited.

"Their is lack of proper equipment. Experts do not have the opportunities to improve their skills. The situation may be better in government setups but private educational institutions offer no or perhaps little options for growth of professional in science and technology.

"It is imperative to acknowledge the services of technicians for their role in development the industry. We need to have competitions where they can exercise and exhibit their talents and reward them for their accomplishments," he maintained

Speaking on the occasion, the minister underscored the importance of innovation and creation of new idea as being vital to economic growth as compared to traditional inputs like capital labour and raw material.

He said there was a need to devise mechanisms to advance the embedded software and system research and development. He called for acquisition, generation and transfer of technology to be competitive in the international market.

Embedded systems are a combination of computer hardware and software and in some cases additional mechanical and other parts designed to perform dedicated functions. The systems may be complete in itself or constitute part of a large system or product.

Examples of embedded systems are microwave oven, cell phones, calculators or digital cameras, etc. The embedded software and system technology have been developed rapidly and being paid great attention around the world.