Technology is recognized the world over as one of the imperatives for achieving industrial advancement and economic progress. In this era of globalization and liberalization it will be a determinant factor for our survival as it will require restructuring major sectors of the economy on a continual basis aiming to develop a competitive edge adopting advanced and emerging technologies.

Indeed, technology has to be acquired, absorbed and assimilated through use of both the sources, indigenous and foreign. The priorities of what technologies are required, or to be developed, are to be formulated with the overall national economic plan.

The ministry of science and technology (Most) has to play a vital role in achieving these objectives. In the past, efforts were made by the Most but concrete results could not be obtained, though it could contribute to develop a new and realistic attitude towards technology transfer in the country. The last government took various salutary measures to foster technological advancement, though with emphasis only on promoting the IT sector. It was only recently that the ministry allocated about Rs12 billion for the development of different research and development (R&D) projects in the agriculture, medicine and skill areas.

There is, however, a need to develop a well-coordinated and balanced perspective plan aiming at growth of various economic sectors, simultaneously. The Most should therefore, formulate and implement the policy for selection, assimilation, diffusion and use of technology not ignoring the industry and business. It has to play key role in commercialization of the selected technologies, through a system of cooperation between the R&D and industry. Indeed, the engineering and design services act as a bridge between the R&D institutions and the industry. A mechanism, therefore, must be evolved to promote the indigenous technology, and regulations should be framed for the transfer of advanced technology.

Engineering industry is regarded as the engine for growth. Development of engineering industry, or capital goods industry, is catalytic in achieving import substitution, export enhancement, high degree of value addition, optimal use of agriculture, mineral and other resources, large scale employment, and forward and backward linkages with other economic sectors. Thus the capital goods industry plays a crucial role in industrialization and technological transformation of any country. It serves as the most powerful instrument for the diffusion and generation of technical change. Compared to any other industry, this sector alone contributes more to the development of the HR, technological advancement, the R&D, and improved organizational methods. The base of engineering industry in Pakistan over the years has developed to a degree that it can rightly be termed to be on the threshold of technological breakthrough in many areas. There are about 2,000 industrial units in the recognized sectors producing a variety of goods. The industry, however, is generally characterized by low productivity, high cost of production, small volumes and incompetitiveness.

One of the factors contributing to this situation is the lack of capability for product designing. The existing product design facilities are limited and primarily dependent on foreign sources. Resultantly, Pakistan has to spend on an average $2 billion annually on the import of plant, machinery and spare parts, a major part of which though could be produced locally. In addition, a significant amount is spent on acquiring technical services for the supervision of installation, erection and maintenance. There is an urgent need to strengthen the national capability of product designing, which is a vital input in all the manufacturing industries. This can be done through up- gradation of existing technologies, as well as by seeking advanced technologies from abroad, under technical collaboration arrangements or joint venture agreements. This, however, requires huge investments, which neither private sector nor the public sector would be able to afford under the prevalent circumstances.

For the purpose, a ‘national machinery design institute should be established at the government level to cater to the requirements of Pakistan’s engineering and capital goods industry. It would undertake the designing, the engineering, the planning and development of industrial plants, machinery and equipment in selected areas. The existing facilities with the engineering goods industry can be gainfully employed either for setting up complete industrial plants on turnkey basis, or for the supply of plant machinery and equipment and technical services. The areas could be identified pursuant to the priorities of the government, such as the fertilizer and pesticides, the agro-based industries, the textile industry, the petroleum refineries, the crude oil and natural gas development, the mining, power generation, iron and steel industry etc; and, of course, for setting up the SMEs. The proposed institute will undertake software development in the related fields, to meet domestic requirements as well as that of the export market.

The basic objectives of the proposed institute will thus be: i) Development and accumulation of technology in the related fields;

ii) Balanced advancement of industrial research;

iii) Transfer of technology to the industry; and

iv) Promotion of information exchange and cooperation with the industry.

The institute has to be equipped with modern designing aids such as the computer-aided design (CAD) and the computer-aided engineering (CAE), and to be integrated with the computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and the computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). Experienced and trained personnel able to use hardware and software for designing and engineering of the plant machinery and other products are to be recruited on attractive salary packages. This has to be done concurrently while furnishing the institute with the physical facilities and the appropriate management organization. Initially the services of design and software experts from abroad may also be needed. It is estimated to cost $2.5 million and can be completed within two years. The proposed institute may be established as a project of the Most, either as a joint venture with an industrialized country, such as China, or in collaboration with an international agency like Unido or the IDB. In fact, at one stage the Chinese government had consented, in principle, to establish such an institute in Pakistan, but for various reasons it ran into snags and could not take off.